U.S. Move to Resume Training Indonesian Military Draws Concern

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0715-02.htm



WASHINGTON -- Reports that the Bush administration will release funds train Indonesian military
officers--despite a recent vote by a key Senate committee that calls for training to be suspended until
the army's responsibility for the killing of two U.S. teachers is clarified--have drawn strong
expressions of concern by human rights groups here.

A Pentagon spokesman said Monday he could not confirm that a decision has in fact been made, but
non-government organizations (NGOs) that monitor Indonesia said they understand that senior
Defense officials, including Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a former U.S. ambassador to
Indonesia, have decided to go ahead.

Wolfowitz has long argued that U.S. military re-engagement with the Indonesian military (TNI) should
be an urgent priority in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, and that it can help improve the armed forces'
human rights performance, a contention with which human rights groups and many Indonesia
analysts strongly disagree.

"For over three decades, the U.S. and
Indonesian militaries were extremely close
and we saw no move to reform," said Ed
McWilliams, a former State Department
officer who served as political counselor in
the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta from 1996 to
1999. That year military relations were
suspended after TNI-organized militias
went on a rampage in East Timor.