Is the U.S. colluding with Bin Laden supporters in Indonesia?

"Collusion" is probably far too extreme a word to apply in this situation. Better, perhaps, to say that six degrees of separation have suddenly narrowed to an uncomfortably close three.

We are working with the Indonesian government on disaster relief -- and that government is working with affiliates of Al Qaida. Such, at least, is the conclusion drawn from this Democracy Now interview with Alan Nairn. The tsunami has given the Indonesian government an opportunity to ship Bin Laden supporters into the strife-torn Aceh region, where the outside militants will help repress the rebellion.

Yes, they brought them into Aceh. Some of them are walking around with Bin Laden T-shirts. They go up to foreign reporters and present themselves as Acehnese even though they are not, and James Kelly of the U.S. State Department just said, there's worry that such militants might attack U.S. troops. Well simultaneously Powell was announcing the U.S. is going to aid the Indonesian military, one of the rationales being the Indonesian military is needed to fight such Bin Laden-style military.

This, Nairn alleges, is the real reason for those shocking photos of American aid being handed to men wearing Bin Laden couture.

Nairn's analysis stands in stark contrast to the simplistic "America good, Muslims bad" view, as exrmplified by this Austrailian editorial.