Indonesia criticises US over Iraq

By Tim Johnston
BBC, Jakarta

The Indonesian foreign minister has levelled a broadside at the policy of the United States-led coalition in Iraq, saying it has angered Muslims and left the entire Middle East more insecure and vulnerable.

Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, has never been a supporter of the war in Iraq, but in recent weeks its criticism has become much more vocal.

Speaking to a security conference in Jakarta on Monday, the Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda said that the invasion of Iraq had not been justified under international law and that subsequent events had demonstrated the dangers of going it alone without the approval of the United Nations.

Mr Wirajuda also raised questions about justifying the decision to go to war by using Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction.

If those weapons have not been found because they did not exist, he said, then an entire country had been levelled to the ground for no good reason.

The Iraq War has been deeply unpopular in Indonesia, feeding suspicions that the war on terrorism was being used as a cover for an attack on Islam.

South East Asia is struggling with terrorists in its own back yard and governments are keen to keep on the right side of mainstream opinion, less they add fuel to the arguments of the militants.