Australian Financial Review http://www.afr.com.au/content/990921/news/news2.html September 21, 1999 Spy report did a backflip By Geoffrey Barker A Defence intelligence assessment revealed by the Federal Opposition yesterday claimed in April that the Indonesian military provided a "moderating influence" in East Timor which would decrease the likelihood of widespread and serious conflict in the territory. The assessment, dated April 30, contrasted sharply with a leaked March 4 assessment from the Defence Intelligence Organisation which argued that the Indonesian military was protecting and in some cases co-operating with East Timor's militias. Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Laurie Brereton, claimed last night that the Department of Foreign Affairs had pressured DIO to radically revise its assessments to "remove any conflict with the Howard Government's acceptance of Jakarta's assurances that the Indonesian military would maintain peace and order in East Timor". Earlier, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, told Parliament: "There obviously are a variety of views in those intelligence assessments ... You do not just get a single stream of assessment all of the time, you get a lot of different views expressed over time." Mr Downer attacked Mr Brereton for disclosing the DIO assessment during Question Time. "When you were in Government, you said that secondary disclosure should be a criminal offence," he said. Mr Brereton said the April 30 assessment came two days after the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, returned from a Bali meeting with the Indonesian President, Dr B.J. Habibie, saying there had been "a quantum shift" in the assertion of control of the military by the Indonesian Government and by the Indonesian military in East Timor. The assessment, entitled "The Ingredients of Conflict", said the Indonesian military provided "a moderating influence on both sides by decreasing the likelihood of widespread and serious violence". Coming after the Liquica massacre and a spate of militia killings, the assessment contrasted strongly with the prescient March 4 assessment which said violence was certain and that Dili would be a focus of it. Mr Brereton said the April 30 assessment was "an extraordinary proposition completely at odds with all the evidence and DIO's own earlier analysis". "This and other compromised assessments were presumably shared with countries such as the United States and no doubt provided valuable support for the Howard Government's campaign to discourage international pressure for peacekeepers in East Timor," he said. Mr Downer told Parliament the role of some elements of the Indonesian military in working with the militias was a matter of great concern to Australia and other governments. "We have spoken about this publicly on many occasions with a degree of appropriate diplomatic caution," he said. As Australian troops moved into Dili yesterday, Mr Howard defended Australia's engagement in East Timor, stressing that Australia had "certain values and ... certain attitudes on issues to defence ... a desire to stand up for what we think is right". Reflecting a tough new stance towards Indonesia, he said: "Above all, it is right that the people who voted almost 80 per cent to have independence shouldn't have that snatched away from them." Rejecting Indonesian claims that Australia had been too aggressive over East Timor, Mr Howard added: "We are doing what we should be doing in the region. We are behaving as Australia can behave and should behave in our region." The Federal Opposition Leader, Mr Kim Beazley, said Labor was critical of the Government's diplomacy but fully supported the decision to deploy troops. c This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
