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• Maybe more complex (Score:2)

  by darobin (1316) on 2002.05.26 19:31 (#8848) Homepage Journal

  It may be a touch more complex that than, and I do emphasize may because I do not have sufficient background on this case.

  A few years ago East Timor (prior to independence or UNO rule) was seriously shelled by "navy boats". Of course, the only reason anyone outside Timor knows about it is because there were Australian casualties. There is serious suspicion (and some images, but it's hard to know the truth from pictures these days) that the navy doing the shelling was comprised of US boats, not Indonesian boats.

  I do not wish to cast aspersions without better knowledge of the case, but such a request doesn't tend to go against the grain of these accusations.

  I wish I had the time to look closer into this situation, perhaps someone with better knowledge of Timor history will chime in.

  --
  

  -- Robin Berjon [berjon.com]

  Reply to This

  • Re:Maybe more complex (Score:2)

    by TorgoX (1933)

    I'd love if you could dig up a story about the shelling. I've tried poking around in Google, but I get only noise.
    • Re:Maybe more complex (Score:2)

      by darobin (1316)

      I can't find anything on the shelling itself, though I rememver first hearing about it in an ABC (the Australian one) documentary.

      I haven't found much time to look though. One thing I found is:

      "Finally, according to the State Department, 90 percent of the weapons used in the invasion came from the United States. Two years later [1977], as the atrocities in East Timor were reaching a peak, President Jimmy Carter authorized an addition $112 million in weapons sales to Indonesia." [fair.org]

      --
      

      -- Robin Berjon [berjon.com]
      • Re:Maybe more complex (Score:2)

        by darobin (1316)

        And http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/ [gwu.edu] gives good background on the situation.

        --
        

        -- Robin Berjon [berjon.com]