RI not a terrorist country: U.S. Embassy
RI not a terrorist country: U.S. Embassy
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The U.S. Embassy denied on Friday labeling Indonesia a
terrorist country but stressed that Indonesia, like other
countries, could become a terrorist target.
The U.S. government also denied having prior knowledge of last
week's attack in Bali but admitted it had issued warnings to
American citizens to stay out of several holiday sites in certain
countries before the deadly incident occurred, Greta N. Morris, a
counselor at the U.S. Embassy, was quoted by Antara as saying on
Friday.
"We had no knowledge that there would be an incident like
this," said Morris.
"We (the U.S. government) did give warnings to our citizens of
terrorist threats in some tourist destinations, not just in
Indonesia. We'd given them (the warnings) to our citizens all
over the world, but we did not know anything whatsoever about the
Bali attacks."
The statement contradicted earlier remarks by other U.S.
officials who said they had given strong warnings to Indonesia of
the possibility of terrorist attacks if the country refused to
take sterner actions against terrorism.
Morris suggested, however, that such a warning to the
Indonesian government came only because the U.S. Embassy had been
the target of several threats.
Morris' statement also came at a time when the U.S. Embassy
began the evacuation of 350 non-emergency staff and their
families in Indonesia in the aftermath of the Bali attack and
several terrorists threats received by its embassy in recent
weeks.
On Sept. 23, an embassy warehouse in Central Jakarta was
targeted by grenade-wielding assailants, who accidentally blew up
their own car. The embassy was closed for a week last month after
receiving terrorist threats days before the anniversary of the
Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Morris added the U.S. had so far lost two of its citizens in
last week's blast and the number was likely to increase.
"There could be more (than two), because there are victims
that were injured badly, not to mention those who went missing,"
Morris said, adding that the U.S. has also sent five medical
doctors to give assistance to the local hospitals.
The U.S. government also denied labeling Indonesia a terrorist
country, said Morris.
"It is our commitment to fight against terrorism," Morris said
as quoted by Indonesian diplomat Dino Patti Djalal following a
meeting with leaders of various youth organizations.
Present at the meeting here were leaders of Muhammadiyah
Muslim youth organization, Ansor, a youth organization under
Nahdlatul Ulama and a Catholic youth organization.
U.S. Ambassador Ralph Boyce was scheduled to attend the meting
but failed to show up and sent Morris and political counselor
Brian Nichols instead, Antara said.
The Indonesian youth leaders repeated an earlier call for the
U.S. to avoid linking terrorism with a certain religion, said
Dino.