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| Part 02. Historical Flashback |  |
Part 04. From Oil to Ore: US Vested Interests |
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KENNEDIES CONNECTION: The Kennedies (JFK & RFK) had been loyal to their professions and to the INTERESTS of their country, though at the expense of West Papua/ns Right to Freedom |
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In August 1945, shortly after the Japanese surrender, the Republic of Indonesia declared its independence. A difficult political situation immediately arose. The Dutch wanted to keep their rich colony: the Indonesians wanted their freedom. For several months the Dutch and Indonesian forces skirmished, especially in Batavia, the capital. The United States, deeply interested in the area for economic and strategic reasons, followed a so-called policy of neutrality. Representing the United States in Batavia was a Consul General with pro-Dutch views, who had served in the Indies for twelve years before the war. In February 1946, the Consul General was joined by a Vide-Consul, William Jones, who was sent by the State Department to undertake economic analysis and reporting. At his time Washington had a particular need for full and accurate information on the economic situation in Indonesia to help in developing important foreign policies. James was of a different stamp from his chief. A young economist, trained in American universities and in the State Department, he had studied the pre-war pattern of colonialism and he had developed strong sympathies for the nationalist cause. Within a few months after his arrival, Jones was busy preparing economic reports on the Indonesian islands. To get complete information Jones needed to approach Indonesian as well as Dutch officials, but the Consul General wanted him to see only the Dutch. Some time later a confidential aerogramme arrived from the State Department requesting an extensive economic report on Indonesia, adding that, 'if possible, and with the utmost direction, Dutch, Indonesian, and British sources should be consulted as far as feasible.' Jones finally used the aerogramme to justify consultations with the Indonesians at whatever risk to his relations with his chief and Dutch-American relations, who assured him that he would receive useful material from the Republic and in confidence. Jones' decision proved a happy one. His talks with the Indonesians (as well as with the Dutch and British) were fruitful, and he was later commended by the State Department for the report submitted. It is clear, however, that without any particular sympathy for Indonesia, his decision might have been very different.
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(The Open Intelligence) |
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The American Foreign Service is composed of ambassadors, consuls, ministers, officers, reserve officers and staffs. At the core of the service are the Foreign Service officers, comparable to the officers of the regular army in the military services. It is a select, specially trained body of men and women who are expected to take an assignment at any place in the world on short notice.
The Foreign Service is the eyes and ears of the United States Although a part of the State Department, the service represents the entire government and performs jobs for many other agencies. Almost 90% of its reports go to the departments other than State. Its main duties are to carry out foreign policy as expressed in the directives of the Secretary of State, gather data for American policy makers, protect American interests in foreign countries and cultivate friendly relations with foreign peoples. They have their own training school, the Foreign Service Institute, where new officers and their wives are briefed and where experienced officers get advanced instruction. Officers have either diplomatic or consular duties and provide the general direction of US mission abroad, and as a small elite group it has a high esprit de corps. The Foreign Service is one of the most respected and most criticized branches of the US government.
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(The Closed Intelligence) |
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The makers of foreign policy must be familiar with the geographical and physical structure of the nations of the world' with the people - their numbers, skills, age distributions: the status of their arts, technology, engineering, and sciences; and their political and social systems. Policy makers must be able to counter the moves of other nations, and have some idea of the direction in which they are going to move. They need, in other words, 'high level level of foreign-policy intelligence.' Those who gather and analyze this material assistants to the policy leaders. The term 'intelligence work' conjures up visions of spies and undercover agents, but at least 95 per cent of the information comes from open sources. Yet secret intelligence often supplies the crucial and coordinating data. Intelligence work involves three operations: Surveillance is the close and systematic observation of developments of the world over. Research is the 'attempt to establish meaningful patterns of what was observed in the past and attempts to get meaning out of what appears to be going on now.' Transmission is getting the right information to the right people at the right time. Many agencies of the government are engaged in intelligence work. But each of these agencies is primarily interested in gathering information within its own particular filed of activity. When all the bits of information gathered by the many agencies are pieced together, they often reveal what is not evident when they are views separately/ The Central Intelligence Agency, better know as CIA serves directly under the National Security Council. CIA correlates and evaluates information gathered by other agencies, provides for its distribution, and itself gathers intelligence from all over the world. During the period of Cold War, CIA played an inportant role in engineering the overthrow of governments which were run not in the line with US foreign policy (Iran, Laos and Guatemala) - including the attempt to overthrow Soekarno in 1959. The Indonesian campaign to oust the Dutch colonial government from West Papua received funding from an American source - according to Kartono Kadri who, as the head of the Indonesian 'Central Intelligence Body' under the Foreign Minister, Dr. Subandrio in the early 1960s, was the third highest official in the Indonesian bureaucracy that assumed control of the disputed territory once the Dutch departed. He did not explain in detail whether this multi-million dollar funding (much of which went to the army) came from the CIA or from Standard Oil or whether there was any point of differentiation when Allen Dulles had such influence in both. However, this American source of funds and unofficial diplomacy supported the Indonesian campaign in the second half of the 1950s, at at time when the existence of an immense wealth of Natural Resources in West Papua was kept out of the public domain. There were four unsuccessful attempts to bring the matter to the attention of the United Nations, none of which included Natural Resources as a reason for wanting to oust the Dutch. Now for that matter were Natural Resources over stated as the reason why they Dutch colonial government wanted to retain West Papua.
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American diplomat and 'Chief' of US Intelligence. Born in Watertown, New York, and educated at Princetown and George Washington Universities. 1916 - 1926: Entered the US diplomatic corps - serving at various posts in Europe and the Middle East. 1926 - 1939: Law practitioner in New York. 1939 - 1945: Headed the US Office of Strategic Services in Bern, Switzerland, and was the only WWII intelligence agent who penetrated German military intelligence so well that he knew beforehand when Hitler planned to invade the Soviet Union: and he knew beforehand when the group of renegade generals planned to assassinate Hitler: unsuccessfully as it tourned out. It was to Dulles based in Europe, that the Japanese first turned in 1945 with the initial move to surrender: 1953 - 1961: Director of CIA. His involvement in the failed attempt to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion prompted Dulles resignation from the CIA. 1962: Resumed position as Top Lawyer for Standard Oil, after resignation from the CIA. 1963 - 1964: Served on the presidential 'Warren Commission' set up after the JFK's 2963 assassination. Died 1969.
The most effective political organization in the USA in 1960, was not the Democratic Party but the 'KENNEDY ORGANIZATION', led mainly by the Kennedy Brothers (JFK & RFK) and their staffs. JFK coordinated security policies through his own Special Assistant for National Security Affairs and a small personal staff, but tried to avoid having his staff interpose itself between the President and the Secretary of State. His administration 'deliberately rubbed out the distinction between planning and operation' since it was felt that the President's purposes could be 'better served if the staff officer who keeps in daily touch with operations in a given area is also the officer who acts for the White House Staff in related planning activities. To avoid needless committees and specialized machinery. JFK's administration found it necessary to create a variety of Special Task Forces - high level, specific-oriented groups. Kennedy rarely used his Cabinet or National Security Council (NSC) for major decisions.
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In 1957 the CIA station in Indonesia decided that the United States should back a military revolt against Soekarno. The CIA began to feed the State and Defense departments intelligence. John Allison, the US Ambassador in Jakarta opposed the idea of overthrowing the regime. CIA handled the problem by getting 'Chief' Allen Dulles to have his brother relieve Allison of his post within a year of his arrival in Indonesia. The Indonesia adventure was o total failure. The army rebelled in February 1958 after Allison's departure. Though Allen Dulles had personally promised to keep the new ambassador.' Howard P. Jones, apprised of CIA activity in Indonesia. The rebellion collapsed in May 1958, and the CIA pilot, Allen L. Pope was shot down and captured during a bombing mission. In 1962 Robert Kennedy visited Jakarta and developed an unlikely rapport with Soekarno. The specific RFK mission in Jakarta was to head off war between Indonesia and the Netherlands over West New Guinea, whose territorial status was left unresolved when Indonesia became recognized in 1949. RFK also became addition, a more SECRET MISSION: to secure the release of Allen Pope who had been captured and condemned to death in 1960. The death sentence had not been carried out. When Soekarno visited Washington in 1961, John Kennedy asked for Pope's release. Soekarno said that it would happen in due course. Mrs. Pope called on RFK who stated later that, "I was tremendously impressed with her and then she talked about the children and the fat that the children were fighting with one another and one child have never seen her father. So I was really taken up with it." RFK brought up Pope at the first meeting. Kennedy concluded that Soekarno was using Pope as bargaining counter over West New Guinea. RFK diplomatically stressed to him that 'HE COULD TAKE POPE OUT AND SHOOT HIM AND IT WOULDN'T AFFECT WHAT THEY DID ON WEST NEW GUINEA BECAUSE WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO DO ON WEST NEW GUINEA WAS IN THE INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE.' Soekarno said, "Well, let me tell you, Mr. Attorney General, you're just going to have to leave this to me to handle in my own way." After a testy debate on the matter RFK went back and told Soekarno, "...I COULD NOT LEAVE WITHOUT SAYING TO YOU ABOUT THIS. WHAT MY BROTHER (JF) FEELS ABOUT IT, AND WHAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO FEEL SO LONG AS MR. POPE IS IN PRISON." After the talks both Soekarno and RFK went out together where the press was waiting - they just smilled and shoohands. Kennedy departed the next day. In Junw, four months after the visit, Soekarno sent word to Pope: "YOU ARE PARDONED. BUT I DO SO SILENTLY -- JUST GO HOME, HIDE YOURSELF, GET LOST, AND WE'LL FORGET THE WHOLE THING."
----------------------------------------------------- There were many SURPRISES when JFK announced his Cabinet appointments on January 20, 1961. As Secretary of State, he named DEAN RUSK, President of the Rockefeller Foundation and former WWI Intelligence Officer who had played an important role in the INDONESIAN INDEPENDENCE in 1945. He appointed C. Douglas Dillon, a New York Banker and Eisenhower's US Secretary of State, as Secretary of the Treasury; ROBERT S. McNAMARA, president of the Ford Motor Company as Secretary of Defense; and Robert F. Kennedy, the president's brother, as General Attorney.
----------------------------------------------------- Michael C. Rockefeller, 23-year-old son of New York Government Nelson Rockefeller, arrived in New Guinea in 1961 as part of the Harvard Peabody Expedition, to study and film the Baliem Valley Dani. He shots stills for the group, and rolled sound for the documentary film 'Dead Birds.' On this trip, Michael had the chance also to visit the Asmat area near Agats, and was amazed with the tribe's sculpture. After a short trip back home, he returned with the intention of purchasing as many pieces as he could, for a planned exhibit in the United States. His partner on this collection trip was Rene Wassing, a Dutch expert familiar with Asmat art who was to help Rockefeller choose the best pieces. The two hired a couple of Asmat guides and obtained an outboard-powered catamaran. On Saturday, November 18, 1961, they set off for Atsj - 56 kilometers (35 miles) away from where on the first trip Rockefeller had seen many promising carvings. But disaster soon struck. Crossing the mouth of the North Eilanden River (the Siretsj), a fierce tide capsized their boat. The guides swam ashore to get help and the collectors spent the night on the upended catamaran. The next morning, Rockefeller became impatient. As the story goes, although Wassing urged him not to go, the young man was determined, and seeing the shore some 4-5 miles away, he emptied the gas tank, strapped it and an empty jerry-can together with his belt, and headed for shore. It was the last anyone saw of him. Wassing was soon rescued, because the two guides had made it to shore and gone for help, but Michael was nowhere to be found. Governor Rockefeller and Michael;s twin sister, Mary Strawbridge, flew to Agats to direct the search effort, bringing 75 reporters in their wake. THE PRESS HAD ONLY ONE FIELD DAY, REPORTING THAT MICHAEL HAD BEEN EATEN BY CANNIBALS. "I don't know what happened to him. But I am almost certain that he didn't get to shore. Even if you are only 30 feet from the shore, you don't stand a chance against that abnormally heavy tide," Wassing later told a reporter. NO POST-INCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS WERE CARRIED OUT TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY. NO ONE EVER MANAGED TO CONNECT THE INCIDENT WITH MICHAEL'S KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITY OF HANDLING LOCAL FIERCE TIDAL PROBLEMS. NO ONE EVER MANAGED TO CONNECT THE INCIDENT WITH EAST-WEST COLD WAR AND OR KENNEDY-ROCKEFELLER DOMESTIC POLITICAL INTERESTS AND RELATED INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES, OR HAPPENED TO QUESTION ENGAGEMENT OF RENE WASSING IN MICHAEL'S MISSION AND THE ROLE AMERICAN PRESS IN PRODUCING A SCAPEGOAT FOR THE INCIDENT.
Kennedys' disregard for West Papua was fuelled among other things by America's economic and political interests, and the so-called determination to steer Indonesia away from the Soviet Bloc. Nobody seemed to notice JFK's revengeful attitude toward West Papua, triggered mainly by the Rockefeller incident, which were as reflected by his (an his staff's) 'Anti Papua' political statements that, "...West Papua WAS NOT part of the world where great powers should be rationally engaged...", and that "...the Papuans are some 700,000 and living in Stone Age..." JFK's 'Anti Papua' attitude was adopted as well by some of his staff, as revealed in a memo that the Administration sent to Australia on the 'preposition that a pro-Bloc, if not communist, Indonesia is an infinitely greater threat to them and us, than Indo possession of a few thousand square miles of 'CANNIBAL LAND.' RFK (as US General Attorney) in his rapport with Soekarno stated that, "...what we are going to do on West New Guinea, was.... in the INTEREST OF JUSTICE..." (justice in revenge for the Rockefeller Incident).
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JFK was born in 1917 and RFK in 1925, in Brookline Massachusetts to family of Rose Fitzgerald, and Joseph P. Kennedy (a successful businessman and politician)..... Their great-grand parents came from Ireland, who saw themselves as the VICTIMS of history - as to the West Papuans today. The 'Americanized' Kennedies in dealing with the West Papuan case, had totally forgotten history and memories of dispossession and defeat that filled their ancestors' souls for the loss of their national independence, their personal dignity, their land, even their language to intruders from across the sea. |
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| Part 02. Historical Flashback | |
Part 03. From Oil to Ore: US Vested Interests |