But I thought it important to make the point that some folks like Chomsky like to wallow in the minutiae and emphasize conspiratorial influences that may only be a "bit part" player in a grander process.
On the topic of East Timor, which was what I posted on, Chomsky sticks entirely to the major facts. Here are the major facts:
- Indonesia slaughtered 200,000 East Timorese, more than a quarter of the territory’s people, making it one of the greatest bloodlettings in modern history compared to total population.
- Since 1975, the United States has sold Jakarta over $1 billion worth of military equipment.
- Ninety percent of the weaponry used by the Indonesian forces in their invasion was from the United States (despite a U.S. law that bans the use of its military aid for offensive purposes) and the flow of arms, including counterinsurgency equipment, was secretly increased.
- In the United Nations, U.S. ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan successfully worked, as he boasted in his memoirs, to make sure that the international organization was ineffective in challenging Jakarta’s aggression.
If these 200,000 lives are "minutiae" to you, well, that speaks for itself.
Tom |
