NIHAC has held a number of programs focused on East Timor. This week
marks the 15th anniversary of the beginning of the end of the Indonesian
occupation of that country -- a massacre of hundreds of civilians who were
peacefully marching to a cemetery. But it was a massacre that was seen
around the world, thanks to the journalism of Amy Goodman (who you can
hear these days on Democracy Now radio program) and Alan Nairn. Below she
remembers that day....

Mary Anne

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 07:25:56 -0500
From: John M Miller <fbp@...>
To: east-timor@lists.riseup.net
Subject: Amy Goodman: Bush has chance to hold terrorists accountable

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Bush has chance to hold terrorists accountable

By AMY GOODMAN
GUEST COLUMNIST

The troops marched slowly, their U.S.-made M-16s raised. It was Nov. 12, 1991,
a day that would forever be seared into my memory, and into history. I was
reporting in East Timor, a small island nation 300 miles north of Australia,
brutally occupied by Indonesia since 1975. A third of the population -- 200,000
Timorese -- had been killed in one of the worst genocides of the 20th century.

Thousands marched that morning toward the Santa Cruz cemetery to remember
Sebastião Gomes, yet another young Timorese killed by Indonesian soldiers. I
was doing a documentary for Pacifica Radio. My colleague Allan Nairn was
writing for The New Yorker magazine. In a land where there was no freedom of
speech, press or assembly, we asked people: "Why are you risking your lives by
marching?"

"I'm doing it for my mother," one replied. "I'm doing it for my father," said
another. "I'm doing it for freedom."

At the cemetery, we saw hundreds of Indonesian troops coming up the road, 12 to
15 abreast. The Indonesian military had committed many massacres in the past,
but never in front of Western journalists. We walked to the front of the crowd,
hoping that our presence could stop the attack. Children whispered behind us. I
put on my headphones, took out my tape recorder and held up my microphone like
a flag. We wanted to alert the troops that this time they were being watched by
the world.

The Timorese couldn't escape. They were trapped by the cemetery walls that
lined both sides of the road. Without any warning, provocation or hesitation,
the soldiers swept past us and opened fire.

People were ripped apart. The troops just kept shooting, killing anyone still
standing. A group of soldiers surrounded me. They started to shake my
microphone in my face. Then they slammed me to the ground with their rifle
butts and kicked me with their boots. I gasped for breath. Allan threw himself
on top of me to protect me from further injury.

The soldiers wielded their M-16s like baseball bats, slamming them against his
head until they fractured his skull. He lay in the road in spasm, covered in
blood, unable to move. Suddenly, about a dozen soldiers lined up like a firing
squad. They put the guns to our heads and screamed, "Politik! Politik!" They
were accusing us of being involved in politics, a crime clearly punishable by
death. They demanded, "Australia? Australia?" The Indonesians executed six
Australian journalists during the 1975 invasion.

We shouted, "No, we're from America!" I threw my passport at them. When I
regained my breath, I said again: "We're from America! America!" Finally, the
soldiers lowered their guns from our heads. We think it was because we were
from the same country their weapons were from. They would have to pay a price
for killing us that they never had to pay for killing Timorese.

At least 271 Timorese died that day, in what became known as the Santa Cruz
massacre. Indonesian troops went on killing for days. It was not even one of
the larger massacres in East Timor, and it wouldn't be the last. It was simply
the first to be witnessed by outsiders.

I write about the massacre this week not just to remember the 15th anniversary
of that event and those who died that day. President Bush is headed to
Indonesia on Monday. This will give the president and Congress an opportunity
to show they are serious about holding terrorists accountable. If they were to
cut all military aid to Indonesia until those responsible for the massacre and
for the policy of genocide are held accountable, they would be showing the
world that the United States stands on the side of justice. The U.S. Congress
must hear the East Timor Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation's
call for an international human-rights tribunal and for reparations from the
countries and corporations that supported the brutal occupation.

The definition of terrorism is the same in all languages, whether carried out
by individuals or states, by al-Qaida or, in our name, by U.S.-supported
governments abusing human rights. Sad to say, the Bush administration and
Congress have so far ignored the call for justice. What we witnessed and
survived 15 years ago was terrorism, pure and simple -- the killing of innocent
civilians.

Amy Goodman hosts the radio news program "Democracy Now!" Distributed by King
Features Syndicate.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/292319_amy15.html

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National Coordinator
ETAN
PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA
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