Filipinos not sure U.S. help is best path.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Uli Schmetzer

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines _ Before Friday's announcement that deployment of U.S. troops to help eradicate the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group has been postponed, mortar shells knocked out electricity for 18 million people on Mindanao.

The destruction of pylons and a key power transmission station, allegedly by Islamic militants, may have been a signal that the government may be dealing with more than a ragtag kidnap for ransom gang.

In an announcement coinciding with the postponement, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave her armed forces a 90-day deadline to wipe out the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf and at the same time told Muslim insurgents on Mindanao to make peace or face military action.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged Friday night that the operation had been postponed. "We will have to find an approach that will help them without violating their constitution," he said.

News of the deployment of U.S. combat troops to the lawless Sulu islands, where families settle feuds with gunfights, revived old tribal boasts to behead invaders, especially Americans. It also has split the Filipino public.

"In Sulu they don't sing lullabies to our babies," warned Parouk Hussin, governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and a former separatist leader. "What they sing to our babies is that they must grow up to be brave warriors bringing death to our enemies."