Julie

Mother Nature Helps Out On The War On Terror:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- -- While most of the world's attention was focused on the tsunami last week, Osama bin Laden issued another audiotape. Somehow listening to al Qaeda's leader offer his endorsement of Abu Musab al Zarqawi and his murderous ways in Iraq seemed trivial next to the devastation in places like Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

But bin Laden's message was anything but trivial. And its very presence is a reminder that the tsunami and terrorism are related.

How?

Just ask Rohan Gunaratna, senior research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore. You might have seen him on CNN's air from time to time as an expert on al Qaeda and terrorism. Gunaratna lives in Singapore, but he was born and raised in Sri Lanka.

Right now, he's mourning the loss of friends back home. Like most expatriates, he is stunned by what happened not only to his country but to the entire region.

Terrorism has been no stranger to the region. Gunaratna became an expert on suicide bombings many years ago because the Tamil Tigers in his homeland began using such attacks as early as 1987.

Several hundred people were killed this past year in southern Thailand in the festering insurgency between Islamic separatists and the Thai military. And Aceh, the hardest hit area in Indonesia, is the home of GAM, a separatist group that has been waging a sporadic conflict with the Jakarta government.

It was precisely in these areas that the devastation was worst. Some of it, says Gunaratna, took a toll on the terrorist and insurgent movements, who lost both fighters and infrastructure when the waves crashed on shore.

"This is a golden opportunity for the United States," says Gunaratna. The refrain that the United States and the West are losing the war of ideas, especially in the Muslim world, was the main topic at a recent conference about al Qaeda

But counter that with images of U.S. helicopters bringing aid to places like Aceh, delivering something that insurgents can't, and Gunaratna thinks that devastation can unwittingly bring some good. That it might overwhelm the message from bin Laden, at least in Indonesia, which is after all the most populous Islamic country in the world.

He also thinks that the magnitude of the destruction has brought on war fatigue.

"We haven't even started to think about this issue. But natural disasters shape leaders," says Gunaratna.

He talked recently with one former Tamil Tiger terrorist after the tsunami. Gunaratna says this man had been upset at the lack of progress in peace talks between the Tamils and the Sri Lankan government. But he changed his mind after he saw the immense suffering that took place on December 26.

Now, says Gunaratna, the man thought discussing politics was less important than relieving the suffering.

Still, Gunaratna isn't getting too optimistic. Already the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers are squabbling about who should deliver relief aid.

Another expert on terrorism, Zach Abuza, a professor in Southeast Asian studies at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, says the opportunity is there not just for the United States, but for the governments of these countries as well to win a propaganda victory by providing aid not just now, but in the years to come.

One reason military forces in Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka have a chance to show their positive side, says Abuza, is they've had such an appalling human rights record in the past.

With all the aid money coming into the region, Abuza says it will be important to keep an eye on funding from Islamic charities, especially in Saudi Arabia. In the past, he says, these charities have provided funding for al Qaeda-related groups like Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines.

Still, like Rohan Gunaratna, Abuza thinks the tsunami's aftermath can help turn the tide against terrorism in the region, if the U.S. and local governments deliver on their promises.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapc...ism/index.html

troung

"Still, like Rohan Gunaratna, Abuza thinks the tsunami's aftermath can help turn the tide against terrorism in the region, if the U.S. and local governments deliver on their promises."

Yes mother nature is helping out combatting terror and all...


Indonesian military continues attacks on Aceh rebels despite ceasefire
Fri Dec 31, 1:34 AM ET Asia - AFP

JAKARTA (AFP) - The Indonesian military says it is continuing to launch raids against separatist rebels in tsunami-devastated Aceh, despite having earlier called a ceasefire to help aid efforts.

"Our security operations continue, the only difference is that it may be less in scale and intensity," Lieutenant Colonel Nachrowi, of the military headquarters' general information department, told AFP.

"The principle is that all our forces in Aceh are basically continuing their duty under the security operation. But they also have to accord a large portion of their time for the humanitarian relief efforts.

"We continue to launch raids into suspected GAM (Free Aceh Movement) areas and our vigilance remains high."

Nachrowi's comments come despite Indonesian military chief General Endriartono Sutarto calling for an unprecedented temporary ceasefire on Monday with the rebels so focus could be shifted onto rebuilding the remote province.

"All my soldiers will be used to help overcome this natural disaster and I hope that GAM will also do the same, not using the opportunity for something else because this is really something to do with humanitarian problems," he said.

Much of the western coast of Aceh, including the capital of Banda Aceh, was demolished in Sunday's massive tsunamis that were triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake in the ocean 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the province.

The Indonesian death toll from the tsunamis is nearly 80,000 people, with most of the fatalities in Aceh, and the figure is expected to climb further as rescue workers reach remote towns and villages.

The inability to quickly rebuild infrastructure in Aceh is being partly attributed to the decades-old insurgency that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and led to less development in the province.

The Free Aceh Movement has been fighting for independence since 1976, and the government stepped up its military suppression efforts with a massive operation that began in May 2003.

Amid the apparent calls for a ceasefire, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged GAM rebels on Thursday to lay down their weapons and join efforts to rebuild Aceh.

"I call on those who are still raising arms, to come out... let us use this historic momentum to join and be united again," Yudhoyono told a press conference here.

"I call on them all, let us together build an Aceh in line with the special autonomy and according to what we can do together."

The exiled Free Aceh Movement leadership announced on Tuesday that it had imposed its own unilateral ceasefire, but said there had been no evidence of the army having laid down its arms.

"We declared a unilateral ceasefire, but some of our people have been killed in ambushes," GAM spokesman Bakhtir Abdullah told AFP in Sweden.

"At this crucial time, there is a natural catastrophe and yet the military troops are still hunting GAM people," he said.

---

Makes one wonder how long before they bring back in the OV-10s and Hawk-209s to help the local people....

A picture of Indonesian Marines being sent in to Aceh for combat duties...

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troung

"One reason military forces in Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka have a chance to show their positive side, says Abuza, is they've had such an appalling human rights record in the past."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/ja...aceh-j05.shtml

Indonesian army steps up war in Aceh
By John Roberts
5 January 2005
There are growing signs that the Indonesian military (TNI) is exploiting the current catastrophe in northern Sumatra to crush the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and establish its unchallenged control over the resource-rich province of Aceh.

So far the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Aceh on December 26 is more than 100,000 and is likely to rise much higher. From Lhokseumawe on the east coast through the provincial capital Banda Aceh near Sumatra’s northern tip to Meulaboh on the west coast, cities and towns have been obliterated.

Transport and other infrastructure have been torn apart. Hundreds of thousands are desperately in need of water, food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. There is now a serious risk that further lives will be lost through disease and hunger.

Yet, rather than concentrating resources on emergency relief efforts, the Indonesian armed forces, with the approval of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, are preoccupied with their counterinsurgency operations against GAM fighters. While refugees are desperate for supplies and relief workers for transport, the TNI has launched offensives against GAM in various locations across the province.

When the tsunami hit, the military already had 40,000 troops and paramilitary police in Aceh as a result of its ongoing campaign to wipe out GAM. The current offensive initiated in May 2003, under former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, included armour and artillery as well as air and naval support and was billed as Indonesia’s own version of the US “shock and awe” methods in Iraq.

Despite a state of emergency and a media blackout in Aceh over the last year, human rights organisations have reported gross and widespread abuse of local Acehnese by the military, including arbitrary detention, torture and summary execution. Yudhoyono, a former general, was Megawati’s top security minister and played a crucial role in planning and overseeing the offensive until he resigned last March to contest the presidency.

In the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami, the TNI’s responded by dispatching an additional 15,000 troops to Aceh, ostensibly to carry out humanitarian relief work. But far from the well-oiled machine that swung into action against GAM the previous year, the military’s emergency assistance in the province has been marked by disorganisation, delays and disinterest.

On December 27, TNI chief General Endriartono indicated that the military would respond in kind to a unilateral ceasefire declared by exiled GAM leaders in Sweden to allow relief efforts to go ahead. It soon became clear, however, that the TNI had no intention of passing up the opportunity to inflict a defeat on GAM, which had suffered losses during the tsunami and earthquake.

The first media reports related to a particular incident. On Thursday, a GAM spokesman announced that Indonesian troops had killed two GAM members in the Peurelak area of East Aceh, including the local commander Afrizal bin Abdul Manaf. He said TNI troops had also set fire to a house in the village of Idi Reayeuk. A TNI spokesman acknowledged the clash, but blamed GAM rebels for provoking the incident by ambushing a convoy of military trucks carrying relief supplies.

Sweden-based GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah strenuously denied that GAM fighters had attacked a convoy. In turn, he accused the military of harassing and torturing suspected GAM sympathisers in refugee camps. The TNI’s abuse of refugees was also reported to the Aceh Referendum Information Centre by volunteers working in Banda Aceh. They alleged that refugees on the way to relief centres were being interrogated by the military.

Bakhtiar told the British-based Guardian: “The reports we received are that they are moving in more troops under the guise of relief operations. We know that they are trying to track down GAM fighters in the area. We have given strict orders to maintain a ceasefire and hoped that the Indonesian military would respect that ceasefire and refrain from military action.”

As it turned out, the clash was not an isolated incident. The Jakarta Post this week reported that the TNI had launched operations against GAM hideouts in Teupin, Batee, Seunebok Langa, Gampung Jalan, Kuburan Cina, Buket Linteung and Buket Jok areas of East Aceh. In north Aceh, army attacks were underway in Makmur, Gandapura and Peusangan.

The TNI not only confirmed that the operations were taking place, but was completely unapologetic about them. In comments cited in the Guardian, Colonel Ahmad Yani Basuki declared: “We have to maintain security operations to prevent the rebels from attacking vital installations and relief operations.” According to Basuki, only one third of TNI troops were involved in military operations and the remainder had been assigned to relief work. He provided no evidence, however, for any of his assertions.

Lieutenant-Colonel D.J. Nachrowi told the Jakarta Post that the TNI was “now carrying out two duties: humanitarian work and the security operation.” He put forward a different argument, maintaining that the military was obliged by the state of emergency to attack GAM. “The raids to quell the secessionist movement in Aceh will continue unless the president issues a decree to lift the civil emergency and assign us to merely play a humanitarian role in Aceh,” he said.

Yudhoyono has shown no intention of lifting the civil emergency in Aceh or of reaching a temporary truce with GAM. Instead, in an appeal for national unity, the president has called on the separatist fighters to lay down their weapons, in other words surrender, to facilitate relief operations. The military, of course, would remain armed to the teeth.

Various human rights groups have confirmed that military operations are continuing in Aceh. A spokesman for the British-based Tapol organisation, Paul Barber, told the Inter Press Service News Agency: “Under the civil emergency, the Indonesian military continue to play a leading role and there has been no cutback in the level of military operations in most of the territory.”

Nasruddin Abubakar, president of the Aceh Referendum Information Centre, angrily condemned the TNI’s actions, saying: “The government is still maintaining the civil emergency and continuing on with military operations in Aceh despite the fact that the death toll is now close to 100,000. Is the government not yet satisfied with the killing? Are Acehnese not citizens of Indonesia?”

The fact that the Indonesian military has been devoting resources—troops, transport and coordination—to its military operations would help to explain the limited and chaotic character of the relief effort in Aceh. Air transport is crucial in reaching remote areas and moving relief supplies into the province, but it has been a shambles. The Indonesian air force has made no effort to either regulate airspace over Aceh or to provide air traffic control to vital airports in Banda Aceh and Medan where international aid is arriving.

Numerous media reports point to the bottlenecks in ferrying aid into Aceh and distributing it. On New Years Eve, an aircraft had to wait 14 hours in Banda Aceh for a takeoff clearance. At one stage the only surviving air traffic controller in Aceh was reportedly left to operate the airport alone. Trucks and fuel have been in critically short supply. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that US relief organisations in Medan, forced to rely on their own resources, had “begged, borrowed and rented” 80 trucks to provide transport.

The disinterest of the Indonesian military in the plight of Acehnese is most graphically revealed by the inexplicable delay in surveying the extent of the disaster on the west coast, which lay in the direct path of the tsunami. It took four days for the Indonesian air force to send a flight over Meulaboh, which one journalist likened to the scene after the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Highly publicised relief operations are now underway by US and Australian military, which are providing key logistical support. US military helicopters flew the first significant supplies of aid into Meulaboh last weekend. The Australian military teams are in Banda Aceh providing clean water and other assistance. All criticism of the TNI and its appalling human rights has been shelved as these efforts are hailed in the media as ushering in a new period of cooperation.

These joint operations have very little to do with any genuine concern the victims of the December 26 disaster. Both Australian and the US have been seeking to reestablish working relations with the Indonesian military since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998. The relief efforts provide an ideal opportunity not only to work closely with the TNI but potentially to establish a foothold in Aceh—a key region with significant oil and reserves adjacent to the strategic Strait of Malacca.

As for the TNI, the support provided by the US and Australian military for relief efforts allows the diversion of additional Indonesian military forces into its operations against GAM. There is every indication that the Indonesian military has the tacit support of Washington and Canberra, which, unlike in the case of East Timor, have maintained a complete silence on Jakarta’s dirty war in Aceh over the last 18 months.

US military establishment thinking was revealed in a recent comment by the US-based Stratfor Global Intelligence thinktank. It noted that the tsunami disaster might prove to be a boon for the military’s campaign against GAM. “Yudhoyono will send more troops into the province to rebuild and clean up ... If GAM does not agree to settle the problem peacefully, Yudhoyono will have more troops on hand to clean them out,” it noted.

What is emerging in embryo in Aceh is a return to the relations that existed prior to 1998, when the US, Australia and other major powers relied on the ruthless Suharto dictatorship to safeguard their economic and strategic interests in Indonesia and the region.

---

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...55E601,00.html

Army still at war in Aceh
Sian Powell, Jakarta correspondent
January 05, 2005
THE Indonesian military is continuing to wage war with separatist rebels in the hills of Aceh as world leaders put the finishing touches to a multi-billion-dollar aid and investment package for the devastated province.

As international military and medical teams stepped up relief efforts yesterday in Aceh, where the tsunami killed up to 100,000 people, an Indonesian military spokesman confirmed that only two-thirds of the military's 40,000-strong force in the province was taking part in the relief effort while the remaining third was engaged in military operations against insurgents.

The rebels claimed yesterday that the Indonesian military has moved more troops into rebel-held territory under the guise of relief operations since the tsunami struck 10 days ago. They say squads of soldiers are preventing hill villagers going to help their relatives on the coast.

"They are still conducting an incessant military operation," a rebel spokesman, Teuku Jamaika, told The Australian from his base somewhere in the Aceh hills. "There's no difference between before and after the tsunami."

Thousands of Australian and US military personnel are at the forefront of the relief operation on the coast of Aceh, with the support of medical and military teams from as far away as Germany and Japan.

The Indonesian embassy in Canberra last night defended the continued military operation against the rebels.

"The Indonesian military in Aceh also has a responsibility to maintain security," a spokesman said.

"The main task of the military is to provide humanitarian aid but they are also meant to provide security."

Colonel Djazairi Nachrowi, the head of information analysis at the national military headquarters, said there had been no ceasefire, despite an offer from rebel leaders exiled in Sweden to suspend hostilities until Aceh had recovered.

"At first we thought positively, that GAM (the Free Aceh Movement) had a conscience, and would not use the situation like this, but it turned out they held up (aid transport)," Colonel Nachrowi said.

"We are not offensive, we are defensive."

There had been no outright attacks on the rebels, he said.

"Some TNI (Indonesian military) troops tried to escort a truck filled with aid," he said.

"When they were on their way there was an indication they would be held up, so there was an exchange of fire. It's not TNI attacking GAM, but an exchange of fire because humanitarian aid was held up."

GAM spokesman Teuku Jamaika said military raids had continued in hill areas of Idi Rayek, in Bireuen, Gandapura and Pasongan. Local people had been prevented from leaving their villages to find relatives or simply to help, he said.

"It was prohibited, blocked. If they left their villages there were threats."

University of Indonesia military specialist Salim Said said GAM rebels would try to attack aid convoys to boost their supplies while the Indonesian military continued its crackdown.

"The operation to obliterate GAM continues, nothing has changed there," Dr Said said.

"Now another danger has threatened them, but they will still try to crush GAM."

Kirsten Schulze, a senior lecturer at the London School of Economics and the author of a number of papers on the Aceh insurgency, said counter-insurgency operations were continuing in the province, but she said it should be remembered the military was doing most of the dirty work in hard-hit towns such as Banda Aceh.

"In Meulaboh, there are no military operations," she said. "In East Aceh, which was not hit hard by the tsunami, yes, there are security operations going on."

Dr Schulze, in Indonesia to continue her research, said more troops had been sent into Aceh from North Sumatra, but only to bolster the relief effort.

"Without the military, the aid effort would be even slower."

Bakhtiar Abdullah, a GAM spokesman based in Sweden, said the military had poured troops into the region since the disaster. "The reports we received is that they are moving in more troops under the guise of relief operations," he said.

The 19-month crackdown on the GAM rebels has become a tender issue for Indonesia. The failure of an internationally-brokered and short-lived ceasefire in 2003 prompted the massive military offensive, and Indonesia has reacted angrily to foreign criticism of various atrocities.

Before the tsunami hit, international aid workers were almost entirely prevented from operating in Aceh, journalists curtailed to an extent which made balanced coverage impossible, and diplomats largely barred from visiting.

Teuku Jamaika said two rebels were shot dead by Indonesian soldiers late last week after an all-out attack, and flatly denied the rebels had attempted to hold up an aid convoy.

"We actually already unilaterally asked the TNI for a ceasefire," he said.

"We asked TNI to take a defensive position and only attack if we attack first. But it just doesn't work."


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With all the oil off the coast and exxon mobile trying to pump it out I doubt this will be big news...

lulldapull

With all this Tsunami riff raff going on....despite all the hoopla being hyped up, the reality of conflict is still very much alive. Good reality check there Troung!

Here ppl! the sky is coming down after all (For the bleagured U.S. forces in iraq)

Iraq battling more than 200,000 insurgents: intelligence chief

AFP: 1/3/2005

BAGHDAD, Jan 3 (AFP) - Iraq's insurgency counts more than 200,000 active fighters and sympathisers, the country's national intelligence chief told AFP, in the bleakest assessment to date of the armed revolt waged by Sunni Muslims.

"I think the resistance is bigger than the US military in Iraq. I think the resistance is more than 200,000 people," Iraqi intelligence service director General Mohamed Abdullah Shahwani said in an interview ahead of the January 30 elections.

Shahwani said the number includes at least 40,000 hardcore fighters but rises to more than 200,000 members counting part-time fighters and volunteers who provide rebels everything from intelligence and logistics to shelter.

The numbers far exceed any figure presented by the US military in Iraq, which has struggled to get a handle on the size of the resistance since toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003.

A senior US military officer declined to endorse or dismiss the spy chief's numbers.

"As for the size of the insurgency, we don't have good resolution on the size," the officer said on condition of anonymity.

Past US military assessments on the insurgency's size have been revised upwards from 5,000 to 20,000 full and part-time members, in the last half year, most recently in October.

Defense experts said it was impossible to divine the insurgency's total number, but called Shahwani's estimate a valid guess, with as much credence, if not more, than any US numbers.

"I believe General Shahwani's estimation, given that he is referring predominantly to active sympathizers and supporters and to part-time as well as full-time active insurgents, may not be completely out of the ballpark," said defense analyst Bruce Hoffman who served as an advisor to the US occupation in Iraq and now works for US-based think-tank RAND Corporation.

Compared to the coalition's figure, he said: "General Shahwani's -- however possibly high it may be, might well give a more accurate picture of the situation."

Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq analyst with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, put Shahwani's estimates on an equal footing with the American's.

"The Iraqi figures do... recognize the reality that the insurgency in Iraq has broad support in Sunni areas while the US figures down play this to the point of denial."

Shahwani said the resistance enjoys wide backing in the provinces of Baghdad, Babel, Salahuddin, Diyala, Nineveh and Tamim, homes to Sunni Arabs who fear they will lose influence after the elections.

Insurgents have gained strength through Iraq's tight-knit tribal bonds and links to the old 400,000-strong Iraqi army, dissolved by the US occupation in May 2003 two months after the US-led invasion, he said.

"People are fed up after two years, without improvement. People are fed up with no security, no electricity, people feel they have to do something. The army was hundreds of thousands. You'd expect some veterans would join with their relatives, each one has sons and brothers."

The rebels have turned city neighborhoods and small towns around central Iraq into virtual no-go zones despite successful US military efforts to reclaim former enclaves like Samarra and Fallujah, he said.

"What are you going to call the situation here (in Baghdad) when 20 to 30 men can move around with weapons and no one can get them in Adhamiyah, Dura and Ghazaliya," he said, naming neighborhoods in the capital.

The spy chief also questioned the success of the November campaign to retake Fallujah, which US forces have hailed as a major victory against the resistance.

"What we have now is an empty city almost destroyed... and most of the insurgents are free. They have gone either to Mosul or to Baghdad or other areas."

Shahwani pointed to a resurgent Baath party as the key to the insurgency's might. The Baath has split into three factions, with the deadliest being the branch still paying allegiance to jailed dictator Saddam Hussein, he said.

Shahwani said the core Baath fighting strength was more than 20,000.

Operating out of Syria, Saddam's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan and former aide Mohamed Yunis al-Ahmed are providing funding and tapping their connections to old army divisions, particularily in Mosul, Samarra, Baquba, Kirkuk and Tikrit.

Saddam's henchman, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, still on the lam in Iraq, is also involved, he said.

Another two factions, which have broken from Saddam, are also around, but have yet to mount any attacks. The Baath are complemented by Islamist factions ranging from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda affiliate to Ansar al-Sunna and Ansar al-Islam.

Asked if the insurgents were winning, Shahwani answered: "I would say they aren't losing."

troung

Lull;

Why not keep this one just for terrorism and the earthquake and put the Iraq one somewhere else? Not trying to critise you or anything...

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Here are some pictures of the people fighting for Aceh...

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Ray

The sky has fallen.

smilingassassin

Ha ha, 200,000 thats a good one! Note that isn't a figure set by any U.S. official but an Iraqi. Also note how some of these Insurgents are "part timers", once the U.S. leaves they have no targets. They also are not targeting their own people, unlike the foriegn jihadi's who are outstaying their welcome.

As for the bathists, they can keep trying but to no avail, they ain't coming back.

Julie

I have to say this. If these insurgents/terrorists/freedom fighters are so just in their cause, why aren't they doing something to help their Muslim brothers/people? This disaster in Indonesia is something that has to be dealt with, not only on an international level, but with individuals, as a whole.

I had once a little felt that terrorist had some base cause and conviction in what they were doing. But, after the tsunami occurring, all I have seen is the terrorists ignoring it, which has shown me they have no base cause for anything pertaining to human rights, or life itself.

Osama has repeatedly made efforts to keep himself in the realm of the war on terror, taking credit for events and linking himself to Zarqawi. Ironic that Osama denounces government when he goes to extremes to politicize himself at any cost.

When I studied psychology in college, a person that used human lives for recognition and attention, was considered a very sick puppy.

Ray

I think because they are not lackies of the Arabs. And their culture has not be damned the countries with camel droppings.

Julie

So from a layman's point of view, [they] are misfits due to rejection thereby attempting to find a place in society, hence forming a family group...relative in the US as "gangs"....and use religion as their base support?

Hmmmm.....that's original.

Lunatock

Look out chicken lull the sky is falling!

troung

"I had once a little felt that terrorist had some base cause and conviction in what they were doing. But, after the tsunami occurring, all I have seen is the terrorists ignoring it, which has shown me they have no base cause for anything pertaining to human rights, or life itself."

And the average person has ignored Aceh in the last 20 years and even now. People know about the tsunami but no one cares what is still going on.

Aceh has been the center of a rather brutal conflict for years and all the tsunami does is thin out the ranks of one side and gives the other a bigger edge. And they are launching attacks in plain while the world pats itself on the back and doesn't mention what is going on...

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Ray

Julie,

The Moslems of Malaysia and Indonesia are totally a different kettle of fish.

They are not Arabised. That is why they are not jumping like cats on a hot tin roof.

It is believed Islam came to Indonesia with merchant traders in the twelfth century, and it is now the dominant religion of the archipelago. Indonesian Islam is flavoured by elements of Hindu-Buddhism, animism and adat - traditional law. Islam plays an important part in Indonesian life, and the Muslim influence on political, cultural and religious life is strong.
http://abcasiapacific.com/cause/religion/indonesia.htm

troung

"But counter that with images of U.S. helicopters bringing aid to places like Aceh, delivering something that insurgents can't, and Gunaratna thinks that devastation can unwittingly bring some good."

And TNI-AU OV-10Fs and Hawk-209s (and who knows maybe the brand new Mi-35s will show up soon) will bring in bombs as soon as the feel good story of the year is over and the cameras leave. I really can't believe some morons think all of this death will bring a greater good.

"That it might overwhelm the message from bin Laden, at least in Indonesia, which is after all the most populous Islamic country in the world."

The GAM is not a Bin Laden supported group and this war has gone on way before he even went to Afghanistan (since 1976 in this form and the 1950s there was a war).

The only people who could benfit from this would be the Indonesian military who will attack the GAM in thier moment of weakness. It will not turn into some touchy feely get together ending in a friendly agreement but a hell of a lot more people are going to die in a silly conflict....

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troung

I saw Henry "how long is this little game of yours going to take" Kissenger on Fox news last night (around 2am) talking about this....
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/st...388815,00.html

Indonesia issues ultimatum to foreign troops

Agencies
Wednesday January 12, 2005

Foreign soldiers assisting the tsunami relief effort in Indonesia's devastated Aceh province will have to leave by the end of March, the Jakarta government said today. The Indonseian vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, said troops should be gone "the sooner the better", and added that three months should be enough time for them to complete their work.

The announcement came as Indonesia moved to assert greater control over the relief effort. The government is believed to be grateful for the help offered, but uneasy about the number of foreign aid workers and soldiers in Aceh, where seperatists have been fighting government troops for decades.

Aid workers were today told that their safety could not be guaranteed outside Banda Aceh, the main city, and the ravaged town of Meulaboh, and ordered to declare their travel plans or risk expulsion.

Indonesia's military has warned that separatist fighters could rob aid convoys and use refugee camps as hideouts, but has yet to offer evidence to support its claims.

A government statement said it would be "placed in a very difficult position" if any foreigner who came to Aceh was harmed, but Clive Williams, an Australian defence expert, told the Associated Press that the Indonesians wanted to conceal military corruption.

"The big problem with dealing with [the Indonesian military] in Aceh is that they're involved in a lot of corruption there, and the reason I think they don't want people to go to some areas is because they're involved in human rights abuses," he said. "Having a situation of martial law and then civil emergency has allowed them to get away with a lot."

Wary of Indonesia's sensitivities, US marines have scaled back their plans to send hundreds of troops ashore to build roads and clear rubble. Commanders have also agreed that their troops would not carry guns while on Indonesian soil, and that the majority of troops would return to ships stationed off the coast after each day's work.

Getting help to the neediest is already a logistical nightmare, with roads having been washed away or blocked by fallen trees.

More than 100,000 people in the province have been killed, and tens of thousands left homeless. It is on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which was closest to the epicentre of the earthquake that triggered the December 26 tsunami.

The death toll from the tsunami today stands at 158,638, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India having suffered the most fatalities.

Today's developments came as the Paris Club of creditor nations was expected to approve a plan to suspend debt repayments for countries hit by the tsunami. Indonesia - the hardest-hit country - has said that, in addition to a debt freeze, it also needs more donations to cope with the disaster.

Not all members of the Paris Club support a debt moratorium, and the Australian prime minister, John Howard, has expressed concern that freezing debts would not help those most in need. However, decisions on debt relief are taken by consensus rather than unanimity.

Some of the other affected countries, such as Thailand, have said they do not believe a debt moratorium is the best form of assistance.

Herve Gaymard, the French finance minister, said not all countries had to accept the offer of a debt freeze. "Some countries - I'm thinking, for example, of Thailand - do not wish to benefit from this moratorium, simply because they have a lower level of debt than others and they don't want their name to be downgraded on financial markets," he said.

A freeze in debt repayments could offer short-term gain but bring long-term pain as the cost of servicing debt may rise in the future.

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The problems first started all the way back in the 1950s under Darul Islam which tried to turn all of Indonesia into an islamic state (it is a nation with a muslim majority not a muslim nation when you think about it). The DI had forces all around Indonesia and fought all across the country. The DI was beaten and the GAM showed up in 1976 as a group fighting to remove Aceh from Indonesia. Aceh has a special status as it was the only province not to fall under direction Dutch control. Plus it is full of oil (exxon makes a 4th of thier money off Aceh's gas fields)...

Attached Images

	gam 01.jpg (30.1 KB, 41 views)
	indo Mi-35P 00.jpg (10.5 KB, 41 views)
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	indo paskhas 05.jpg (49.0 KB, 42 views)