Reality Bite: Henry Kissinger, then United States Secretary of State, and President Gerald Ford visited the tyrant ruler of Indonesia, President Suharto, in December, 1975. Kissinger knew Suharto planned to invade East Timor. He made no objection, on the ground that it would be unrealistic to offend Indonesia.

...The people 0of East Timor have paid a heavy price for that realism. In the invasion and subsequent occupation, a third of the population of 600,000 died.

Sound Bite: We have in the past worked with Indonesian armed forces and are eager to do that in the future." Dick Cheney, 1991.

Reality Bite: Richard Cheney, running mate of George W. Bush in the U.S. elections, was Secretary of Defense during the 1991 Dili massacre in East Timor, when Indonesian soldiers used U. S. supplied M-16 automatic rifles to shoot down more than 270 peaceful demonstrators.

Sound Bite: "...if the East Timorese decide to revolt, I'm sure I'll have a statement." George W. Bush (in 1999), U.S. presidential candidate. Also known as "the English patient", in yet another display of his brilliant grasp of international politics and his deep commitment to "compassionate conservatism".

Reality Bite: George W. Bush's father, was one of the long line of bi-partisan Prewsidents who supplied weapons, military training and political support to the Suharto Regime and its occupation of East Timor.

Sound Bite: .."the outrage that has been committed against the people of East Timor by the government of Indonesia. The history of the conflict there has been long and complex but the essence of the injustice is starkly simple: unarmed innocent people in their homeland have been killed and imprisoned and mistreated. It is an abuse of human rights. How it is remedied represents a full range of other questions." Al Gore, Vice-President and presidential candidate, in 1993.

Reality Bite: On July 20, 2000 the Clinton/Gore Administration began to resume relations with the Indonesian military holding a joint exercise. Indonesian backed militia terror holds 100,000 East Timorese in refugee camps in Indonesia while militia violence in East Timor is increasing.

Sound Bite: "The UN Security Council in condemning East Timor violence, authorized on September 15 (1999) a UN peacekeeping operation to oversee the transition to automony or independence. The plan calls for an Australian-led multinational force to restore "peace and security", which will be followed by a team of peacekeepers....

...The UN does not have the political will or financial resources to organize and send in an intervention force which may very well take casualties. Other nations, in this case, Australia, and Portugal, have proved willing to do so, and the UN will give their operation its seal of approval. Only after a peace is made will the UN send in a peacekeeping force, an action that is much more politically and financially possible.

Reality Bite: " A new initiative to send Indonesian Defense Force personnel to Austalia for training in defense management was announced today by the Indonesian Defense Minister, Juwono Sudarsono. The Australian Labor party, currently in opposition, has initiated the education program." Detikworld, July 21, 2000.

And in related stories: "Talks between Australia, the United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor and East Timorese representtives over sharing economic benefits from energy production in the Timor Sea have been pushed back to late this year, Ashton Calvert, secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Thursday."

"...The talks are aimed at settling arrangements, particularly royalties from oil and naturla gas production, "after East Timor's independence,which we currently expect to occur sometime next year," he said..."

...In July , the Australian government acknowledged that the share of royalties is more important than fixing a midway boundary between Australia and East Timor."...

'...Under existing arrangements, Australia and East Timor would each get half of royalty benefit from the project, which is located closer to East Timor than to Australia."

East Timor leader Jose Ramos-Horta argued in May that East Timor should take 90% of royalties form the project and Australia 10%." Dow Jones Newswires, April 4, 2000