It has been over fifteen years since the 1999 Intervention into East Timor, led by Australia with the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET). This collection of essays brings together a wide range of participants in the momentous events of 1999 and provides a timely reflection on how they see it—reflecting on the meaning, the consequences and the implications arising from the Timor intervention.
East Timor Intervention encompasses eye-witness accounts of events on the ground as well as in the political sphere, including: Major General Mike Smith; Professor Hugh White, then Deputy Secretary Strategy in the Department of Defence in Canberra; Admiral Chris Barrie, Chief of the Defence Force at the time; General Sir Peter Cosgrove; Retired Indonesian Major General Kiki Syahnakri who stoutly defends Indonesia's role; and Professor Damien Kingsbury who spells out the scale of the crimes committed. His Excellency Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao seeks to rise above the enmity of the past and focus on the significance of INTERFET to East Timor and the path of reconciliation to the future. This is the landmark collection of work on the events of the INTERFET intervention.
