Newly Released Documents Show U.S. Acquiesence in East Timor Genocide

On Monday East Timorese President Xanana Gusmão sent to Parliament the final report of East Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation on human rights violations committed in East Timor between 1974 and 1999. At the same timee, the Security Archive make available some of the more than 1,000 formerly classified U.S. documents that it provided for use in the report.

Brad Simpson, assistant professor of history at University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Director of the National Security Archive's Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project remarked that;

We expect the final report of the CAVR to demonstrate, as these documents do, that Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor and the resulting crimes against humanity occurred in an international context in which the support of powerful nations, especially the United States, was indispensable. These documents also point to the need for genuine international accountability for East Timor's suffering, especially as Indonesia embarks on its own truth commission process."

President Bush has anchored his war in Iraq on human rights grounds. The administration's rhetoric can only highlight the failings of past administrations, and heighten criticisms of international power politics.