Sir, - In recent debates on whether or not Ireland should join NATO's so-called Partnership for Peace, Australia has been praised by the pro-NATO camp for its "humanitarian" military intervention in East Timor.
Such comment/appraisal surely does not make sense. If Australia had the welfare of East Timorese people at heart it would never have continued to support Indonesia militarily by, for instance, training its troops in Australia with the Australian army over the years.
Australia did not intervene in East Timor to save the East Timorese people from being killed by Indonesian anti-independence forces. Australian troops are there to save and secure the vast mineral wealth of the region on behalf of the corporate interests of the US, Australian etc. - Yours, etc.,
Annette O'Riordan, Adelaide, South Australia.