U.S. military ties with Indonesia

U.S. military ties with Indonesia

The U.S. decision to restore military ties with Indonesia does
more than draw a line under past human rights abuses in East
Timor. It brings Indonesia's armed forces in from the cold after
decades of embargoes by Western governments.

For Washington, human rights is no longer the most pressing
issue. The United States wants to reward Indonesia's cooperation
in the war on terrorism.

But the pragmatic decision to bury the pain of the past was
made in Dili, not in Washington. East Timor's president, the
former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, last year publicly
reconciled with the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.

Indonesia is now a democracy and, it may be argued, should not
be isolated because of the sins of its authoritarian past.
-- The Sydney Morning Herald