Tsunami relief effort helped project U.S. image in Indonesia

Tsunami relief effort helped project U.S. image in Indonesia

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

The commander of the aircraft carrier strike group which led
the massive US tsunami relief effort said Saturday the deployment
had helped project a more positive American image in Indonesia,
the world's biggest Muslim nation.

Rear Admiral William Douglas Crowder, commander of the Abraham
Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, also said working with the
Indonesian military during the disaster relief could help rebuild
strained ties between the two armed forces in the future.

The aircraft carrier and its battle group, with 6,500 sailors,
arrived in Singapore's Changi Naval Base after pulling out of
Indonesia's Aceh province Friday as the response to the December
26 tsunami disaster shifted from emergency relief to
reconstruction and rehabilitation.

The carrier was due to leave the city-state in three to four
days en route to its homeport in Everett, Washington, officials
said.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 US troops and 20 helicopters were
remaining in Indonesia, including personnel from the US Navy
hospital ship Mercy, which arrived in the area this week.

Crowder however said they could be pulled out in weeks as
their role diminished following the shift to rebuilding and
rehabilitation.

"I don't think (they will be there) a long time," he told
reporters allowed into the aircraft carrier here.

Asked if he thought the US deployment succeeded in projecting
a positive image of the United States in Indonesia, Crowder said
"I do."

He also described working relations with the Indonesian
military as "very good" and said there was close coordination on
the flight sorties.

"We came and offered the capabilities we had and they accepted
those capabilities," he said.

"What does that mean for the long term? I guess that's a
political question but whenever military people from different
countries get together and have a very difficult task to take on,
you can't help but develop a very close relationship, and I think
that's what happened with us and the Indonesian military."

The United States imposed a military embargo on Indonesia
following alleged human rights violations by its troops in 1999
during an election which saw East Timor gain independence from
Jakarta.

Although the embargo was partially lifted to allow the
delivery of spare parts for transport aircraft involved in
tsunami relief operations, US Congress has continued to resist
the full normalization of military ties.

More than 292,000 people were presumed dead in the disaster
and millions more uprooted from their homes, with the most damage
centered in Indonesia's Aceh province.