Indonesia pushed to put end to terrorism gh gh gh 36p gh gh gh gh
ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Indonesia must do something to stop terrorism there or face "really terrible consequences," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Tuesday in an Indonesian television interview.
Wolfowitz's remarks, broadcast live in Indonesia, underscored the Bush administration's concern about anti-Western violence in the world's most populous Muslim nation and its push to enlist the Indonesian military in the global war on terrorism.
Wolfowitz has pushed to restore U.S. assistance to the Indonesian military, suspended in 1999 by the Clinton administration to protest the involvement of the armed forces in human rights atrocities in East Timor.
As a former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Wolfowitz has become the Pentagon's most prominent spokesman on terrorism there. His remarks in the television interview were reported by the Pentagon's internal news service.
"If Indonesians don't do something to stop terrorism in Indonesia, it's going to have really terrible consequences for democracy in that wonderful, important country that I love so much," Wolfowitz was quoted as saying.
One of the aims of terrorist organizations is to drive a wedge between democratic Muslim nations, such as Indonesia, and nations of the West, he said.
"It is, I think, very noteworthy that you can read now on al Qaida Web sites elaborate justifications and glorifications of the killings in Bali," he said, referring to the Oct. 12 bombings at an Indonesian nightclub that killed nearly 200 people, mostly Australian tourists.
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