[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S543-S546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TSUNAMI RELIEF IN INDONESIA

  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, today it is a real privilege for me to be 
able to report to my colleagues and the people of America on a 
magnificent relief effort underway in Indonesia, where the December 26, 
2004, tsunami left over 115,000 confirmed deaths, with potentially tens 
of thousands more swept out to certain death in the sea, leaving no 
record of their disappearance, and hundreds of thousands of surviving 
victims left in precarious positions, with inadequate water and food, 
facing potentially life-threatening diseases.
  On Saturday, January 15, a week ago this past Saturday, I walked 
through the primitive conditions in the mud, in the heat and humidity 
of Banda Aceh Airport to talk to the relief teams and the military 
personnel, Asian and American, gathered in a common cause. Some of 
these American troops are shown here in this picture. It was an 
extremely diverse group of individuals. They shared in the common beads 
of sweat dripping off the end of the nose from the oppressive climate. 
They had a compelling commitment to relieve the tremendous suffering of 
the people of Aceh and Northern Sumatra and a cooperative spirit that 
resolved questions and differences of opinion with speed and good 
humor.
  The U.S. Navy and Marine helicopter crews, which had flown 600 
missions delivering 2.3 million pounds of supplies to isolated 
locations cut off by the tsunami-destroyed roads and bridges, mingled 
with international relief agency personnel, personnel from other 
countries, Navy volunteers from the USS Abraham Lincoln who joined with 
marines from the Bonhomme Richard, loaded U.S. Agency for International 
Development rice and purified water from the carrier Lincoln onto the 
helicopters.
  The Indonesian military, through their Army, the TNI, provided 
security for relief forces against potential kidnapping and harassment 
by the free-Aceh movement, known as GAM, which apparently and 
fortunately was more interested in ensuring that people did not forget 
about them than in inflicting more casualties on the volunteers.
  Navy fixed-wing pilots from the Lincoln, who were not that day flying 
off the carrier, came to work in oppressively hot tents to provide 
logistics control and support. USAID workers, who were among the true 
heroes of the effort, organized food, water, and medical supplies as 
directed by Indonesian government officials, to be put on helicopters 
or sometimes Marine hovercraft, VCACs, which could gain access to 
isolated regions along the shores, once the debris and human remains 
had been removed from the shorelines.
  Even though the main work of removing bodies of victims in Banda Aceh 
had concluded days before, the State Department security official noted 
to me that each day debris from collapsed buildings was removed, a 
dozen or so body bags carried additional victims from beneath the 
rubble.
  One of the first people who met me was Pierre King, the French leader 
of a unit from the International Organization of Migration, IOM, a 
critically important group of workers who had been on the scene from 
the beginning. He asked me to tell the American people that American 
troop efforts and that of volunteers had been outstanding. This was the 
theme heard time and time again from many different sources.
  When I arrived at a concrete structure serving as the command center, 
Indonesia's coordinating minister in charge of relief efforts, Alwi 
Shihab, an old friend who had visited me in Washington, DC a week 
before the tsunami, expressed the profound gratitude of the people of 
Indonesia for the great work the Americans had done. He expressed his 
hope that the U.S. troops would stay in the country until Indonesian 
resources could take over the immediate relief effort.
  Later, the Indonesian Defense Minister, Juwono Sudarsono, told Deputy 
Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz that the United States had been the 
backbone of the relief effort. Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and I later met 
with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, often referred to, 
for obvious reasons, by his initials SBY. The President expressed his 
gratitude for the relief work of the United States military, and he 
said he hoped that Indonesia would be able to take over any further 
needed relief work within 3 months and probably sooner.
  This entire effort and the saving of untold lives was made possible 
by the outpouring of voluntary assistance as well as the work of troops 
assigned to the region.
  In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, later I learned that when the 
United

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States began loading our C-130s with vital relief needs, our embassy 
personnel, led by USAID workers, were joined by volunteers from the 
American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, spouses of American 
diplomats, and other American and international civilians living in the 
area who loaded the 20,000-pound pallets to be carried to Banda Aceh in 
the C-130s. It is clear that without their efforts the scope of the 
tragedy of the tsunami itself could have been magnified many times by 
starvation and disease, killing Indonesians in the impacted areas who 
had survived the disastrous wall of water brought in by the tsunami.

  Aid for severely injured victims in Indonesia was provided initially 
by United States naval doctors and corpsmen, and the most seriously 
injured were transferred to high-level care facilities on shipboard. 
Later field hospitals were provided by other countries, including 
Jordan, Spain, and France. The latter provided a 74-ton field hospital, 
which our heavy-lift Marine helicopters were able to transport to the 
disaster scene. Most of the severe injuries had been cared for by the 
time we arrived, and several of the field hospitals were preparing to 
return to their home countries because their mission had been 
fulfilled.
  I was told that one Marine hovercraft had blown a portion of a pallet 
into a resident, injuring him. He was treated by a Navy corpsman, taken 
home by the Marines who were there unloading the hovercraft.
  But the real challenge is to health, the lack of healthy water supply 
and sanitation, creating the danger of tetanus, typhoid, and other 
disease. One of the Philippine nurses in the IOM tent proudly showed me 
the tetanus, typhoid vaccines, and other medicines they were 
administering to protect survivors from disease.
  The need for clean water was addressed initially by U.S. Admiral Doug 
Crowder, commander of the Abraham Lincoln Strike Force deployed to the 
region on an emergency basis. The carrier was able to generate 90,000 
gallons of purified water, in addition to its needs each day, to be 
delivered to the residents of the stricken region.
  Also we saw in Jakarta USAID personnel prepared large water jugs with 
water purification chemicals attached to them to enable purification of 
water on the ground for residents whose water supply had been severely 
compromised.
  In addition to the volunteer efforts I described, great work was done 
by our allies in the region. We need to make special reference to them. 
Singapore supplied helicopters for relief efforts. Australia brought in 
C-130s for heavy lift, as did New Zealand. Other countries in the 
region played valuable roles as well. Japan contributed. Thailand, 
which had over 5,000 deaths in its hotel and resort area of Phuket, was 
able to handle the disaster relief with its own forces and volunteers, 
not calling on other countries for assistance.
  In addition to dealing with the problem in his own country, Prime 
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra promptly offered the use of its airfield at 
Utapoah as a central U.S. staging point for airlift relief supplies 
going into northern Indonesia.
  The Government of Malaysia, led by its newly elected Prime Minister 
Abdullah Badawi, acted quickly to clear all necessary flight access for 
relief efforts and to permit our military aircraft to utilize vitally 
needed airports for operations into Indonesia. After meeting with 
government officials and volunteers on the ground on January 15, I 
joined our United States ambassador in Indonesia, R. Lynn Pascoe, and 
Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz on a helicopter tour of the devastated areas 
of northern Aceh.
  During my time as Governor, I saw devastation of areas hit by floods 
and tornadoes. I thought I had seen the worst. In addition, all of us 
in America who watched television saw stark pictures of the floods, the 
destruction, what was left after the tsunami struck. But what I saw 
from the helicopter was beyond anything I had ever seen before in both 
its extent and magnitude. The extent and magnitude were nothing short 
of cataclysmic. We saw from the air broad reaches of low-lying portions 
of what had obviously been a reasonably prosperous Asian community 
turned into piles of large matchsticks with buildings torn completely 
off their foundations. Remnants of fishing vessels perched hazardously 
against remnants of structures hundreds and hundreds of yards from 
shore. Small fires were burning where surviving residents were cleaning 
up debris and burning the trash.
  As we flew down the shoreline for a short way, we saw the sides of 
cliffs carved out where the tsunami wave had bulldozed huge sections of 
the cliffs. This slide from a helicopter window shows the new cliffs 
which have been carved out by the floodwaters as they hit in those 
areas. The only trees left standing were very young pine trees which 
apparently were slender and supple enough to avoid being broken off by 
the tsunami. Small towns along the way were identifiable only by 
foundations of buildings which may have been businesses, farms, or 
homes, but otherwise totally unrecognizable. In some areas, bridges 
were wiped out and in other areas the highways near the shore were 
covered in large expanses of sand. It was obvious that fields which had 
been cultivated were likely turned into barren salt and sand 
wastelands.
  In addition to the large swath of devastation cut across Banda Atjeh, 
the devastation continued on to the horizon along the shore where the 
tsunami had wiped out manmade and even natural structures.
  Later, I learned that the Navy operations to bring in relief had to 
await remapping of the shoreline because even the underwater structures 
had been so changed by the tsunami that the navigation charts were 
unreliable. From the helicopter, we obviously just had this bird's-eye 
view. But from the relief workers and news reports in the area, we 
gained a much more detailed understanding of what had transpired.
  In the January 15 edition of the International Herald Tribune, it was 
reported that the seashore town of Calang, with 7,300 people, had been 
left after the tsunami with nothing other than the skeleton of one 
house of a wealthy resident. There were no signs of shops, houses, 
restaurants, or a mosque which had been there. Of the 7,300 people 
thought to live in the town, 323 bodies were found, and 5,627 residents 
were listed as missing--more than 80 percent of the community. We could 
only assume that they and thousands of others in isolated regions were 
swept out to sea. The total loss of life may never be known.
  The IHT reported news of similar devastation along a coastal region 
where villages were flattened, leaving no roads, bridges, ports, or 
airstrips. It was reported that one swampy area had approximately 100 
floating bodies, and nobody had been able to gain access to remove and 
bury the dead.
  In a subsequent report on January 18, IHT noted that the Red Cross 
had given up attempting to compile a list of those missing, and decided 
to pursue what tragically was a much smaller listing of those who 
survived. It was a publication called simply ``I Am Alive.'' The news 
story recorded a heartwarming and touching account of an 18-year-old 
boy who was able to find his 8-year-old brother who had been torn out 
of his arms in the waves. But the number of reunions had been 
tragically small, with only one or two other reunions recorded.
  Before I visited Banda Aceh, I had read and was concerned about 
reports indicating that the response to the tsunami had been slow. But 
as I learned more about the nature of the devastation, I gained a 
better understanding of why it was slow. Apparently, there had been a 
major sports celebration in Banda Aceh when the tsunami struck, and 
most of the town's leaders were in the low-lying areas as were a large 
number of the TNI military and its leaders, and most of the 
communication facilities in Banda Aceh. These were all washed away--the 
citizens, the leaders, the local officials, and the communications 
facilities. It was many hours before aircraft flights over the area 
could discover the extent of the destruction.
  Despite the uncertainty and despite a lack of knowledge of the exact 
nature of the destruction, initial reports of the tsunami brought 
immediate proactive reactions from a lot of U.S. leadership--ADM Thomas 
Fargo, our Pacific military commander, and our Ambassador to Indonesia, 
R. Lynn Pascoe, as well as organizations like the American Red Cross, 
the International Organization for Migration, and the Governments of 
Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.

[[Page S545]]

  Ambassador Pascoe immediately made available $100,000 to the 
International Red Cross to purchase badly needed supplies and 
medication. He also tasked the IOM to mobilize truck convoys which 
enabled land relief with 80 trucks to reach Banda Aceh within some 5 
days after the tsunami. Admiral Fargo's proactive order to turn the USS 
Abraham Lincoln around to the straits of Aceh, cancel shore leave and 
move it from Hong Kong to the straits of Aceh, brought in helicopter 
relief to isolated areas 6 days after the tragedy.

  It is obvious that this is a natural tragedy of historic proportions. 
The loss of life has truly been staggering, but the displaced and 
endangered people in the region are even a far larger number. Our 
relief efforts for the immediate needs have been generous and prompt, 
but there will be much more work to be done.
  Now, several misinterpretations of our efforts in Indonesia have 
appeared in the press and I need to address that. Many people 
interpreted the remarks of the Indonesian Vice President as ordering 
American forces out of Indonesia by March 26. In fact, our Ambassador 
and military officials agreed with the Indonesian Government that our 
troops--diverted to the country from scheduled and needed rest and 
relaxation--would stay only as long as absolutely needed and wanted by 
the country's government. All parties knew that the time of our troops' 
commitment would be, at the most, no more than 3 months. I believe the 
Vice President's announcement of departure by March 26 was a prediction 
of the schedule, not an ultimatum.
  Our mission in Indonesia was well described by Marine GEN Christian 
Cowdrey who, as commander of the Combined Support Group, told the 
Indonesians, ``We are here to support your efforts, at your direction, 
where you need it.'' He made it clear that we intended to stay as long 
as the Government of Indonesia requested our assistance, and as soon as 
our assistance was no longer required, he would return to the home base 
and station. There were 8,000 marines and sailors assisting in the 
relief effort, and the majority of them were based on ships to limit 
the number of people on shore who needed to be supplied.
  The short-term nature of our commitment was reinforced by an 
announcement by Admiral Fargo this past Friday that withdrawal of the 
troops would begin immediately, transferring relief operations to host 
nations and international organizations. He predicted that all 15,000 
U.S. troops would be withdrawn within 60 days--well short of the 
predicted maximum of March 26--as the mission in Indonesia moved from 
the immediate relief phase to rehabilitation and reconstruction.
  Another press report suggested Indonesia had demanded that our 
aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, leave its waters. This 
report seemingly was based on sightings of the Lincoln heading to open 
waters.
  Well, I had the opportunity to ask ADM Doug Crowder, commander of the 
Lincoln Strike Force, about this report. He shook his head and smiled 
in dismay. He told me that he routinely had to conduct flight 
operations to keep his fixed-wing pilots current. He does not conduct 
these operations near shore and routinely goes out to blue water, 50 to 
60 miles offshore. Even if he is in San Diego, he doesn't fly fixed 
wing off of his carrier on shore; he goes out to sea by that distance 
to blue water.
  In Indonesia, his practice had been to send off his helicopters with 
supplies and shore volunteers in the morning, located near shore. He 
then would move the carrier to blue water for fixed-wing flights and 
return in the evening to retrieve his choppers and personnel for 
overnight.
  Another story indicated that the U.S. Marines were prohibited from 
carrying any weapons while they were on Indonesian soil. As a father of 
a marine, this troubled me. I thought, are we sending marines in 
without protection? I inquired of Marine General Cowdrey if his troops 
were unprotected. He assured me that while marines engaged in 
humanitarian operations normally did not carry M-16 rifles, he never 
deployed his marines without adequate force and personal protection.
  Another thing the relief operations did was to bring into stark 
reality the unintended consequences of congressional restrictions 
placed on our assistance to Indonesia. This was done supposedly to deal 
with human rights abuses by the TNI--the Indonesian military--during 
the times of authoritarian rule in that country through the aftermath 
of the East Timor referendum. Those restrictions were first imposed in 
1991 and have been tightened since.
  I have opposed continuation of these sanctions since Indonesia has 
chosen new leaders democratically, most recently this fall's 2004 
election of President Yudhoyono; and the new leadership made a strong 
commitment to reform, to a recognition of human rights, and to fighting 
corruption. President Yudhoyono has shown he is a reformer; his 
permitting U.S. soldiers in Indonesia was opposed by hardliners in his 
Parliament. I believe we need to support him and his reform efforts, 
rather than strengthen the hand of anti-U.S. forces in his country. The 
main focus of the sanctions was to prohibit Indonesian participation in 
the International Military Education and Training Program, or the IMET 
Program, run by our military for our own officers and forces from 
friendly nations.
  IMET provides training in modern military operations, including 
adherence to the Code of Military Justice, civilian control of the 
military, respect for human rights, and proper treatment of civilian 
populations--precisely by the principles that should be instilled in 
military forces thought to have been involved in human rights abuses in 
the past.
  The major benefits of the program, however, are establishing 
relationships among our military leaders and commanders of friendly 
foreign forces to assure they understand how to conduct military or 
relief operations together.
  This principle is known as interoperability. The foreign officers 
learn English language skills so our allied officers can communicate. 
The failure to have such training in Indonesia almost resulted in a 
tragic midair collision of U.S. aircraft with a TNI helicopter 
operation.
  Our military leaders, Secretary Don Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary Paul 
Wolfowitz, and our Secretary of State, Colin Powell, have told me 
personally how important these IMET programs are and how important it 
is not to deny them to Indonesia. If our forces are to participate in 
military or relief operations with those of friendly nations, we must 
train together.
  Also, as a result of U.S. policy, Indonesia was denied the ability to 
purchase necessary spare parts for its C-130 fleet, rendering its fleet 
of 24 planes largely inoperable. Had the Indonesian C-130s been 
available, relief and aid would have flowed much sooner and in greater 
quantity to Aceh. When Secretary of State Colin Powell learned about 
the limitation, he immediately responded by issuing a waiver to bring 
funding for spare parts and the parts themselves to Indonesia.
  Beginning this past week, American and Indonesian mechanics began the 
installation of the spare parts, and soon more of the fleet should be 
ready for flight operations.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues and the administration 
to reverse these unnecessarily restrictive policies at the earliest 
opportunity.
  I might also say it has been disheartening to read some press 
accounts that have attributed the U.S. response as a shallow move to 
win better public relations in Islamic countries. Some of this 
nonsense, regrettably, appeared in American publications.
  America is and always has been and always will be a force for social 
justice and humanitarian relief. It is notable that we are not 
challenged when we provide assistance for AIDS victims in Africa or 
elsewhere around the world, and I hope people will understand the 
genuine outpouring of American concern in this instance.
  At churches in Washington, DC, and in my hometown of Mexico, MO, as 
well as in comments and discussions with many Americans here and at 
home, I have heard nothing but genuine expressions of great concern, 
sympathy, and willingness to assist. Voluntary charitable contributions 
of individuals, corporations, and other organizations have been to date 
overwhelming.
  When I was in Kansas City and St. Louis on Monday of this week, I 
heard that the American Red Cross is seeking to raise $400 million, 
which is greater than the $350 million pledged by the

[[Page S546]]

U.S. Government for assistance. I believe the figures, when you take in 
the amount provided by many different avenues through matching grant 
programs from employers, corporations, to their employees, the number 
of dollars going voluntarily will significantly exceed the initial 
commitment of the U.S. Government aid.
  I might also add that the U.S. Government spends $5 million to $6 
million a day in addition to that just operating its carriers in 
Indonesia.
  As far as expressions of aid and commitment and compassion, I can 
tell you the marines and soldiers laboring in the oppressive heat of 
Aceh to put rice and clean water on helicopters to deliver to suffering 
people were not doing it to gain better public relations for the United 
States. Neither were the USAID or the charitable organization workers 
who had to overcome tremendous obstacles to bring relief to people in 
isolated areas of Aceh and northern Sumatra. They were not worrying 
about anything more than coming to the aid of suffering human beings.

  With respect to the grievances of the Free Aceh Movement, President 
Yudhoyono, in his previous position in the Megawati administration, had 
begun negotiations with leaders in the region, but these negotiations 
were called off by then-President Megawati.
  Prior to the disaster, negotiations had been started by the Yudhoyono 
administration, and it is my understanding these negotiations are 
continuing in Sweden currently. President Yudhoyono appealed to the 
free Aceh rebels to respect the humanitarian weapons and disavow use of 
arms.
  Minister Shihab told me they had gone further and sent the message 
that his government wanted not just a cease-fire but a reconciliation. 
President Yudhoyono even met with Western diplomats to discuss ideas 
for finding a solution. Aceh is a rich region that has many resources, 
as well as a long tradition of antipathy toward Jakarta. But with the 
proper spirit on both sides, I have hopes that coming out of this 
tragedy in Aceh can arise a negotiated settlement that will recognize 
and respect the culture, views, and wishes of the Acehanese and keep 
them in the country of Indonesia.
  It is also my hope that the immediate emergency relief effort that 
will come to a close soon will not signal the end of American interest 
and commitment to the region. Truly, I hope that the attention that has 
been brought by the very extensive media coverage of the tsunami will 
keep more attention in this body and the American public at large on 
the importance of good relations with the people in Southeast Asia.
  There is much more that needs to be done over the long term to meet 
what I view as an exciting but challenging relationship in Southeast 
Asia. I will be addressing in the future the extent and the importance 
of this challenge in Southeast Asia, how it has importance--not just 
for the humanitarian interests which I described today but for 
political, economic, strategic, and national security concerns.
  The tragedy of the tsunami has brought an unparalleled opportunity to 
invite more Americans to pay attention to an area of the world where we 
have vital interests. I hope when the tsunami relief efforts have 
passed, our friends and neighbors will keep in mind the need to 
strengthen our relationships in a very critical area of the world.
  I thank the Chair and my colleagues. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
allowed to speak for up to 15 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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