U.S. seeks Indonesian's understanding of its war plans

U.S. seeks Indonesian's understanding of its war plans

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States appealed on Thursday for Indonesia's
"understanding" if it indeed embarked on a course of military
action in Iraq to disarm Saddam Hussein's regime of its weapons
of mass destruction, as ordered by the United Nations.

U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce told a gathering
of Indonesian editors that nobody wanted a war to take place, but
that such a course of action could become inevitable should
Saddam continue to defy the UN Security Council resolution
ordering it to drop all chemical and biological weapons programs.

He was briefing the editors as a follow-up to the presentation
delivered by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Security
Council on Wednesday giving evidence of Baghdad's weapons
programs and its continued defiance of the Security Council
Resolution No. 1441. Powell stated that, "time was running out"
for Saddam before an international coalition, led by the United
States, moved to disarm him by force.

Boyce stopped short of calling for Indonesia's support for
war, sensing the still strong opposition here to an attack on a
sovereign, predominantly Muslim nation.

While emphasizing Indonesian government support for UN
Resolution No. 1441, he said he considered the United States and
Indonesia to be on the same side, however the U.S. would be
leading the coalition, and many Indonesians would be calling for
an end to war.

"That's perfectly understandable."

While not fully expecting Indonesia to agree with the U.S.
position, he hoped that at least the United States would be given
a chance to explain its stance on the issue.

Boyce also noted with satisfaction that the U.S. plan to
disarm Iraq was not being portrayed in Indonesia as a war against
Islam, although many of the anti-war protests were launched by
Islamic leaders and organizations.

Washington was fully aware of the concerns of anti-war
protesters, mainly the possibility of heavy casualties among
Iraqi civilians if the conflict started, he said.

Acknowledging that some casualties were inevitable in any war,
he said the way in which the war was being planned in Washington,
was to make every attempt to minimize civilian casualties and
physical destruction, taking into account the need for Baghdad to
rebuild the nation as soon as the war was over.

The ambassador said he also had been given assurances from the
Indonesian government about the safety of American citizens and
property in Indonesia if and when a war in Iraq began.

As the discussion was taking place inside Boyce's heavily-
guarded residence in Jl. Taman Suropati in Menteng district,
Central Jakarta, hundreds of protesting students were assembled
outside.

Their target was not the U.S. ambassador, but the official
residence of President Megawati Soekarnoputri a few hundred
meters away, and their cause was not Iraq, but Megawati's
economic policies.

"They're warming up for the anti-American protests," quipped
one of the editors present at the meeting.