While December 7 marks the 66th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor, I'd rather reflect upon December 7, 1975. This reflection involves,
among others, former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and requires a geography question:
What nation has the largest Muslim population? Not Saudi Arabia,
Iran, or Egypt; it's Indonesia. With a populace more than 90 percent
Islamic, this South East Asian island nation has avoided America's notorious
anti-Muslim bent by holding claim to the South Pacific's largest supply of
oil, the world's most abundant reserve of natural gas, and a very brutal
anti-communist history. While Palestinian Muslims are labeled terrorists for
having the audacity to revolt against 60 years of Israeli occupation,
Indonesian Muslims can get away with murder. Literally.
More geography: East Timor is another island nation‹a former Portuguese
colony just above Australia that became the target of a relentless and
murderous assault by Indonesia on December 7, 1975. That attack was made
possible through the sale of U.S. arms to its loyal client, the silent
complicity of the American press, and Pat Moynihan's skill at keeping the UN
uninvolved at the request of his boss, Dr. Kissinger. Over one-third of the
East Timorese population (more than 200,000 humans) lost their lives due to
war-related starvation, disease, massacres, or atrocities. Proportionally,
the depth of this slaughter is on par with the Nazi Holocaust.
Here's where Moynihan fits in: After having served as an advisor to Richard
Nixon (an excellent venue for honing skills of genocide), Moynihan was
appointed U.S. Ambassador to the UN under President Gerald Ford. It was on
his watch that the U.S.-backed Indonesian invasion of East Timor took place.
In his book, A Dangerous Place, Moynihan detailed his role in the
genocide:
"The United States wished things to turn out as they did, and
worked to bring this about. The Department of State desired that the United
Nations prove utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook. This
task was given to me, and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable
success."
At that time, Moynihan told the Australian ambassador to the
United Nations that he was "under instructions from Kissinger personally not
to involve himself in discussion with Timor with the Indonesians."
As Nobel Peace Prize winner Kissinger explained:
"Foreign policy should not
be confused with missionary work."
For more on the current situation in East Timor, please visit www.etan.org.
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.
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