[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
[[Page S544]]
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.
____________________