January 12, 2005
Lincoln leaves Indonesian waters
By Denis D. Gray
Associated Press
ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN — The aircraft carrier leading the U.S. military’s tsunami relief effort steamed out of Indonesian waters Wednesday because the country declined to let the ship’s fighter pilots use its airspace for training missions.
Meanwhile, the Marines have scaled back their planned contribution to the aid operation after compromising with the Indonesian military and agreeing not to carry weapons or set up a base camp on Indonesian soil.
The moves underscore sensitivities in nationalistic Indonesia at having foreign military forces operating there, even in a humanitarian operation. They also come amid warnings from the Indonesian military that areas of tsunami-battered Aceh province may not be safe for aid workers.
Hundreds of troops from Australia, Singapore, Germany and other nations are also helping the relief effort, along with U.N. agencies and scores of nongovernment aid groups. The Indonesian military is providing security for all of them.
Aceh province is the scene of a decades-old conflict between separatist rebels and government troops, though both say they won’t launch attacks during the tsunami emergency.
Indonesia on Wednesday ordered aid workers to declare travel plans or face expulsion from Aceh, saying it was for their safety.
The carrier Abraham Lincoln’s diversion to international waters did not interrupt the steady stream of helicopter flights delivering aid along Sumatra’s coast because they were able to refuel on other Navy ships closer to shore, said Lt. Cmdr. John M. Daniels, spokesman for the carrier’s battle group.
“Very little is being degraded. We’re doing just as many missions as before,” Daniels said.
Under Navy rules, pilots of carrier-based warplanes including F/A-18 Hornets cannot go longer than 14 days without flying, or their skills are considered to have degraded too far and they have to undergo extensive retraining.
The Lincoln has been on station off Sumatra since Jan. 1.
Daniels said the Navy only had permission from the Indonesian government to fly into its airspace on missions directly supporting the humanitarian operation.
The Marines — some 2,000 of whom were diverted to tsunami relief from duty in Iraq — have scaled back their plans to send hundreds of troops ashore to build roads and clear rubble.
Instead, the Marines would keep a “minimal footprint” in Indonesia, with most returning to their ship at night instead of establishing a base camp ashore, said Col. Tom Greenwood, commander of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
The compromise, which included an agreement not to carry weapons, came after several days of intensive negotiations with Indonesian military officials.
The bulk of the Marines’ mission has become ferrying aid workers and transporting food from the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard — and even lending a hand to the Indonesian soldiers themselves.
On Wednesday, Marine helicopters flew the first mission to the shattered city of Calang to drop off a French medical team. Helicopters also delivered supplies to the Indonesian troops in Meulaboh, further south.
Though the U.S. was quick to send its troops to help with disaster relief, relations between Jakarta and Washington are chilly.
Indonesia wants the United States to lift a long-standing ban on weapon sales to its military, arguing that it could respond more effectively to disasters like last month’s deadly tsunami if its forces were better equipped.
But rights groups and some congressional supporters of the ban say Indonesia is using the disaster to unfairly pressure the United States. They say the ban should remain until Indonesia addresses unresolved human rights violations.
Associated Press Writer Eric Talmadge aboard the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard contributed to this report.
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------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.
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