Someone in the mob discerned what was happening and worked his way around the building until he found the chained water shut off valve. Within five minutes he broke the chain and cut off the water.
The television news studio back in America was just about to cut off the live coverage when the fire sprinklers stopped and the church grew silent. A woman sobbed.
Another Molotov cocktail came in, followed by another. Four more. The congregates gave up trying to stomp out the flames and huddled closer and closer. The news crew stood on a pew to get above the spreading oily flames and get a better view of the ongoing action. The reporter began coughing and took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth.
Three men tried to pry open a door, but it was blocked shut.
The camera’s last images were of writhing bodies in silhouette against the flames. Gut wrenching screams of pain and terror filled the air. The cameraman lost his grip and dropped the videocam. Its last images of inky smoke and its last sounds of crackling wood.
On Sunday in New York, the Chinese UN ambassador called for an emergency session of the Security Council to condemn, in the strongest words, the atrocities in Indonesia. He darkly warned of the reaction of the Chinese people to the word that thousands of their brothers had been murdered in a coordinated genocide. If the rest of the world refused to act, China might act alone. In America, he found an audience receptive to his message after the shock of seeing over 800 people martyred for their faith in Bandung on live television.
The Chinese resolution proposing a large UN intervention force (carefully drafted in secret more than a week before in Beijing) passed overwhelmingly. China’s ambassador to America immediately went on a tour of major U.S. cities to tout the importance of China and America agreeing jointly to intervene to bring peace and stability to Indonesia. The small protests against his visits by Tibetan, Christian, pro-democracy, and Taiwanese activists were ignored or treated with hostility by the American press.
Several large Chinese companies with close connections to the Communist Party placed media buys on American television. The ads were originally intended to soften American public opinion in the face of an expected campaign to intimidate Taiwan during the Taiwanese Presidential election in March. The ads were innocuous, mainly showcasing the famous hospitality of the Chinese to tourists. Some highlighted the growing market in China for American products. As a coordinated adjunct to the Chinese ads, several American high tech and aerospace companies with huge orders at stake in China also launched their own ad campaign. This effort was designed to ensure another year of normal trading relations with China since Congress was due to take the issue up again after its Easter recess.
The ads, combined with the ambassador’s tour and the fawning afterglow of the major media outlets (“New Life for the UN?” “The U.S. and China, the New Unstoppable Partnership?” “The New, New World Order” blazed the front covers of Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report, respectively) had their desired effect. First, Americans felt optimistic that China’s legions, if put in service for good with America, could bring a large measure of peace and stability to the world. Second, Americans’ general attitude towards China turned around overnight. Those who publicly fretted about nuclear espionage or repression against Chinese Christians, cultists, Tibetans, or democracy activists were considered ill informed, out of date, or warmongers seeking a new Cold War. Finally, the propaganda offensive worked to divert American attention away from China’s growing aggressiveness towards Taiwan. With the Balkans, Iraq, Indonesia and a couple of other hot spots to worry about, the U.S. leadership considered China’s offer for a substantial UN troop commitment to be a welcome lifeline to a dangerously over-committed U.S. military.
In less than a week, military plans were approved (over Indonesian objections) to send 50,000 peace enforcers to Indonesia. The force mix would include 20,000 Chinese troops, 10,000 Pakistani, and an additional 8,000 American troops (including several thousand Army National Guard soldiers) on top of the 12,000 in East Timor who would be deployed outside the troubled former Portuguese colony.
Donna Klein reread the latest press accounts and shook her head. As she grew older she was becoming more and more aware at how fickle the American public could be. In 1999 we were ready to hang the Chinese, now we can’t thank them enough for saving us from having to battle the chaos of Indonesia alone.
She read a classified commentary on the detailed negotiations behind the scenes at the UN — the gist of which would likely appear in the pages of the New York Times tomorrow. It seemed that the Chinese were more than willing to send 20,000 troops as long as the UN (read U.S.) would pay for their transportation and cover 80 % of their expenses while in Indonesia. She smiled incredulously when she read that the Administration was favorably disposed to this request.
She frowned. Why the sudden turnabout for China? Why is it in their national interests to be in Indonesia? Certainly they hadn’t suffered a sudden attack of good will.
Something was up; she just couldn’t put her finger on it yet. Her more immediate concern was to help assess the level of training of the troops China was to send to Indonesia as well as the reaction to those troops by the Indonesians. This would directly impact the safety of U.S. troops. She couldn’t remember the last time she thought about the long-term strategic implications of a policy or a trend. Management by crisis was becoming the norm.
15
The Price of Peace
As soon as the last of his Marines was aboard, Colonel Flint left the bridge and went down to sick bay four decks below. His arm was still itchy from the cast that had been removed a month before. He was greeted by the groans of freshly wounded men from a SAM ambush over Ocussi. Forty-one in all, bandaged and bloody. But still alive. One hundred and thirty-nine of their fellows had not been so fortunate in East Timor over the last few months. Colonel Flint flashed back to Lebanon. What a slaughter that had been. But then he hadn’t been in command. This — carnage — was his responsibility.
He went from bunk to bunk, giving his wounded men — all but a handful were conscious — small words of encouragement. “A couple days on the beach in Satahip,” he told them lightly, “and you’ll be fine.” The thought of Satahip brought a smile to most of the faces looking up at him. The Thai naval port for which they were bound was legendary for the quality of its resorts and the friendliness of its hostesses. Of course, the more seriously wounded would be immediately medevac’ed out of the nearby airport of Utapow to hospitals in the States, but he didn’t tell them that.
The Belleau Wood shuddered slightly as it got underway. The 31st MEU had finally been relieved by the Army’s 25th Infantry Division after weeks of going it alone in the wake of the 3rd MEF’s redeployment to the Persian Gulf. In light of the 31st’s causalities, the Army agreed it could live without the 31st as backup. It was now free to steam away and lick its wounds.
As he chatted with a gunnery sergeant — a likable young man who had received only a flesh wound — it occurred to Colonel Flint that his thirty-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps was over. There would be no general’s star for him. Instead he would be relieved of his command, and soon — probably as soon as the MEU returned to Okinawa. Some dispatcher was probably writing up orders for his replacement right now. He would be transferred to some dead-end desk job for a year or two before being put permanently out to pasture. He had disgraced his profession…