Posted on 06/19/2004 6:09:08 PM PDT by FairOpinion
JAKARTA, June 18 (Reuters) - Indonesia's naval chief has ordered his commanders to shoot dead armed terrorists or pirates operating in key waterways including the busy Strait of Malacca, which carries a third of world trade.
Navy Chief of Staff, Bernard Kent Sondakh, would also meet soon with his counterparts from Malaysia and Singapore to seek ways to increase joint patrols in the Strait, officials said on Friday.
The Malacca Strait is an 805-km (500-mile) channel through which about 50,000 commercial vessels pass each year, including ships ferrying 80 percent of Japan's oil needs.
"In the future, every thief or terrorist at sea has to be shot dead and this should be publicised by the mass media to teach a lesson," Sondakh said in a statement.
The United States and Singapore have voiced alarm at the risk of pirates linked to terror groups attacking tankers or other vessels in the Strait, and called for tougher security measures.
But Muslim-majority nations Indonesia and Malaysia, on either side of the waterway, have rejected suggestions foreign forces might be used.
Sondakh said his tough order applied especially to the Strait of Malacca, where piracy is a constant menace to vessels.
He complained pirates and hijackers caught at sea by the Indonesian navy were serving only light jail terms and then returning to their ways.
"Those who use weapons have to be shot dead. Don't take them alive, unless they surrender and ask for mercy," he said.
"From now on we will show to the world that the Indonesian Navy alone is capable of safeguarding the Malacca Strait, and don't try and accuse us of violating human rights again."
Navy deputy spokesman Colonel Sumantri said no schedule was available for Sondakh's meeting with his Malaysian or Singaporean counterparts.
"We have been doing coordinated patrols for some time with Malaysia and Singapore there. What we are going to discuss later is how to increase those patrols," Sumantri said.
He had no further details.
The United States is expected to start talks soon with Asian nations on a Regional Maritime Security Initiative, an as yet ill-defined plan whose focus will be to boost cooperation.
Singapore has repeatedly warned of the potential link between pirates and militant networks such as Jemaah Islamiah, blamed for the deadly 2002 bomb blasts on the island of Bali and linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.
The Bali blasts killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
"Those who use weapons have to be shot dead. Don't take them alive, unless they surrender and ask for mercy," he said."
Sounds like a good approach to me. We need to learn from that. If all the terrorists we locked up in Abu Ghraib had been killed, instead of captured, we wouldn't have had "the scandal".
Gee, what's Kofi's opinion about this?
It's sort of like deja view all over again - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1156276/posts - same topic, different source...
They're very worried down there, rightfully so.
It's gonna be a long hard slog.
But what about their rights under the Geneva Conventions? (/sarcasm)
If they do it I won't complain about human rights abuse.
I'd even be willing to throw in a panty or two for their effort.
pirates
"Block sea lanes" or blow up U.S. aircraft carriers?
In the meantime, in the US Congress:
Senate bill requires defense secretary to report mistreatment (of enemy combatants)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1156668/posts
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Concerned about America's image abroad and frustrated over a lack of information during the early days of the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal, the Senate on Wednesday approved a measure that would require the defense secretary to report to Congress any suspected mistreatment of military prisoners.
Tacked onto the 2005 Defense Authorization Bill, the amendment, sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., largely reaffirms current U.S. policy that prisoners of war and enemy combatants must not be tortured or treated inhumanely.
Several Republican senators, including Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner of Virginia, expressed support for the measure, and it is expected to emerge intact when the House and Senate leaders meet to merge their differing versions of the defense bill.
It's not just Singapore, Jakarta, and KL that are worried. Most of Japan's oil goes through the Straits.
....and the always missing detail ".. and injured more than 500, overwhelmingly Indonesian."
Works for me.
They understand that this is WAR, not a "police action", as Kerry would handle it.
Terrorists could target SE Asia shipping lanes with ‘crude nuclear device'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1109119/posts
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Terrorists could be planning to attack Southeast Asia's busiest shipping lanes with a "crude nuclear device," Australia warned in a report obtained Tuesday. It also said al-Qaeda-linked regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah continues to thrive despite the arrest of 200 suspected members and appears to be pursuing terror training and links with groups from the Philippines to Pakistan.
The Malacca Straits west of Malaysia, the world's busiest shipping lane where over a quarter of the world's trade, half of its oil and LNG pass through daily, is a prime target, a U.S. official told a meeting of the 23-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF).
I can't wait to hear the global outcry from the left.
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