Cheryl Seal
Model for Bush Globalization
Mon Sep 23 23:25:32 2002
208.152.73.133

The Model for Bush Globalization
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 19:42:39 EDT
From: CHERDAV44@aol.com
To: apfn@apfn.org

Hi,
I wrote this article back in the winter of 2001, shortly after Bush stole
his office. I felt that it was a frightening cautionary tale that laid out
with stark clarity just how the Bush regime and its stable of cold war
fossils planned to operate. Its all about how the corporate oil barons and
their politico pals took over Indonesia in the 1950s through 1970s, toppling
the government, setting up a puppet regime and using the fear of "communism"
to justify slaughtering over 500,000 natives and grabbing their land for
corporate use.

But, guess what? No one then would publish it. Too hot to handle, they
all said. It ran first, ironically, in Malaysia, in Malasiakini, the only
independent website in Malaysia. It was then picked up by the Aceh Times in
Indonesia. Finally, I found a courageous editor here - Helen H. at Unknown
News, who ran the story. It was later linked to other sites. But I notice now
that it cannot be accessed through google...it has been expunged, doesn't
even come up via "cached".

So, as we stand on the brink of "Indonesia number two" I thought it was
time to post this piece again...so, if you are interested, here is the
original file. If you make it a policy not to open attached files, I will
resend it in increments through email format - it's long, though so may take
several.

Anyhow. I hope you find this of interest - I am sure you will see the
signifcance of the parallel.
Keep fighting the good fight!

Cheryl Seal = CHERDAV44@aol.com

=============================================

Nightmare in Indonesia: The Roots of the Bush-Cheney’s Oil Government

At Disney World’s Epcot Center in sunny Orlando, Florida, crowds of
well-fed, smiling children and their parents dressed in bright summer cottons,
crowd into the Universe of Energy attraction. There, surrounded by a dizzying
array of special effects, they are treated to "Ellen’s Energy Adventure,"
featuring a very young Ellen Degeneres and Bill Nye the Science Guy, who take
them on a tour of the wonder world of energy – a crowd-pleasing experience
complete with life-like dinosaurs.(1)

A world away in the jungles of Sumatra in Indonesia, a bone-thin family of
Aceh natives squat inside their tiny hut clad in worn rags, waiting to eat their
meager midday meal. Suddenly, Indonensian soldiers burst through the door
screaming "Where are the men? Where are the GAM (Gerakan Aceh Mer??, members of
the Aceh freedom movement) hiding?" There is a terrified scream as one of the
men seizes a tiny baby from the arms of its sister. He dashes the child to the
ground outside the hut. In an act of hideous brutality, he pours the boiling
water used to prepare the family dinner over the screaming child. No one is
allowed to go to the baby’s aid. The next day at sunrise, after the soldiers
have left, the baby dies. (2)

What do these two seemingly unrelated and grossly different scenarios have
in common? They were both "sponsored" by Exxon. While linking its name to
fun-filled all-American experiences such Disneyworld, Exxon soaks up PR and
pushes its agenda (which, of course, is fossil fuel) to kids and their parents.
In Indonensia, by applying pressure to the unstable government, Exxon (d.b.a.
ExxonMobil) has triggered a wave of violence against the Aceh natives who have
been fighting for their independence and control of their homeland and future
for three decades. Why? Beheath the forest floor in the Aceh homeland lays a
rich reserve of natural gas, while off its coast lays vast, untapped oil
reserves.

But Aceh and Indonesia are not "just another" foreign conflict. In this
struggle and its history is the darkly mirrored image of the present U.S.
leadership, the past that shaped it, and, if nothing is done to prevent it, the
future of our own nation.

Spices, Oil, and Blood: the Shaping of Modern Indonesia

Indonesia has long been a dream come true for opportunists (until this
century they were called "explorers"). With its 17,000 islands sprinkled across
the equator in the South Pacific atop a zone of tectonic upheaval, it is a land
of incredible biodiversity and dramatic landscapes. Among its main islands are
Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Timor (East and West), and Bali (of "South Pacific"
fame). Its forests and mountains are treasure chests of exotic plants and
animals, while its human population is just as diverse – as recently as the
1980s, an estimated 250 different languages were spoken here.

The first westerners to exploit the region were the Portuguese, who, in the
17th century, began to "mine" the forests for spices while dominating the
natives. These fragrant exports earned the region the name of "the Spice
Islands." Since then, this land, whose native inhabitants in some regions have
lineages extending back as much as one million years, has been the focus of a
greedy tug-of-war between different foreign powers and between these powers and
the Indonesian native peoples. No Indonesian resources have been at the center
of more collective strife, bloodshed, and environmental damage than oil and
natural gas (unless it is gold – which is the subject of Part III).

After World War II, Indonesia made a determined stand for its autonomy and
by 1950 had thrown off domination by the Japanese (who had commandeered the oil
and liquid natural gas supplies during the war), then the British and Indian
armies, and, finally, the Dutch. The new Indonesian leader Sukarno (not to be
confused with the later brutal dictator Suharto) eventually became the country’s
first president. Sukarno was a visionary who pursued an ideal he called
"Pancasilo," a state of Indonesian unity in which ethnic and religious tolerance
would prevail. It was a dream that was doomed to failure; half-way round the
globe, forces were massing that would ultimately topple Sukarno and his
government.

In the United States, after World War II, the age of the automobile had
dawned. Americans in geometrically growing numbers were heading off to "See the
U.S.A in their Chevrolets" – great big gas-guzzling Chevrolets. They came home
from their cruises to modern oil-heated homes in proliferting suburbs. ‘Existing
U.S. sources, already heavily exploited, soon couldn’t match the demand for
abundant, cheap fuel and so the oil companies looked elsewhere…to places such as
Indonesia. At that time, oil-rich Southeast Asia was struggling for autonomy,
urged on by the growing Asian communist party. To address this impediment to the
oil companies, as early as 1953, the U.S. National Security Council had adopted
a policy of "appropriate action in collaboration with friendly countries to
prevent permanent communist control of Indonesia."

By the late 1950s, the U.S. was pouring $20 million per year into the
Indonesian military. However, Sukarno wanted increasingly less to do with
foreign "supporters." He wanted to deprivatize all industrial and commercial
holdings and return the wealth to the people. In keeping with this view, he
leaned increasingly toward the left, allying himself with the growing Indonesian
communist party PKI. In 1964, Sukarno refused to accept anymore aid from the
U.S. government. But his push for independence and socialization were his
downfall. The CIA had begun to create and disseminate vicious anti-communist
propaganda, while quietly continuing to funnel money and arms to the Indonesian
military, all the while cultivating an alliance with the ultra-right-wing
General Suharto.

In the global wings, U.S. corporations were circling like sharks, waiting
to go in for the kill. For example, in 1965, Freeport Sulfur cut a private deal
- with Henry Kissinger reportedly the deal broker - with Indian officials for a
share in a proposed gold-copper mining, while Mobile Oil Indonesia entered into
a contract with the Indonesian state oil company, Pertamina. Over a dozen other
oil companies were waiting for their chance to pounce. All that was needed to
complete the scheme was to get rid of Sukarno to avoid the risk of most profits
got to the Indonesian people.

The CIA helped Suharto plan and Stage a three-part coup. First, in 1965,
all of the left-leaning military leaders were murdered and their deaths blamed
on the PKI. Second, by convincing the public and Sukarno that the communists
were trying to topple the government, Sukarto got clearance to lead an all-out
slaughter of communists. Between 1965-1966 an estimated 500,000 to one million
men, women, and children known or suspected of being communists were massacred.
Some were murdered in their beds, and a large percentage were killed with
U.S.-supplied weapons. "Time" magazine reported during this period that
"travelers from [some] areas tell of small rivers and streams that have been
literally clogged with bodies."

In the final step of the coup, Suharto deposed Sukarno. What followed was a
feeding frenzy by Suharto, his henchmen and U.S. corporations. Like a warlord,
Suharto approriated the best of everything he could for himself and his family -
oil wells, timber lands, and sugar plantations. Thousands of acres of land were
seized by companies with the blessings of Suharto. Tens of thousands of native
people were killed, displaced, or "disappeared" to make way for mining, logging,
and drilling operations. The Freeport gold operation Kissinger (see "Bloody
Hands Full of Gold") helped orchestrate (and of which he is today the primary
stockholder, as well as collecting $500,000 a year as its chief legal rep
through his law firm Kissinger Associates) was the first company to be
officially licensed after the coup. By 1969, nineteen U.S. oil companies were
vying for the rights to the oil beneath Indonesia’s coastal waters, while
Weyerhaueser, International Paper, and Boise Cascade were hacking down huge
tracts of tropical forests in Sumatra as fast as they could hack. Meanwhile, now
that the U.S. had "saved" the Indonesian people from communism, they forced the
natives to work in the new factories and industrial operations at an average
wage of 10 cents an hour.

It is certainly no coincidence that during the same "formative years" of
the exploitation of Southeast Asia – 1965-1969 – that the war in Vietnam was
being launched and prosecuted full force. Why? The main oil shipping corridor
from Indonesia to Japan (and thence to the U.S.) lays between Indonesia and
Vietnam. It is interesting to note that Hainan Island also lies in this corridor
– the same area that was the center of our recent spy plane incursion. This
corridor is mentioned in Baker Institute reports on U.S. energy policy as being
a "keep out of the hands of the Chinese at all costs" zone. The main shipping
corridor to India (another growing oil consumer at that time and now as well)
lays between northwestern Indonesia and Cambodia, a fact which just may explain
Henry Kissinger’s otherwise inexplicable decision during the Vietnam war to bomb
neutral Cambodia back into the stone age (sending the country from thence into
the nightmare of life under the Khmer Rouge).

While the U.S. companies ripped billions of dollars out of the Indonesian
landscape, over 60% of the nation lived below the poverty line, many at the
point of starvation. Yet, the Suharto government would always point to all of
the new schools and the improved education system as proof of his compassion for
his country. (Sound familiar?)

As always, when it comes to corporate greed, enough is never enough. By
1974, the U.S. had lost Vietnam and, under Suharto’s despotic, corrupt rule,
there were constant outbreaks of rebellion in Indonesia. Nowhere was the push
for independence more well-organized and persistent than in East Timor. The
progressive governor there decided to allow the formation of multiple political
parties, which in turn lead to an intensified push for independence from the
oppression of Suharto and foreign interests. The prospect of East Timorese
autonomy dismayed Suharto because he and his friends had very valuable holdings
in the region, including three oil wells. If the push for independence
succeeded, he might lose his "investments" (or should we say seizures). Worse
yet, the push for independence could spread through the country, threatening
other interests, such as Kissinger’s gold mine!

In 1975, Kissinger orchestrated a surprise invasion of East Timor by the
Indonesian military (a fact supported by documents since revealed). Kissinger
and Gerald Ford are believed (by many human rights observers and historians) to
have been in on the planning of the invasion right up to the moment of
initiation. In any case, the two were visiting Suharto on December 6, 1975. The
next day, just an hour or so after Air Force One had cleared Indonesian air
space, headed for the U.S., the attack was launched and East Timor was declared
Indonesia’s 27th province. In the process, over 200,000 East Timorese people
were slaughtered. Since then, for the oil and mining industries in Indonesia,
it has been business as usual.

The 1997-1998 Asian economic crisis hit Indonesia hard and contributed to
the long-hoped-for ouster of Suharto. He was replaced in May of 1998 by B.J.
Habibe. But the Indonesian people had had enough of being oppressed and abused,
of receiving a tiny percentage of the money – if any – generated by the
exploitation of their natural resources. The push for freedom which had
sporadically continued in some areas since the terrors of 1975 had reached new,
widespread dimensions.In 1999, rioting broke out in Aceh, Ambon, Borneo, and
Irian Jaya – all areas heavily exploited by American corporations.

The threat of a new rebellion by East Timor, was, once more, particularly
irksome to the corporations and to the oil-fed Indonesian government. A
38,000-square-mile zone called the Timor Gap had just been staked out off the
coast of the country and promised to yield unheard of volumes of oil. Habibe was
either colossally weak or extraordinarily Machiavellian (or, more likely, was
advised by someone extraordinarily Machiavellian). In a show of democratic good
will, he allowed East Timor to hold a referendum to decide its independence. An
overwhelming 80% of all voters opted for independence. But, as soon as the
results had been tallied, the Indonesian government stormed in, just as they had
when Suharno had pressed for nationalization. Thousands of East Timorese were
massacred, while one-third of the country’s residents were forced out of the
region and 80% of all structures in the little nation were destroyed. UNICEF
reported in 1999 that 114 children had died in concentration camps in West Timor
where an estimated 200,000 East Timorese were held in squalid conditions.
Hundreds more children were abuducted, many for sexual slavery.

Habibe did nothing to stop the military. Meanwhile, he continued to scoop
up the largesse of the oil companies. At the height of the slaughter, Philips
Petroleum, which had heavy interests in East Timor, paid $2.9 million to the
Indonesian government. According to human rights activist Jose Ramos Horta (a
1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner), Philips had at that point, never paid a cent to
East Timor for the billions of barrels of oil it had removed from the country’s
waters. Many Timorese activists believe that the destruction of 80% of the
country’s buildings was all part of the collusion between the Indonesian
government and foreign powers, including the U.S. Since the tragedy, $1.2
billion in rebuilding funds have poured into East Timor, along with thousands of
foreign "carpet baggers" eager to "rebuild." It was 1975 all over again "This is
not much different from the [previous] Indonesian invasion," says Maria
Bernadino of East Timor’s "Rebuild Watch." "All they need to do now is to go
around shooting people and torturing people." And, as always, all the jobs in
the "rebuilding" effort went (and are still going) to foreigners, while a

• The Model for Bush Globalization (Cont'd) — Cheryl Seal, Mon Sep 23 23:29
• URL: The Roots of the Bush-Cheney's Oil Government — Cheryl Seal, Wed Sep 25 16:06