General Cosgrove said after addressing a foreign affairs think tank here that reuniting those who opposed East Timor's independence and the majority who supported it was one of the most difficult tasks facing the United Nations.
Reconciliation is at the heart of a politically stable East Timor.
The UN Security Council has shelved a formal recommendation by its own human rights team to establish such a commission, and the Indonesian Government has gained the crucial support of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in lobbying for the right to investigate the atrocities itself before international intervention was considered. The complex politics of the Security Council suggests that it is unlikely to change its stand without clear evidence of a major Indonesian cover-up. That would leave the heavy cost of establishing a truth and reconciliation commission in the hands of East Timor's first independent government and its closest supporters, including Australia. General Cosgrove said he believed it would be worth the investment of at least examining the option of a commission. The general has been on a round of meetings in the US over the past week, discussing the lessons learned from East Timor with key Clinton administration members and military and diplomatic officers.