Because of his long involvement in the East Timor struggle , Darwin agronomist Rob Wesley-Smith continues to build a massive dossier on the way the West turned a blind eye on the invasion of the former Portuguese colony by Indonesia in 1975 and the ruthless oppression and slaughter of many of its people.
The latest documents include 1983 secret communications from the Australian Consulate in Bali to the Australian Embassy, Jakarta , forwarded to Foreign Affairs, Canberra. Discussed is American help in fitting napalm tanks to planes for presumed use in East Timor and the suicide or murder of a US citizen.
Another subject of interest is the suggestion that there had been a plot to either kidnap or harm the American Ambassador to Indonesia, John Herbert Holdridge. In 1971 Holdridge accompanied US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the secret trip to mainland China that opened the way for President Richard Nixon to visit in 1972, which impacted in the Australian election, resulting in the Whitlam government coming into office.
Another subject of interest is the suggestion that there had been a plot to either kidnap or harm the American Ambassador to Indonesia, John Herbert Holdridge. In 1971 Holdridge accompanied US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the secret trip to mainland China that opened the way for President Richard Nixon to visit in 1972, which impacted in the Australian election, resulting in the Whitlam government coming into office.
Wesley-Smith pulls no punches when he tells how US President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger gave the green light for Indonesia to invade East Timor. He is just as critical of Australia's part in the affair . Another point he makes about the communiques is that they reveal an Italian involvement as the napalm tanks were made in that country.
