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In this scene from the movie, Horta tells East that Indonesia is not acting alone, and that Western governments are thoroughly implicated.
The CAVR concluded1 :
Both the Indonesian and US Governments knew that US weapons were used in the invasion of Timor-Leste. The US Congresswoman, Helen Meyner, told a Congressional inquiry in 1977 that General Moerdani confirmed the use of US equipment:
"When we met in Djakarta with some of the top Indonesian military men... John Salzberg asked General Moerdani whether US weapons had been used in 1975. He said, 'Of course, these are the only weapons that we have. Of course there were US weapons.'"
The US National Security Council was advised on 12 December 1975 that US equipment was used in the invasion. The report to the NSC stated that US-supplied equipment included the following:
- At least nine ex-US navy ships, one of which, the KRI Martadinata, was involved in coastal shelling from 22 November and took part in the one-hour naval bombardment that preceded the 7 December assault on Dili.
- 13 planes used in the assault on Dili and Baucau.
- equipment used by the 18th Airborne Brigade that made the para-drop on Dili on 7 December and the 17th Airborne Brigade involved in the drop on Baucau on 10 December; this comprised rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars, rocket launchers, parachutes and radios; their jump masters were US-trained.
- some US radio equipment was used by the communications centre at Atambua, Indonesian Timor, which controlled Timor operations.
Jose Ramos-Horta told the CAVR that in his opinion the US has the most to answer for:
"The US was the worst. Worst because it was the only single power that could have told the Indonesians, after the invasion, not only before then but after then: 'You behave, stop these killings', but they wouldn't...and they knew what was right."
The US Ambassador to the UN at the time, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, wrote:
"The United States wished things to turn out as they did, and worked to bring this about. The Department of State desired that the United Nations prove utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook. This task was given to me, and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success."2
1 For details, see CAVR 2005, Part 7.1 - Self-Determination.
2 D.P. Moynihan 1980, A Dangerous Place, Little Brown, p 247.
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