Despite the neutralization of some of its key leaders and with only a few hundred remaining members, the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is not yet a spent force, said an armed forces general who also cited the need for the government to re-examine its policy and strategy in dealing with the problem.

The latest ASG leader neutralized by the AFP was Kaiser Said Usman, who was recaptured Wednesday by Air Force and Marine elements in Bulan Bulan village, Lantawan town, Basilan. Usman is an ASG sub-commander and carries a P1.2-million bounty ($25,000) on his head. He was also among the high-risk inmates who bolted from the Basilan provincial jail in December 2009.

Brig. Gen. Francisco Cruz Jr., AFP Civil Relations Service (CRS) commander, at the same time, noted how the bandit group has “skillfully used the media to gain domestic and international attention, and to force the government to negotiate” as evidenced in several of the kidnapping cases it has perpetrated, including the Sipadan hostage crisis

“Even as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) scores anew against the Abu Sayyaf Group with the capture of one of its leaders, Kaiser Said Usman, on Wednesday, still there’s a need to re-examine government policy in annihilating the group,” said Cruz.

In his report, “Defeating Abu Sayyaf: The Strong and Urgent Need for an Ideological Response,” Cruz took a deeper look at the ASG and Muslim extremist problem and suggested that the government attack it not just by force and deterrence alone but to add in its arsenal an ideological response as an integral part in its strategy.

“A military-based response is not enough to destroy Abu Sayyaf and other Muslim extremist groups in the country. It would need a comprehensive approach to confront an enemy whose roots have political, social, economic and psychological dimensions, and whose ties with Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah have not been cut off,” read part of Cruz’s analysis.

He explained that a glaring weakness in the policy and strategy in defeating terrorism is the “absence of an ideological response or a deliberate effort to contend with the radical/extremist ideology that drives recruitment, promotes hatred, and propels terrorist recruits to engage in violence.”

“War on terror is a war of ideas and therefore the strategy to defeat ASG and radical Islam – violent jihad or religious justification to violence – requires an ideological counterforce that would compete with enemy ideology, eliminate prejudice and distrust between Muslims and Christians, destroy the enemy spirit and promote moderation,” according to the CRS commander.