A panel of scholars and journalists lambasted the U.S. State Department's policy on East Timor at an Institute of Politics-sponsored forum last night at the Kennedy School of Government.

More than 200 people attended the discussion, "Massacre in East Timor," which was moderated by Smith Professor of Law Henry J. Steiner. The panel also included a State Department official.

Steiner opened the proceedings by briefly narrating the history of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony north of Australia that was invaded by Indonesia in 1975.

The invasion--intended to be a "quick absorption"--is still far from complete, Steiner said. The most recent tragedy in East Timor was a massacre on November 12, 1991 in the capital city of Dilli.

Steiner said that about 200,000 people have lost their lives in the operations since 1975.

The United States has de jure recognized the absorption of East Timor into Indonesia, despite U.N. resolutions to the contrary, Steiner said. The U.S. continues to provide military aid to the Indonesia government, he said.

Panelist Amy Goodman, news editor of WBAI/Pacifica radio, said that U.S.policy supporting Indonesia favored a large,powerful country as it brutalized a smaller one.

Goodman, who was working as a journalist inEast Timor at the time of the November massacre,described her harrowing escape from the chaos.

She said that while the soldiers held guns toher head, she kept repeating, "We're fromAmerica."

Goodman said she couldn't help thinking, "We'refrom the same place their weapons are from."

And New Yorker correspondent AllanNairn, who was with Goodman in East Timor at thetime of the massacre, called the events a"criminal policy on the part of the government ofIndonesia and the government of the U.S."

Cornell professor of International StudiesBenedict Anderson, the next speaker, said theIndonesians now recognize that "the gamble thatwas taken in 1975 has failed."

But Anderson, more than the other speakers,emphasized an optimistic future for the EastTimorese people.

"The consciousness and solidarity that havebeen created cannot be turned back," Andersonsaid.

State Department official Larry Dinger spokenext, detailing the U.S. government's position.

Dinger said the State Department was encouragedby the Indonesian government's preliminary reportabout the November massacre, which "answeredseveral difficult key questions."

Dinger's statements, which marked a sharpdeparture from the remarks of the earlierspeakers, were greeted by occasional outbursts oflaughter from the audience.

The final speaker, MIT linguist Noam Chomsky,criticized the U.S. government by quoting DanielP. Moynihan, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. atthe time of the 1975 invasion of East Timor.

According to Chomsky, Moynihan said the U.S.wanted the U.N. to be "completely ineffective inhandling the East Timor issue.