Surely, it is a faulty analogy in the extreme. The E Timorese anti-war demonstrators had it spot on.
(1) Where it holds good would be in relation to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait -- in which instance for more than 25 years, Indonesia got away with its invasion of E Timor with support from the same powers that went at Iraq. Indeed, not even at the very end was there war on Indonesia, thus
(2) 1999 is an even worse analogy. Who went to war with Indonesia? A peace-keeping force entered E Timor -- not Indonesia -- with the reluctant agreement of Indonesia. It didn't even engage in 'hot pursuit' in W Timor, not to mention going after the criminals in Jakarta. Not a single bullet was fired against the Indonesian military and no missiles or bombs were unleashed on Indonesia.
(3) The nearest equivalent to this in Iraq might be the securing of the Kurdish areas -- but not quite so, as there is obviously no intention to assist the creation of an independent Kurdistan. If anything, it appears that at least part of 'Kurdistan' will be occupied by Turkish forces, not known for their tender sympathies to the Kurdish cause.
(4) Most insulting of all, Horta -- do all those who come to power have to go that route? -- has conveniently forgotten all those who worked long and hard through 25 years of solidarity action, keeping E Timor in the news and in sight. Without them, E Timor would have been forgotten long ago and would have been completely absorbed within Indonesia long before 1999 -- with the high probable approval of the US and its allies.
kj khoo
At 8:05 AM -0500 26/2/03, Martin Hardie wrote:
>This piece appeared on the lbo-talk list (I found the list through
>reading Thomas Seay - not a book but a gringo).
>
>It is written by a former "employer" and good friend of mine (Jose
>Ramos Horta) and in a way takes up the theme that I mentioned in
>relation to the comments made by students at my university regarding
>their approval of the US invasion to arrest Noreiga and engage in
>regime change.
>
>Jose has many friends in allies in the US and that friendship was
>instrumental in obtaining the victory of the Timorese. But of course
>during the Cold War (as he explains in the article) he and his
>people were victims of proxy US power.
[snipped]