Operation Enduring Freedom - Philippines

Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country,... which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The Land of Promise. Mindanao is the only area of the Philippines with a significant Muslim presence. Davao City is the largest city in Mindanao. Mindanao has been the site of a separatist movement by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front , caused by religious differences and widespread poverty. Fighting between MILF and Philippine forces has displaced over 100,000 people. Mindanao is named after the Maguindanaons who constituted the largest Sultanate historically, and evidence from maps made during the 17th and 18th centuries suggests that the name was used to refer to the island by natives at the time. Evidence of human occupation dates back tens of thousands of years. In prehistoric times the Negrito people arrived. Sometime around 1500 BC Austronesian peoples spread throughout the Philippines and far beyond.
more

The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support... of other NATO as well as non-NATO countries. Originally, the campaign was waged against al-Qaeda and other militant organizations with the purpose of eliminating them. The phrase 'War on Terror' was first used by US President George W. Bush and other high-ranking US officials to denote a global military, political, legal and ideological struggle against organizations designated as terrorist and regimes that were accused of having a connection to them or providing them with support or were perceived, or presented as posing a threat to the US and its allies in general. It was typically used with a particular focus on militant Islamists and al-Qaeda. Although the term is not officially used by the administration of US President Barack Obama , it is still commonly used by politicians, in the media and officially by some aspects of government, such as the United States' Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
more