Posted on 05/02/2008 1:06:34 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe
JAKARTA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Members of the Indonesian House of Representatives have moved to establish a special task force to investigate U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 (Namru-2), local press said Tuesday.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the second largest faction in the House, proposed the fact-finding team because of allegations the U.S. laboratory is engaging in espionage and the lack of apparent benefits to Indonesia from their research.
"We propose the House form a task force to investigate the lab to reassure the public that it isn't spying on us and that it really benefits the country," senior PDI-P lawmaker Sidarto Danusubroto was quoted by major newspaper The Jakarta Post as saying.
Sidarto, a member of the House's Commission one on security, defense and foreign affairs, said the team would urge the laboratory to be transparent in its operations.
Lawmaker Hakim Sorimuda Pohan of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party supported the idea, saying Indonesian scientists could take over the work of the laboratory's researchers.
"We will summon the health minister to discuss the issue further. I see no need for the lab to continue operating here," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.xinhuanet.com ...
Ping...
Hmmmm ... In need of dancing around the May Pole money are they?
I can't blame them. They better get as much as they can before the U.S.A. falls down and goes boom.
So a US hybrid military/civilian facility with a 6:1 locals to American ratio needs to be more transparent in it's day to day operations? Don't quite get where they're coming from on that. Spying? Sure, they're spying, in mostly the same way that any good intelligence agency subscribes to the newspapers published, or listens to radio broadcasts or watches TV.
I'm sure that India or another nation in the region would enjoy a transference of the facility if that's what they desire. Personally, considering the high populations, the constant international traffic, and the ties the lab has not just to the CDC but the WHO as well, they'd be fools to let the facility shutter itself, and the US fools to let them play games with it.
Foggy Bottom, however, will of course call upon the Navy to be open and receptive to even more Indonesian influence as let us always appease everyone.
Something here just doesn’t make sense.
There are only 19 US Citizens working at the lab in the first place. All the others are Indonesians?
Lastly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated NAMRU-2 the WHO Collaborating Center for Emerging Diseases for Southeast Asia.
http://www.geis.fhp.osd.mil/GEIS/Training/namru-2asp.asp
I’m starting a betting pool on how long it takes Jeremiah Wright to propound that we’re there to Collaborate on Spreading Diseases through Southeast Asia.
We really need to triple the number of spies we do have over there, anyway. It’s a cesspool.
“Mrs Supari, who has famously refused to share bird flu samples with international scientists, “ (because she says she doesn’t want lucrative vaccines made.)
Translation...she wants a bribe or cut of the deal.
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