DATE=9/29/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=COHEN-AUSTRALIA-TROOPS-(L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254436
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA
CONTENT=
VOICED At:
INTRO: U-S Defense Secretary William Cohen says
Washington will consider sending more help to the
Australian-led peacekeeping force in East Timor. But
he made it clear that help is not likely to include
combat troops. Mr. Cohen's comments came in an
interview on Australian television. V-O-A'S Jim
Randle reports from Cairns (prono: cans) Australia,
where Mr. Cohen is beginning meetings with Australian
officials.
TEXT: The United States has sent about 260 experts
and soldiers to help the several thousand members of
the East Timor peacekeeping force with advanced
communication, cargo planes, intelligence and other
support functions.
News reports from East Timor say the peacekeepers are
moving out of the main city of Dili and beginning to
disarm the militia forces blamed for a spree of
killing and arson that human rights groups say may
have killed hundreds or perhaps thousands of people.
In a broadcast interview, Mr. Cohen said U-S forces
are already feeling the strain of peacekeeping and
other deployments around the world to deal with
problems in Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, and elsewhere. Mr.
Cohen says Australia never formally asked for U-S
ground forces, but hinted such a request might be
turned down.
/// COHEN ACT ///
We believe the Australian military is fully
capable of leading this peacekeeping mission.
One of the purposes of my coming here is to meet
with my counterpart, the Australian Defense
Minister John Moore, and also to meet with our
own military and the New Zealanders, to get an
assessment of what is taking place on the ground
and to see ways in which we can be helpful.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Cohen says it is possible that more American
forces will be sent to help in East Timor, but they
will likely be limited to the sort of support roles
the U-S is already handling.
Peacekeeping deployments have been harshly criticized
in the United States, where conservative Republicans
in Congress say they cost billions of dollars and
expose U-S troops to danger to protect places that are
not critical to the survival of the United States.
Some critics also say the time spent on peacekeeping
is eroding the fighting skills and morale of the one-
point-four million members of the U-S armed forces.
The critiques come at a time when the U-S armed forces
are having serious problems recruiting the skilled,
fit, motivated people needed to operate and maintain
the highly technical weapons in the U-S arsenal. All
of the services except the Marine Corps will be
thousands of recruits short of their enlistment goals
this year.
/// REST OPT ///
After talks in Cairns, Mr. Cohen heads for the
logistical base for the multinational peacekeeping
force in Darwin, Australia, to meet U-S troops and
hold a press conference with Australian Defense
Minister John Moore. Thursday he holds talks in
Indonesia with top officials, urging them to cooperate
with the peacekeeping force and restrain violence.
(Signed).
Neb/jr/gm
28-Sep-1999 18:54 PM EDT (28-Sep-1999 2254 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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