Bush praises Megawati over antiterror efforts

Bush praises Megawati over antiterror efforts

Olivier Knox, Agence France-Presse, Los Cabos, Mexico

United States President George W. Bush told Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Saturday that he will consider increased U.S. aid to help Jakarta battle militants tied to global terrorism, U.S. officials said.

Meeting on the sidelines of the 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Bush praised Megawati's crackdown on terrorism but said she still has "a ways to go," said a senior official who declined to be named.

He also "expressed his condolences for the loss of the many innocent lives in the savage attack on Bali," referring to the Oct. 12 bombing that turned a packed nightclub into a killing ground for hundreds, the official said.

The U.S. president said that the car blast "showed the reach" of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, which has claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Bush said Jakarta must now arrest terrorists, try them fairly, and convict the guilty, said the official, who told reporters that the U.S. leader promised Megawati: "We will be there to help you to the extent possible."

"He did say that, if Indonesia had concrete requests, that we would consider them," said the official.

Another senior administration official, who also requested anonymity, said Bush reacted cautiously when Megawati had raised the prospects for beefed-up U.S. assistance to Indonesia's military and law-enforcement.

"Our position is that if there are any formal requests, we'll certainly, as with all requests, look at them, with several things in mind including the issue of human rights," the second official said.

Two months before the Bali attacks, Washington pledged over US$50 million in aid to buttress Indonesia's counter-terrorism efforts, which it has frequently criticized in the past.

The sum, to be disbursed over several years, includes $4 million in counterterrorism training for military officials and another $47 million for the national police.

Washington hopes to gradually beef up the spending program to train the Indonesian military once concerns about human rights and about accountability for the 1999 carnage in East Timor.

Rather than criticize Megawati's efforts to eradicate terrorism, Bush "did express appreciation for the difficulties she has faced up to now in trying to crack down," said the first U.S. official.

Characterizing Islam in Indonesia as largely moderate, the first U.S. official said there is "a small minority of the population that is fairly extreme" and later added that the government that knows it must target that small group.

Washington has praised the Indonesian leader for the arrest of a Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, thought to be the spiritual leader of a Southeast Asian radical Islamic group.

U.S. officials also point to the passage of a tough security decree following the car-bomb massacre on Bali -- Southeast Asia's own version of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.