John Howard's covert East Timor independence plan (important read)

The Australian ^ | September 05, 2009 | Paul Kelly

[naturalman1975]

THE Howard government decided in early 1999 to work for East Timor's independence but concealed this from the Indonesian government, John Howard and Alexander Downer have revealed.

And senior Australian and US officials have disclosed that the Clinton administration threatened Jakarta with US military retaliation if Indonesian forces contested the Australian-led UN intervention in East Timor.

These revelations in the book The March of Patriots - the Struggle for Modern Australia contradict the decade-long orthodoxy about the 1999 East Timor crisis.

....

Before the Australia-led UN force under Major General Peter Cosgrove landed in East Timor, US defence secretary William Cohen visited Jakarta and delivered a lethal warning.

Former foreign affairs chief Ashton Calvert said: "The message Cohen conveyed was, 'If you touch the Australians, the United States will come after you'."

A Pentagon official travelling with Mr Cohen, James Schear, said: "The Pentagon's top leadership was of the view that if Australian forces got into serious difficulties, then the US, as an ally, would unquestionably act to assist them."

Mr Cohen's message to Indonesia's president Habibie and defence minister General Wiranto was that "this deployment must not be contested".

.....

"My personal belief is that thousands of East Timorese are alive today because of John Howard," Mr Roth said.

[naturalman1975]

I hope this gets publicity.

Significant numbers of Australians are under the impression that the United States failed to support us fully in East Timor.

Those of us who were well informed knew better - a Marine Expeditionary Unit on the USS Belleu Wood was available, if necessary, to support us. If Australian troops had encountered heavy resistance going ashore, US Marines could have opened a second beach head to ensure a successful landing or, in a worst case scenario, cover a withdrawal.

The knowledge that US troops were ready, and the US was willing, was a large part of the reason why they weren't necessary. The Indonesians decided not to resist but to cooperate instead. They might have decided to take on Australia. They weren't going to take on the US.

But for diplomatic reasons, we all had to act like there wasn't any real tension and so this was all kept fairly quiet.

[Dr. Sivana]

THat escapade had about as good an outcome as possible. I hate to say it, but Clinton handled it well. Obama would be threatening sanctions against the East Timorese for their “coup.”

[Verginius Rufus]

The bigger scandal is that Indonesia was allowed to annex the western half of New Guinea. The native populations were denied a say in their own fate and have suffered for over 40 years as a consequence. Thank the Kennedy administration for that (and the UN).