Colby's career

I write in response to Sri Handoyo Soedono's letter CIA chief confusion (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 27, 2000). I did not in fact claim in my article (the Post, Jan. 13 and Jan. 14: The U.S.: A party to mass murder), that William Colby was CIA director at the time of the 1965 Soeharto coup (I certainly do not subscribe to "the PKI abortive coup" myth) and subsequent massacre.

I actually wrote: "So pleased was CIA director William Colby with the success of the Indonesian operation, that similar tactics and exploitation of death squad operations were later used in Vietnam, Guatemala and other parts of Latin America." From 1962 to 1966 Colby was the head of the CIA's Far Eastern division, which included Indonesia. Later, under president Nixon, Colby became CIA director, implementing a change in tactics that drew on his experience of successful clandestine activities that had brought down Indonesia's democratically elected government, facilitated the massacre of over half a million "undesirables" and installed a puppet regime.

It is interesting to speculate, in light of the Lockerbie affair, for example, how the U.S. would have responded if the Indonesian secret service had committed such crimes against America. Would only crippling sanctions have been imposed until all suspected perpetrators of such crimes were brought to justice? Or would a U.S. bombing spree of Indonesia have been in order? On the other hand, what can Indonesia do in response to barbarous U.S. interference in its affairs? Why the double standards?

FRANK RICHARDSON

Jakarta