US officials who warned Taiwan about bombings asked them to keep warning secret.

Opposition slams foreign ministry for slow reaction

2002-10-15 / Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Jessie Ho
Two opposition parties yesterday expressed dissatisfaction at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' reaction to the bomb attack on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, and they urged the government to take immediate responsive measures.

Despite the fact that the bombing in Bali caused many deaths and injuries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not move immediately to list Indonesia as a highly dangerous area or restrict travel to that country, but only issued a safety warning to travelers from Taiwan.

Kuomintang legislative leader Lee Chuan-chiao (�ӻ���) pointed out that the incident had exposed the DPP government's poor crisis management skills, particularly in view of the Executive Yuan's claim that it had, last Friday, obtained intelligence on a possible terrorist attack in a southeast Asian Muslim country.

According to Lee, the worst part is that the government did not issue a warning because the United States government asked it not to disclose the information.

"The KMT's priority is the safety of our people - not America's national interests." He also called on the government to establish an anti-terrorism crisis management team.

Meanwhile, People First Party legislative leader Shen Chih-hwei (������) asked the government to assist in the return of Taiwan nationals currently in Indonesia. She said she would like to commend Premier Yu Shyi-kun (���a�) for obtaining advance information on the terrorist attack, but on the other hand would like to condemn him for not warning the Taiwanese people to stay away from danger.

www.etaiwannews.com...

Again, the threads have got rather split up, Ocelot, and you'll find this mentioned elsewhere. It comes uncannily quickly and immediately brings to mind the Odigo business and the alleged warnings to Israelis before 9-11.
In this region, it's been featured quite heavily in local-language and English-langauge media.

Police investigating the deadly bombing of a nightclub in the Indonesian island of Bali in which nearly 200 people died have found traces of plastic explosive at the site of the attack.
The discovery of the explosives suggests a sophisticated bombing operation.

Unconfirmed reports from the French news agency AFP say that the head of Indonesian intelligence, Hendropriyono, has disclosed that the explosive was a type known as C4, manufactured mainly in the United States.

Here is the rest of the story:
news.bbc.co.uk...

Dan McDougall


BY THE time the news of the bombing in Bali reached the American public early on Sunday, a team of officers from the FBI was already heading to a military airfield on the outskirts of Washington en route for Indonesia.

As the US agents arrived in Kuta, officially to assist the Indonesian police in the forensic hunt for victims, they were joined by anti-terrorist officers from Scotland Yard and a much larger contingent from the secret service wing of the Australian Federal Police.

Here is the rest of the story:
www.news.scotsman.com...