----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Albert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, 10 September 1999 06:41 Subject: ZNet Free Update - Timor Links and major new statement from Chomsky... > Please do come to the continually updated Timor pages -- > http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Timor/timor_index.htm -- to get not only > news of occurrences in East Timor, but even more important, clear accounts > of the context, the prospects, and what normal folk are doing and can do to > stop the horror. > > Recent link additions to the Timor Page include, among others -- > > Chomsky's major new statement, as of September 10th -- literally minutes > before this was mailed -- included below. > > Chomsky: East Timor on the Brink / > http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Timor/chomskybar.htm > Chomsky interviewed by Barsamian Sept 9 > transcript from KGNU Boulder > > Direct from Dili / Sept 8 > http://www.webactive.com/rihurl.ram?file=webactive/demnow/dn990908.ra&start= > 1:05 > full audio link) > Allan Nairn Democracy Now report > > U.S Complicity in East Timor > http://www.thenation.com/issue/990927/0927nairn.shtml > (text variant) > Allan Nairn in The Nation > > Genocide !! ? > http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Timor/geno2.htm > David Peterson for ZNet Sept 9 > > Will the U.S. Commit to Timor? > http://www.zmag.org/ustimor.htm > Scott Burchill for ZNet Sept 8 > > And also many links to sites with direct reporting, resources, > organizational statements, etc. > > For those who remember our coverage of the Kosovo conflict (on-going), we > are working on a Question and Answer piece like that done then, as well. > > ----- > > Major new statement from Noam Chomsky, Sept 10, on Timor.... > > Comments On the Occasion of the Forthcoming APEC Summit > > There are many topics of major long-term significance that should be > addressed at the APEC conference, but one is of consuming importance and > overwhelming urgency. We all know exactly what it is, and why it must be > placed at the forefront of concern -- and more important, instant action. > This conference provides an opportunity -- there may not be many more -- to > terminate the tragedy that is once again reaching shocking proportions in > East Timor. The Indonesian military forces who invaded East Timor 24 years > ago, and have been slaughtering and terrorizing its inhabitants ever since, > are right now, as I write, in the process of sadistically destroying what > remains: the population, the cities and villages. What they are planning, we > cannot be sure: a Carthaginian solution is not out of the question. > > The tragedy of East Timor has been one of the most awesome of this terrible > century. It is also of particular moral significance for us, for the > simplest and most obvious of reasons. Western complicity has been direct and > decisive. The expected corollary also holds: unlike the crimes of official > enemies, these can be ended by means that have always been readily > available, and still are. > > The current wave of terror and destruction began early this year, under the > pretense that the atrocities were the work of "uncontrolled militias." It > was quickly revealed that these were paramilitary forces armed, organized, > and directed by the Indonesian army, who also participated directly in their > "criminal activities," as these have just been described by Indonesian > Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, still maintaining the shameful pretense that > the "military institution" that is directing the crimes is seeking to stop > them. > > The Indonesian military forces are commonly described as "rogue elements." > That is hardly accurate. Most prominent among them are Kopassus units sent > to East Timor to carry out the actions for which they are famed, and > dreaded. They have "the job of managing the militias, many observers > believe," veteran Asia correspondent David Jenkins reported as the terror > was mounting. Kopassus is the "crack special forces unit" modeled on the > U.S. Green Berets that had "been training regularly with US and Australian > forces until their behaviour became too much of an embarrassment for their > foreign friends." These forces are "legendary for their cruelty," observes > Benedict Anderson, one of the leading Indonesia scholars. In East Timor, > Anderson continues, "Kopassus became the pioneer and exemplar for every kind > of atrocity," including systematic rapes, tortures and executions, and > organization of hooded gangsters. > > Jenkins wrote that Kopassus officers, trained in the United States, adopted > the tactics of the US Phoenix program in South Vietnam, which killed tens of > thousands of peasants and much of the indigenous South Vietnamese > leadership, as well as "the tactics employed by the Contras" in Nicaragua, > following lessons taught by their CIA mentors that it should be unnecessary > to review. The state terrorists were "not simply going after the most > radical pro-independence people but going after the moderates, the people > who have influence in their community." "It's Phoenix," a well-placed source > in Jakarta reported: the aim is "to terrorise everyone" -- the NGOs, the Red > Cross, the UN, the journalists. > > All of this was well before the referendum and the atrocities conducted in > its immediate aftermath. As to these, there is good reason to heed the > judgment of a high-ranking Western official in Dili. "Make no mistake," he > reported: "this is being directed from Jakarta. This is not a situation > where a few gangs of rag-tag militia are out of control. As everybody here > knows, it has been a military operation from start to finish." > > The official was speaking from the UN compound in which the UN observers, > the last few reporters, and thousands of terrified Timorese finally took > refuge, besieged by Indonesia's paramilitary agents. At that time, a few > days ago, the UN estimated that violent expulsions had perhaps reached > 200,000 people, about a quarter of the population, with unknown numbers > killed and physical destruction running to billions of dollars. At best, it > would take decades to rebuild the territory's basic infrastructure, they > concluded. And the army may well have still more far-reaching goals. > > In the months before the August 30 referendum, the horror story continued. > Citing diplomatic, church, and militia sources, Australian journalists > reported in July "that hundreds of modern assault rifles, grenades and > mortars are being stockpiled, ready for use if the autonomy [within > Indonesia] option is rejected at the ballot box." They warned that the > army-run militias might be planning a violent takeover of much of the > territory if, despite the terror, the popular will would be expressed. All > of this was well understood by the "foreign friends," who also knew how to > bring the terror to an end, but preferred to delay, hesitate, and keep to > evasive and ambiguous reactions that the Indonesian Generals could easily > interpret as a "green light" to carry out their grim work. > > In a display of extraordinary courage and heroism, virtually the entire > population made their way to the ballot-boxes, many emerging from hiding to > do so. Braving brutal intimidation and terror, they voted overwhelming in > favor of the right of self-determination that had long ago been endorsed by > the United Nations Security Council and the World Court. > > Immediately, the Indonesian occupying forces reacted as had been predicted > by observers on the scene. The weapons that had been stockpiled, and the > forces that had been mobilized, conducted a well-planned operation. They > proceeded to drive out anyone who might bring the terrible story to the > outside world and cut off communications, while massacring, expelling tens > of thousands of people to an unknown fate, burning and destroying, murdering > priests and nuns, and no one knows how many other hapless victims. The > capital city of Dili has been virtually destroyed. In the countryside, where > the army can rampage undetected, one can only guess what has taken place. > > Even before the latest outrages, highly credible Church sources had reported > 3-5000 killed in 1999, well beyond the scale of atrocities in Kosovo prior > to the NATO bombings. The scale might even reach the level of Rwanda if the > "foreign friends" keep to timid expressions of disapproval while insisting > that internal security in East Timor "is the responsibility of the > Government of Indonesia, and we don't want to take that responsibility away > from them" -- the official position of the State Department a few days > before the August 30 referendum. > > It would have been far less hypocritical to have said, early this year, that > internal security in Kosovo "is the responsibility of the Government of > Yugoslavia, and we don't want to take that responsibility away from them." > Indonesia's crimes in East Timor have been vastly greater, even just this > year, not to speak of their actions during the years of aggression and > terror; Western-backed, we should never allow ourselves to forget. That > aside, Indonesia has no claim whatsoever to the territory it invaded and > occupied, apart from the claim based on support by the Great Powers. > > The "foreign friends" also understand that direct intervention in the > occupied territory, however justified, might not even be necessary. If the > United States were to take a clear, unambiguous, and public stand, informing > the Indonesian Generals that this game is over, that might very well > suffice. The same has been true for the past quarter-century, as the US > provided critical military and diplomatic support for the invasion and > atrocities. These were directed by General Suharto, compiling yet another > chapter in his gruesome record, always with Western support, and often > acclaim. He was once again praised by the Clinton Administration. He is "our > kind of guy," the Administration declared as he visited Washington shortly > before he fell from grace by losing control and dragging his feet on IMF > orders. > > If changing the former green light to a new red light does not suffice, > Washington and its allies have ample means at their disposal: termination of > arms sales to the killers; initiation of war crimes trials against the army > leadership -- not an insignificant threat; cutting the economic support > funds that are, incidentally, not without their ambiguities; putting a hold > on Western energy corporations and multinationals, along with other > investment and commercial activities. There is also no reason to shy away > from peacekeeping forces to replace the occupying terrorist army, if that > proves necessary. Indonesia has no authority to "invite" foreign > intervention, as President Clinton urged, any more than Saddam Hussein had > authority to invite foreign intervention in Kuwait, or Nazi Germany in > France in 1944 for that matter. If dispatch of peacekeeping forces is > disguised by such prettified terminology, it is of no great importance, as > long as we do not succumb to illusions that prevent us from understanding > what has happened, and what it portends. > > What the U.S. and its allies are doing, we scarcely know. The New York Times > reports that the Defense Department is "taking the lead in dealing with the > crisis,...hoping to make use of longstanding ties between the Pentagon and > the Indonesian military." The nature of these ties over many decades is no > secret. Important light on the current stage is provided by Alan Nairn, who > survived the Dili massacre in 1991 and barely escaped with his life in Dili > again a few days ago. In another stunning investigative achievement, Nairn > has just revealed that immediately after the vicious massacre of dozens of > refugees seeking shelter in a church in Liquica, U.S. Pacific Commander > Admiral Dennis Blair assured Indonesian Army chief General Wiranto of US > support and assistance, proposing a new U.S. training mission. > > On September 8, the Pacific Command announced that Admiral Blair is once > again being sent to Indonesia to convey U.S. concerns. On the same day, > Secretary of Defense William Cohen reported that a week before the > referendum in August, the US was carrying out joint operations with the > Indonesian army -- "a U.S.-Indonesian training exercise focused on > humanitarian and disaster relief activities," the wire services reported. > The fact that Cohen could say this without shame leaves one numb with > amazement. The training exercise was put to use within days -- in the > standard way, as all but the voluntarily blind must surely understand after > many years of the same tales, the same outcomes. > > Every slight move comes with an implicit retraction. On the eve of the APEC > meeting, on September 9, Clinton announced the termination of military ties; > but without cutting off arms sales, and while declaring East Timor to be > "still a part of Indonesia," which it is not and has never been. The > decision was delivered to General Wiranto by Admiral Blair. It takes no > unusual cynicism to watch the current secret interactions with a skeptical > eye. > > Skepticism is only heightened by the historical record: to mention one > recent case, Clinton's evasion of congressional restrictions barring U.S. > training of Indonesian military officers after the Dili massacre. The > earlier record is far worse from the first days of the U.S.-authorized > invasion. While the U.S. publicly condemned the aggression, Washington > secretly supported it with a new flow of arms, which was increased by the > Carter Administration as the slaughter reached near-genocidal levels in > 1978. It was then that highly credible Church and other sources in East > Timor attempted to make public the estimates of 200,000 deaths that came to > be accepted years later, after constantly denial. > > Every student in the West, every citizen with even a minimal concern for > international affairs, should know by heart the frank and honest description > of the opening days of the invasion by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then > America's U.N. Ambassador. The Security Council ordered the invaders to > withdraw at once, but without effect. In his memoirs, published as the > terror peaked 20 years ago, Moynihan explained the reasons: "The United > States wished things to turn out as they did," and he dutifully "worked to > bring this about," rendering the UN "utterly ineffective in whatever > measures it undertook." As for how "things turned out," Moynihan comments > that within a few months 60,000 Timorese had been killed, "almost the > proportion of casualties experienced by the Soviet Union during the Second > World War." End of story, though not in the real world. > > So matters have continued since, not just in the United States. England has > a particularly ugly record, as do Australia, France, and all too many > others. That fact alone confers on them enormous responsibility to act, not > only to end the atrocities, but to provide reparations as at least some > miserable gesture of compensation for their crimes. > > The reasons for the Western stance are very clear. They are currently stated > with brutal frankness. "The dilemma is that Indonesia matters and East Timor > doesn't," a Western diplomat in Jakarta bluntly observed a few days ago. It > is no "dilemma," he might have added, but rather standard operating > procedure. Explaining why the U.S. refuses to take a stand, New York Times > Asia specialists Elizabeth Becker and Philip Shenon report that the Clinton > Administration "has made the calculation that the United States must put its > relationship with Indonesia, a mineral-rich nation of more than 200 million > people, ahead of its concern over the political fate of East Timor, a tiny > impoverished territory of 800,000 people that is seeking independence." > Their fate as human beings apparently does not even reach the radar screen, > for these calculations. The Washington Post quotes Douglas Paal, president > of the Asia Pacific Policy Center, reporting the facts of life: "Timor is a > speed bump on the road to dealing with Jakarta, and we've got to get over it > safely. Indonesia is such a big place and so central to the stability of the > region." > > Even without secret Pentagon assurances, Indonesian Generals can surely read > these statements and draw the conclusion that they will be granted leeway to > work their will. > > The analogy to Kosovo has repeatedly been drawn in the past days. It is > singularly inappropriate, in many crucial respects. A closer analogy would > be to Iraq-Kuwait, though this radically understates the scale of the > atrocities and the culpability of the United States and its allies. There is > still time, though very little time, to prevent a hideous consummation of > one of the most appalling tragedies of the terrible century that is winding > to a horrifying, wrenching close. _ > > >
