Pentagon wants to send troops to Indonesia

WASHINGTON — Armed with evidence that al-Qaeda members have fled from Afghanistan to Indonesia, Bush administration officials are pressing to get U.S. forces into the giant archipelago.

But the administration faces opposition from an Indonesian government fearful of rising anger among its 200 million Muslims, and a U.S. Congress that severed ties to the Indonesian military in 1999.

Intelligence sources say dozens of al-Qaeda operatives have found safe haven in the world's most populous Muslim nation, which consists of 17,000 islands and 34,000 miles of coastline. Some have come by air, but most have sneaked into Pakistan, then traveled several thousand miles in fishing boats from Arabian Sea ports, the sources say.