MARAWI, Ph. - Islamic State fighters are fleeing the Philippine city of Marawi at what U.S. intelligence officials are calling “an alarming rate” after rumors that the United States is preparing to deploy a battalion of transgender ‘super soldiers’ to quash the ISIS foothold in the besieged city began to circulate on pro-jihadist websites last month.
“The mood in Marawi right now is very somber,” reported Francis Perault of VICE News. Perault, who is embedded with the Philippines special forces as they battle the Islamic State, said many militants believe American transgender soldiers are the result of a genetically modified super soldier program initiated by former U.S. president Barack Obama.
“This idea that they somehow possess the strongest qualities of both sexes is simply incorrect,” said Major General Mitchell Landry, who oversaw the Pentagon’s super soldier program under Obama. Maj. Gen. Landry, who appeared on MSNBC Tuesday night to dispel claims that transgender Americans have been forcibly recruited into the program, said candidates are selected from group homes at a very young age. “These individuals have no concept of gender identity,” Landry charged, adding, “In any case, sex is completely irrelevant to their mission.”
Nonetheless, communications intercepted by U.S. intelligence and obtained by The Washington Post show the Islamic State believes transgender super soldiers are so deadly that even President Donald Trump doesn’t want anything to do with them. “These guys are absolutely terrified,” a senior U.S. intelligence official told The Post. “Much of what we’ve been able to intercept is stuff you’d expect to see in a science fiction movie.”
The Philippine military has been fighting to liberate Marawi City from Islamic extremists since early May when heavily armed ISIS militants stormed the city, killing more than twenty-one people. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense unveiled plans to provide air support in the form of targeted drone strikes. Hours later, ISIS commanders issued a warning to recruits saying they should expect to encounter American transgender soldiers who posses nearly twice the strength of a normal human being.
