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	Vol.7, No 10, September 15, 1999
	U.S. owes E. Timor more than money The Clinton administration is finally willing to turn the tide of human suffering and send peacekeeping forces to East Timor. The Clinton administration has facilitated as much genocide in East Timor as previous administrations have by selling Indonesia over $300 million in weapons, including several F-16 fighter planes, according to the East Timorese Action Network. Jason Kosareff The United States should not only clean up the mess it has created; it should also compensate the tiny nation for its vast loss of human life.    I will list the crimes the United States has committed against East Timor in collusion with Indonesia, which are documented in "Genocide in Paradise," by Matthew Jardine, a human rights activist who visited East Timor.    In 1975, just nine days after East Timor declared independence from the centuries-long colonial rule of Portugal, Indonesia invaded the island. Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation on Earth, and its army decimated 250,000 East Timorese, reducing the population to around 500,000.    The United States benefited in every way from the holocaust, which as a percentage of the island's population is equivalent to the loss Russia suffered in all of World War II. U.S. multinational corporations quickly moved to steal East Timorís natural resources and exploit the island's indigent population for cheap labor.    About 90 percent of the weapons used in the original invasion were supplied by the United States, according to the East Timor Action Network, a human rights group that has lobbied Congress to put pressure on the Indonesian government. The original invasion lasted no longer than a few months and killed about 60,000 Timorese, according to Daniel P. Moynihan, then serving as President Fordís United Nations ambassador.    U.S. imperialists have gained enormous wealth from the wholesale murder of the East Timorese, but mainly it is the arms makers and war mongers who profit from the sale of weapons who have raked in all the profits.    ETAN has lobbied Congress to end Pentagon programs that train Indonesian military generals in making war, a skill that traditionally has been used against the defenseless East Timorese.   From Coca-Cola to Alcoa, to Mobile and Chevron, U.S. companies have been hell bent on ripping off the tiny nation while Indonesia does the dirty work of shooting into unarmed crowds of East Timorese and jailing the island's political leaders.    As one East Timorese priest wrote, "Timor's petroleum smells better to the United States than Timorese blood and tears."    The United States and the United Nations should not only remove Indonesian and pro-Indonesian forces from East Timor; it should also guide East Timor toward self-determination. After all, one third of a nationís population is one third of its potential work force. That kind of economic damage takes generations to recover from.    East Timor's self determination should be the prime goal of any intervention, which means all U.S. forces need to leave once the pro-Indonesian militias are eliminated.    Perhaps the East Timorese struggle will be enough of a catalyst to prompt other countries in the South Pacific to smash imperialism and liberate themselves from U.S. and European neo-colonialism.    Either way, U.S. intervention is only a fraction of the debt this nation owes the East Timorese.    Jason Kosareff is a journalism major at CSULB.		Teachers stress improved training Computer jobs hottest in market Package frightens residents Campus moms get support Center answers students' career questions, problems L.B. department aids job seekers Temporary jobs provide experience to students Grad advice eases student confusion A spade is still a spade U.S. owes E. Timor more than money Peruvian artist displays talent Gallo comes home Determination equals victory Fall 99 ISSUES DAILY 49ER HOMEPAGE
Forty-Niner Publications, Department of Journalism, California State University, Long Beach ©1999 All rights reserved.