Word: indonesians
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Does this tacit support imply that the U.S. bears responsibility for the invasion which was carried out entirely by Indonesian troops? Could the U.S. government have stopped Indonesia? The position of the State Department and of the major American media is unambiguous: they deplore the admitted atrocities but claim that the U.S. could have done little to prevent the invasion. At best it would have alienated an importantally. To give only one example, James Fallow of The Atlantic Monthly argued...
...Having spoken to Indonesians on this 'sensitive' subject. I now believe that the Indonesian army would have invaded Timor no matter what we or anyone else said about it, even if each Indonesian soldier had at his disposal no weapon other than his sacred dagger, the 'kris.'" (Atlantic Monthly, June...
Recently leaked top-secret American documents seem to prove the opposite. They show that the U.S. foreign policy makers were aware that Indonesian President Suharto was concerned about world opinion and resisted the demands of his generals to annex East Timor for over a year. These leaked documents were passages from the "National Intelligence Daily," a briefing document published by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for a small, specially cleared audience in Washington--which included, the President of the United States. These leaked intelligence briefs, published in the Australian newspaper National Times in May and June...
August 20, 1975: "President Suharto evidently is still delaying on a decision to authorize military action. Apparently, a major consideration on his part is that an invasion of Timor, if it comes, must be justified as an act in defense of Indonesian security. He is acutely aware that conditions of U.S. military assistance to Indonesia specifically limit the use of this equipment to defensive purposes...
September 26, 1975: "Vastly increased Indonesian involvement is now proposed: special forces troops, armed with weapons that cannot be traced to Jakarta will be used. Malaysia has reportedly agreed in principle to supply such weapons...recent press reports from Jakarta that claim FRETILIN forces crossed the border and attacked Indonesian Timor may have been released by military officers in an effort to build up the pressure on Suharto...