Veterans For Peace Statement On East Timor
Veterans for Peace, Inc.
733 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
Dear President Clinton, Vice-President Gore and Members of Congress:
As members of Veterans For Peace, Inc. and its national Board of Directors, we are outraged at the devastating events taking place in East Timor at the hands of the Indonesian Army and its surrogate paramilitary forces. The outrage is compounded by the fact that the U.S. has a long, sordid history of aiding and abetting, overtly and covertly, the Indonesian military in its oppression of East Timor.
The current onslaught could not possibly have come as a surprise to our government. Further, the government response to the situation, timid and benign in comparison to the threatening verbiage and subsequent military attack directed at Serbia in carrying out NATO policy in Kosovo, indicates tacit acceptance of the “cleansing” going on in East Timor.
The proper government response to what is happening in East Timor, however, should NOT be to bring to bear on Indonesia those two standard tools in the current U.S. diplomacy kit: bombing and blockade. Instead, we ask you respectfully to undertake whatever consultations are deemed necessary to:
Bring about the immediate termination of ALL military aid and training for the Indonesian Army, including the withdrawal of ALL U.S. military personnel from Indonesia,
Terminate all financial aid to Indonesia from the U.S. and the World Bank, and give full support for an expanded UN mission mandate with increased numbers of UN personnel to ensure that the UN can control administration and security in East Timor.
The magnitude and severity of such a response is commensurate with what is happening in East Timor. A less thorough response will move our country yet another step closer to moral bankruptcy.
Sincerely,
Veterans for Peace Board of Directors
Lee Vander Laan, Executive Director, Veterans for Peace, Inc.
Veterans For Peace
733 15th Street, NW Suite 928
Washington DC, 20005
(202) 347-6780
Fax: (202) 347-6781
E-mail: vfp@igc.org
http://www.veteransforpeace.org