Washington, D.C., January 28, 2008 - As Indonesia buries the ex-dictator Suharto, who died Sunday at the age of 86, the National Security Archive today posted a selection of declassified U.S. documents detailing his record of repression and corruption, and the long-standing U.S. support for his regime.
The documents include transcripts of meetings with Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, as well as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Vice-President Walter Mondale, then Vice-President George W. Bush, and former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.
Additional documents detail U.S. perceptions of Suharto from the earliest years of his violent rule, including the 1969 annexation of West Papua, the 1975 invasion of East Timor, and the so-called "Mysterious Killings" of 1983-1984.
"In death Suharto has escaped justice both in Indonesia and East Timor," said Brad Simpson, who directs the Archive's Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project. "But these declassified documents, detailing the long record of U.S. support for one of the twentieth century's most brutal and corrupt men, will contribute to our understanding both of Suharto's rule and of the U.S. support which helped make it possible."
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB242/index.htm
The documents include transcripts of meetings with Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, as well as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Vice-President Walter Mondale, then Vice-President George W. Bush, and former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.
Additional documents detail U.S. perceptions of Suharto from the earliest years of his violent rule, including the 1969 annexation of West Papua, the 1975 invasion of East Timor, and the so-called "Mysterious Killings" of 1983-1984.
"In death Suharto has escaped justice both in Indonesia and East Timor," said Brad Simpson, who directs the Archive's Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project. "But these declassified documents, detailing the long record of U.S. support for one of the twentieth century's most brutal and corrupt men, will contribute to our understanding both of Suharto's rule and of the U.S. support which helped make it possible."
Most of the documents posted today [ 28 Jan 2008 ] have been declassified as a result of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by the Archive, in addition to documents unearthed in the National Archives (NARA) and Presidential libraries.
In the coming weeks the Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project will be posting additional documents concerning the events leading up to Suharto’s downfall in May 1998.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB242/index.htm
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