Filipinos swap guns for rakes  US-funded seaweed farms offer a
model of economic revival for militant regions.  They used to
call him the Singing Commander for the guitar he'd exchange for
his M-16 after a hard day on patrol in the jungles of the
southern Philippines. But Haji Abdullah Usman says "Seaweed
King" better suits him now.  His transformation from Muslim
rebel commander to manager of a thriving seaweed cooperative may
point the way forward for the softer side of the Bush
administration's war on terror: The effort to use aid to bring
peace and order to the places that are currently breeding
grounds for extremism.  Mr. Usman says that when he led his men
out of the jungle following the Moro National Liberation Front's
(MNLF) 1996 peace agreement with the Philippines, it was a
joyous moment, but also a terrifying one: What, he wondered, are
my men and I going to do now? The MNLF's 40,000-member army had
been fighting since 1972 to create an independent state on
Mindanao, the island home of most of the