View from US chopper

The thump of helicopters and the roar of planes have never sounded so good to the residents of Aceh, the war-torn Indonesian province devastated by last week's earthquake and tsunami one-two punch. On hearing their noise, children run along dirt roads, waving up to the sky. Indonesian soldiers stand ready to spring into action. The Americans have come, bearing instant noodles, water, and other vital supplies.

Since the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived off the coast of Sumatra, the US Navy has been flying dozens of Sea Hawk helicopter flights per day and carrying thousands of tons of assistance to remote areas otherwise unreachable because of wiped-out roads.

"I really, really appreciate the US coming because they help the Acehnese people," says Cutbang, a resident of Banda Aceh, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name. "They're not even sup- posed to do that. That's the job of the Indonesian military. But we see only others. We look in the sky and see only US planes, nothing else."

Despite the obvious goodwill generated by the American mission here, this is a delicate moment for the US relationship with Indonesia as well as the rest of the world. US military officials have a difficult task ahead: lending a strong helping hand while treading lightly within the world's most populous Muslim nation, where deadly terrorist attacks against US and other Western interests have occurred in recent years. They must also avoid upstaging the Indonesian military and the newly elected government.

"I appreciate the US coming very much because there's so much destruction in this town," says one military police officer in the capital. "I think it is very good provided they are here to do good and nothing else."

"I'm afraid some countries might take advantage of our situation right now," he says. "And it's not just me who thinks like this, it's everyone, even the government."

In public, the commander of the USS Abraham Lincoln and other military officials on the ground in Banda Aceh have insisted that the Indonesian military is in charge of the operation and that the massive US presence is "just about humans helping humans" - a sentiment that was echoed by Colin Powell upon arriving in Indonesia with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Even down to the detail of who loads the US relief helicopters, there is a conscious effort to make this a joint mission. Boxes are passed like fire buckets down a line of men who are staggered by nationality: one Indonesian soldier, then one American.

So far there have been no open tensions between the US military and the country's newly elected government leaders or the Indonesian armed forces, which have historically wielded tremendous power and autonomy in the country. But in private, US military officials say the Indonesian military still shows signs of a deep suspicion of the American presence.

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