http://www.theage.com.au/daily/990810/news/news3.html
US marines set for Dili
By PAUL DALEY
FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT
CANBERRA
American military officials told Australian
defence strategists in June that the US would
consider deploying up to 15,000 troops to East
Timor, if bloodshed dramatically escalated in the
troubled Indonesian province.
Specific details of American contingencies for
East Timor were revealed to The Age after the
Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer,
yesterday told Federal Parliament he was not
aware of any US proposal for peace enforcement
in East Timor.
A top-level diplomatic source has made it clear
to The Age that US military contingency plans
for East Timor include a massive deployment of
American troops, including marines, for peace
enforcement - as distinct from UN peacekeeping.
In June, US military officials in the Pacific told
Australian officials they were factoring Darwin
into their military plans and sought an
agreement to attach Australian military liaison
officers to a possible US peace-enforcement
mission. Australian officials said that would
require consideration by the Federal
Government, which rejected the request.
The Age has established that American military
officials told Australian counterparts that the US
Pacific command was willing to coordinate, as
one option, the deployment of 15,000 US
troops, including marines from Okinawa in
Japan and other nearby units.
The US officials made it clear that this
contingency would apply in an extreme
circumstance - quickly stopping large-scale
violence by Indonesian-backed militias.
They told Australia the peace-enforcement
contingency was based on an assumption that
the US would operate alone, but that Australia
would become involved in UN peacekeeping
later.
In a recent TV interview, Mr Downer
categorically denied a report in The Sunday Age
that Australia had rejected a US request to
jointly plan peacekeeping for East Timor, and
that the US had told Australia it would consider
sending marines.
``It's false. The story, it's completely false,'' Mr
Downer told Channel Nine's Sunday program on
1 August.
Yesterday, he told Parliament that neither he nor
the Defence Minister, Mr John Moore, were
aware of US requests for Australia to participate
in peace enforcement.
A spokesman for Mr Downer later said: ``There
has been no policy request from Washington to
participate in a peace enforcement mission to
East Timor. Of course, military planners do just
that - they plan for contingencies, but there has
been no official request or notification about a
plan.''
Mr Downer also told Parliament he rejected
suggestions - including a report in The Sunday
Age on 1 August - that Australia and the US had
recently diverged on the circumstances under
which peacekeepers should be sent to East
Timor.
He said that during a meeting between the
secretary of his department, Dr Ashton Calvert,
and the US Assistant Secretary of State, Mr
Stanley Roth, Mr Roth had been expressing
personal views rather than United States policy.
According to a record of the conversation in
Washington in February, which The Age has
obtained, ``One area of difference ... arose with
respect to our approaches concerning the
security dimension of East Timor's transition. ``
Roth's approach, which he admitted was a
personal view given that he had not yet
discussed it with Secretary (of State Madeleine)
Albright ... was that a full-scale peacekeeping
operation would be an unavoidable aspect of the
transition. Without it, East Timor was likely to
collapse.''
According to the record, ``Roth suggested that
Australia's position of keeping peacekeeping at
arm's length was essentially defeatist.''
On 1 August, Mr Downer denied there had been
differences between Australia and the US. He
said it was nonsense to suggest there had been
a standoff between Mr Roth and Dr Calvert.
On 2 August, the Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade issued a statement, categorically
denying ``recent press reports of differences in
Australian and United States approaches'' to East
Timor.
In respect to the February meeting, the
statement said this was of ``historical rather
than current interest'' and ``it is wrong to say
that significant differences were exposed in the
policies of our two governments''.
The shadow foreign minister, Mr Laurie
Brereton, said: ``Foreign Minister Downer's
statements on East Timor have been riddled
with deceit ... for Mr Downer to say that there
was no significant difference of opinion was
deeply deceitful.''
He said Labor had learnt that a ``very
significant difference'' of opinion was expressed
at the meeting between Dr Calvert and Mr Roth
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
US marines set for Dili
By PAUL DALEY
FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT
CANBERRA
American military officials told Australian
defence strategists in June that the US would
consider deploying up to 15,000 troops to East
Timor, if bloodshed dramatically escalated in the
troubled Indonesian province.
Specific details of American contingencies for
East Timor were revealed to The Age after the
Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer,
yesterday told Federal Parliament he was not
aware of any US proposal for peace enforcement
in East Timor.
A top-level diplomatic source has made it clear
to The Age that US military contingency plans
for East Timor include a massive deployment of
American troops, including marines, for peace
enforcement - as distinct from UN peacekeeping.
In June, US military officials in the Pacific told
Australian officials they were factoring Darwin
into their military plans and sought an
agreement to attach Australian military liaison
officers to a possible US peace-enforcement
mission. Australian officials said that would
require consideration by the Federal
Government, which rejected the request.
The Age has established that American military
officials told Australian counterparts that the US
Pacific command was willing to coordinate, as
one option, the deployment of 15,000 US
troops, including marines from Okinawa in
Japan and other nearby units.
The US officials made it clear that this
contingency would apply in an extreme
circumstance - quickly stopping large-scale
violence by Indonesian-backed militias.
They told Australia the peace-enforcement
contingency was based on an assumption that
the US would operate alone, but that Australia
would become involved in UN peacekeeping
later.
In a recent TV interview, Mr Downer
categorically denied a report in The Sunday Age
that Australia had rejected a US request to
jointly plan peacekeeping for East Timor, and
that the US had told Australia it would consider
sending marines.
``It's false. The story, it's completely false,'' Mr
Downer told Channel Nine's Sunday program on
1 August.
Yesterday, he told Parliament that neither he nor
the Defence Minister, Mr John Moore, were
aware of US requests for Australia to participate
in peace enforcement.
A spokesman for Mr Downer later said: ``There
has been no policy request from Washington to
participate in a peace enforcement mission to
East Timor. Of course, military planners do just
that - they plan for contingencies, but there has
been no official request or notification about a
plan.''
Mr Downer also told Parliament he rejected
suggestions - including a report in The Sunday
Age on 1 August - that Australia and the US had
recently diverged on the circumstances under
which peacekeepers should be sent to East
Timor.
He said that during a meeting between the
secretary of his department, Dr Ashton Calvert,
and the US Assistant Secretary of State, Mr
Stanley Roth, Mr Roth had been expressing
personal views rather than United States policy.
According to a record of the conversation in
Washington in February, which The Age has
obtained, ``One area of difference ... arose with
respect to our approaches concerning the
security dimension of East Timor's transition. ``
Roth's approach, which he admitted was a
personal view given that he had not yet
discussed it with Secretary (of State Madeleine)
Albright ... was that a full-scale peacekeeping
operation would be an unavoidable aspect of the
transition. Without it, East Timor was likely to
collapse.''
According to the record, ``Roth suggested that
Australia's position of keeping peacekeeping at
arm's length was essentially defeatist.''
On 1 August, Mr Downer denied there had been
differences between Australia and the US. He
said it was nonsense to suggest there had been
a standoff between Mr Roth and Dr Calvert.
On 2 August, the Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade issued a statement, categorically
denying ``recent press reports of differences in
Australian and United States approaches'' to East
Timor.
In respect to the February meeting, the
statement said this was of ``historical rather
than current interest'' and ``it is wrong to say
that significant differences were exposed in the
policies of our two governments''.
The shadow foreign minister, Mr Laurie
Brereton, said: ``Foreign Minister Downer's
statements on East Timor have been riddled
with deceit ... for Mr Downer to say that there
was no significant difference of opinion was
deeply deceitful.''
He said Labor had learnt that a ``very
significant difference'' of opinion was expressed
at the meeting between Dr Calvert and Mr Roth
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"