Wolfowitz rules out direct U.S. attack on RI

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While confirming that Indonesia is listed among those countries targeted in the ongoing United States'-led war against international terrorism, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz has ruled out any direct attack on the country he once served as ambassador.

In an interview published by The New York Times on Tuesday, Wolfowitz lumped Indonesia with Somalia, Yemen and the Philippines in the group of countries where terrorist organizations still find sanctuary.

In Indonesia, Islamic groups have fought with Christians in Sulawesi and Maluku, areas where the government "is extremely weak," the former U.S ambassador to Indonesia said.

"You see the potential for Muslim extremists and Muslim terrorists to link up with those Muslim groups in Indonesia and find a little corner for themselves in a country that's otherwise quite unfriendly to terrorism," he said.

"In the case of Sulawesi, the concern is there isn't enough military to protect the local population or to create the kinds of stable conditions that keep terrorism down."

He said that while Indonesia had expressed a willingness to crack down on terrorists, the government there was fearful of causing a violent backlash among its large Muslim population.

Wolfowitz said the United States was prepared to provide assistance, though the Pentagon was under restrictions about conducting certain joint exercises with the Indonesian Military, which has been accused of human rights abuses.

Those restrictions, he said, "really need to be reviewed in the light of Sept. 11".

He said it was unlikely, however, that the United States would consider direct military action in Indonesia, "because it's such a big and disparate place".

Wolfowitz, who has a reputation as one of the more aggressive members of President Bush's war council, suggested that the Pentagon could opt to put off the bigger and politically more difficult targets in the war on terrorism like Iraq, and therefore avoid conflict with some of its most important Arab and European allies, which have been leery about taking on Baghdad.

Instead, he said, the military was now engaged with friendly countries like the Philippines that would welcome American help in ridding themselves of terrorist networks.

The Pentagon is also looking hard at possible terror bases in countries like Somalia and Yemen that are weakly governed and ill-equipped to uproot them, he added.

Wolfowitz said that America's devastating bombing campaign in Afghanistan had already persuaded many nations that have supported terrorism to change their ways, according to Reuters.

"I'd say almost everywhere one has seen progress," he said. "A lot of that progress is motivated by the sense of American seriousness and the fear of getting on the wrong side of us."

Iraq, however, has shown no signs of opposing terrorism, he said, adding that while President Saddam Hussein "is keeping his head down these days, that should not leave the impression that he doesn't continue to do a bunch of things that concern us".

Wolfowitz said that Somalia, perhaps more than any other place, fitted the bill of a lawless state that drew terrorists like a magnet.

"Obviously Somalia comes up as a possible candidate for Al Qaeda people to flee to precisely because the government is weak or nonexistent," Wolfowitz said.

But the Times said he acknowledged that U.S. options were limited in Somalia, where, he said, "by definition you don't have a government you can work with".