Kopassus and biological warfare<\/p>\n
In the middle of 1997 members of the Army's Special Force, the
\nred berets, known locally as Kopassus, received Pentagon training
\nin a course entitled Nuclear Chemical Biological. It is no idle
\nquestion to ask to just what use this training, part of a wider
\nprogram of illegal U.S. military assistance given in defiance of
\nCongress, may have been put.<\/p>\n
Kopassus, which has been implicated in a whole swathe of state
\nterror actions, from disappearances of activists to Aceh and East
\nTimor atrocities, is not just any unit of the Indonesian Military
\n(TNI). It is the elite action squad, and in 1997 was under the
\nleadership of the highly ambitious son-in-law of Soeharto,
\nPrabowo Subianto, who has subsequently been drummed out of the
\nservice.<\/p>\n
Why exactly Kopassus was interested in chemical-biological
\nwarfare (CBW) capability is a matter that can hardly be allowed
\nto go away. Indeed, what its interests in the nuclear field were,
\nwhen Indonesia has neither nuclear arms nor nuclear power to
\ndefend, are also worthy of our attention.<\/p>\n
When states acquire CBW capability, in whatever degree, they
\nbroadly have in mind two uses for it: one offensive, the other
\ndefensive. If we leave aside for a moment the fact that chemical
\nand biological (CB) agents used against an enemy may rebound on
\nthe attacker -- gases and spores, for example, returning on the
\nwind -- we may reasonably ask just who Kopassus and the regime
\nhad in mind as potential targets.<\/p>\n
In 1997 Indonesia had no external enemies, but it did have
\n\"internal\" ones. Among the latter of course were the people of
\nEast Timor and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Were they targets,
\npotential or real, for CBW carried out by Kopassus under Prabowo
\nSubianto?<\/p>\n
A country sends its soldiers on a course designed to inform
\nthem about CBW. Then what?<\/p>\n
In several known cases it develops them. Did Indonesia's
\nmilitary or a section thereof do so? It may be objected that even
\nif Kopassus had the intent it would not have been able to
\ndisguise this completely from outside surveillance, but the
\ndifference between Indonesia and Iraq is that this country is not
\nperceived by the international community as a belligerent. Whilst
\nit may have received international opprobrium over East Timor, it
\nhas not gone to war against Western strategic interests. Its
\nmilitary arsenal is not under the minutest scrutiny.<\/p>\n
If Kopassus were developing CB agents what would it
\nconcentrate on to avoid such scrutiny? Probably the biological
\nelement. Terence Taylor, a biological weapons expert from the
\nLondon International Institute for Strategic Studies, says, \"It
\nis easier to hide a biological warfare program in civilian
\nresearch and production facilities than either a nuclear or
\nchemical one.\"<\/p>\n
What then if Kopassus had decided to trim sails and focus on
\nbiological warfare agents? Prabowo's web of contacts includes his
\nbrother Hashim Djojohadikusomo, a man with an industrial plant
\nunder his control. Such a plant could theoretically be used to
\nconceal such production. Equally, Kopassus camps, which exist
\noutside all public purview, might disguise small-scale
\nfacilities.<\/p>\n
Lastly, if there is or has been a secret CBW program run by
\nKopassus, we should point out that under the 1975 Biological
\nWeapons Convention all \"research, development, production,
\nstockpiling or acquisition of biological and toxic weapons\" is
\nforbidden. Likewise \"delivery systems designed for such weapons\".
\nThe new Chemical Weapons Convention, which came into force in
\nApril 1997 around about the time Kopassus men were receiving the
\ntraining mentioned above, forbids the production, acquisition and
\nstockpiling of the chemical equivalents.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian people surely have a right to know, even at
\nthis late hour, just why Kopassus was interested in Nuclear
\nChemical Biological and to what use this knowledge has been put.
\nSo, too, do the East Timorese.<\/p>\n
DAVID JARDINE<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kopassus-and-biological-warfare-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }