Posted on 10/15/2002 10:58:57 PM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
KUTA, Indonesia - A former member of the Indonesian Air Force has confessed to investigators that he assembled the bomb that destroyed the heart of Bali's nightclub district Saturday, killing at least 181 people, an Indonesian security official said Tuesday.The suspect, who is being held by Indonesian authorities, told investigators that he regretted the massive loss of life, but he has not disclosed who ordered him to make the bomb, according to the security official. The official said the suspect had learned to make explosives while serving in the air force, which later dismissed him for misconduct.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Round up the usual suspects.
Bombing probe will fail: US officials
By Matthew Lee and Stephen Collinson in Washington
October 15, 2002US officials believe the perpetrators of the deadly weekend car-bombing on the Indonesian resort island of Bali had foreign help and predict that the local investigation of the attack will lead nowhere, according to a State Department analysis.
The report, obtained by AFP on Monday, said the bombers were probably not native Balinese – mainly Hindus, whose tourism-dependent economy will likely be shattered by the loss of visitors – but rather were Islamic militants from abroad or Indonesians from other parts of the country.
In either case, the report said that the bombers, who may have received instruction at terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, Sulawesi in Indonesia or Mindanao in the southern Philippines, almost certainly had outside help in planning the attack.
"Whoever the actual perpetrators were, radical Muslims from Indonesia or elsewhere, we speculate that they had foreign help," the report added.
That assistance would have consisted of target surveillance, operational planning for the attack, the technical know-how to put together the bombs and where to place them for maximum casualty effect, it noted.
"It is likely that following the example elsewhere in the world, the foreign technical advisors had left the country by the time the attack took place," according to the report.
It did not address specifics of who might have been involved in Saturday's bombing which killed at least 183 people, mainly foreigners.
But it predicted that Indonesian authorities investigating the bombing will have no success in tracking the perpetrators down.
"Local authorities will work hard to solve this case, but their investigation will be fruitless and the perpetrators will neither be identified nor apprehended," the report said, adding concerns that the economic implications of the attacks might interfere with the probe.
US officials have privately warned in recent months that they do not believe President Megawati Sukarnoputri has done enough to crack down on radical Islamic groups – and cautioned that Indonesia may be a weak link in the US anti-terror campaign.
There also appears little confidence in Indonesia's capacity to protect foreigners, especially Americans, disquiet that has provoked a flurry of warnings to US citizens in the country and suggestions even before the bombing that some US diplomats could be withdrawn.
The State Department ordered the departure of non-essential diplomats and the families of all embassy employees from Indonesia on Sunday, citing a "mounting threat to Americans wherever they are in Indonesia".
The report suggested that cultural factors could torpedo the probe.
"There is also a danger that local officials under pressure from Jakarta to show results, may arrest – or shoot resisting arrest – the 'usual suspects' or local criminals, and pronounce the case solved, and Bali safe to travel to once again," the report said.
Regardless of the quality of the investigation, the report said that Indonesians, who place great emphasis on the Asian concept of "face", have been badly shaken by the bombing.
"This has occurred in a culture where the people are proud of their country, and preservation of face is a primary social trait," it said. "Indonesia and its people have been humiliated by this event."
"The authorities and the people must now face the fact that they have a serious terrorism problem on their hands, and must deal with it, or lose investment, tourism and credibility from the international community."
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but Indonesia-based Islamic groups like Laskar Jihad and the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah have been mentioned as possible al-Qaeda co-conspirators.
But the report said it did not matter exactly which brand of extremist is to blame.
Indonesia police refuse to deny confession report
BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - The police chief of the Indonesian island of Bali said on Wednesday he would not confirm nor deny a report that a former air force member had confessed to building bombs that killed 181 people in weekend blasts.
"Later that information will be developed. I will give that to investigators," Budi Setyawan told reporters.
"We will develop that," he said when asked whether he could confirm or deny the report in The Washington Post. The Post sourced its information to an unnamed Indonesian security official linking the former Indonesian air force member to the explosions.
No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday's blasts, that killed mostly foreign tourists, but national police chief Da'i Bachtiar has told reporters authorities were "intensively" interrogating two Indonesians.
Indonesia on Monday for the first time linked Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network to the blasts, and U.S. President George W. Bush said he also believed the group, blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, was involved.
Eight bombers staged Bali attack using two vans: newspaper
Eight bombers in two vans staged the deadly Bali terrorism attack, a newspaper reported, as President Megawati was expected to discuss the investigation with members of her cabinet.
Citing police and intelligence sources, local daily Koran Tempo said Wednesday the bombers may have used remote control devices to blow up the two bars filled mostly with foreigners in Bali's busy Kuta tourist district.
Police have said that the explosion, which killed more than 180 people and has been blamed on al-Qaeda, was caused by a car bomb and that the powerful plastic explosive C4 was used.
Two Indonesians have been detained in connection with the attack, which is being investigated by the local police backed by officers from Australia, Britain, Germany, Japan and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
One of the detained was said to have been in the Kuta area when the blast occurred.
Tempo cited information obtained from an unnamed official of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) that eight people -- seven Indonesians under the leadership of someone from the Middle East -- carried out the bombing.
"They are all aready out of Bali," the official said.
Bali Police Chief Brigadier General Budi Setiawan, asked about the newspaper report Wednesday, said "that is from the report of our (police) intelligence" but declined further comment.
"The questioning and the investigation is still proceeding," he said.
According to Tempo, the two multi-purpose vans used in the attack had first stopped near the popular Sari Club, causing a traffic jam in the narrow main street of Kuta while clearing a space in front of them.
One van was left behind and the occupants switched to the other vehicle which sped off before the bomb blew up shortly thereafter, it said.
"There are two possibilities, that the bomb was activated by a timer or the perpetrators just pushed a remote control button so that they can control the blast from a safe distance and give them enough time to flee," a police source was quoted as saying.
The blast ripped through the packed Sari Club and a bar across the road and caused a fire that blazed for hours and gutted the area.
National Police Chief General Da'i Bachtiar said some witnesses spoke of a man who left a white plastic bag at the scene and fled when he was hailed shortly before the blast.
"We are already in possesion of the description of the man," Bachtiar said.
Sources said President Megawati was expected to discuss the probe into the country's worst ever terrorist attack with some of her cabinet members on Wednesday.
Megawati's limited cabinet meeting was mainly to discuss her upcoming trips abroad, Garibaldi Sujatmiko, the head of the press and media office of the presidential secretariat, told AFP but sources close to the cabinet said the investigation appear certain to be on the agenda.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has described the attack as "very carefully planned" and said Indonesian investigators believed Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, possibly working with a local group such as Jemaah Islamiyah, was responsible.
Megawati is scheduled to receive Downer for talks on Wednesday.
Downer, who visited Bali before arriving here late on Tuesday, is expected to press Indonesia to set up a joint counter-terrorism task force which would give Australian a rare role in its activities, reports in Sydney said.
Australians and Indonesians are believed to account for the bulk of those killed and injured in Saturday's attack.
Regrets??
this is an odd thing to say, he didn't realize this bomb would kill people??
Wednesday, October 16, 2002. Posted: 14:36:46 (AEDT)
Indonesian officer confesses to assembling Bali bomb: report
Indonesian police have arrested a former air force officer who confessed to building the bomb which killed more than 180 people on the island of Bali, a US report said.
Quoting Indonesian security sources, the Washington Post said the suspect regretted the huge loss of life in Saturday's attack but had yet to reveal who ordered him to build the bomb.
The report, carried on the website of the International Herald Tribune, said the suspect had learned to handle explosives while serving in the Indonesian air force, which later dismissed him for misconduct.
Investigators have already revealed that the powerful C4 military explosive was used to build the huge bomb that destroyed the Sari Club in the resort of Kuta which was packed with foreign tourists.
The security sources also told the Washington Post that the Indonesian government had learned a week before the attack that Islamic extremists were planning to carry out a bombing.
The report said security was heightened at more than 60 locations around the country, but that it was not thought the popular resort island of Bali would be targetted.
An international task force of police officers from Indonesia, Australia, Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States has been assembled to track down the Bali bombers.
So far nobody has claimed responsibility.
In the US we practice a similar system, except that we mostly use lethal injection these days...
It won't be an invasion. It will be a resumption of military ties between the two nations by mutual agreement.
We would do well to have a prisoner interogation base that we could share with these guys. They could do the interogating and we could provide pizza and beer.
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