Breathtaking Hypocrisy

Stephen Long

The hypocrisy of the West never ceases to amaze me. On one hand we have an entire Western bloc of countries at war with terrorism, with each and every country seemingly using every possible means to eradicate it and prevent suicide bombers from striking its homeland. On the other hand, we have the Government of Sri Lanka winning a war against what the FBI calls the “deadliest terrorist organisation in the world.”

The fact that there could be a unified Sri Lanka after 25 years of senseless bloodshed should be cause for celebration in every democratic country on the planet. Someone is proactively winning its war on terrorism rather than just reacting to merciless, random attacks on its citizenry.

So where is the hypocrisy I speak of? Or should I say, “Where isn’t the hypocrisy?”

First of all, you have INGOs like ZOA reporting that its Project Manager defected to the LTTE in Kilinochchi last week. The initial story was that the Italian humanitarian aid worker was “turned” by the terrorists, and elected to stay behind to fight the Government forces hand-in-hand with his terrorist brothers.

(Please keep in mind that ZOA is a key member of the UN-led Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies.) The press later reported that this Italian guy has apparently been working for the LTTE throughout his entire period of deployment in Kilinochchi during the past several years.

Isn’t that just grand? It seems, however, that this Italian terrorist sympathiser was later ordered out of the country by his home office, and he was also asked to leave by the Government authorities. ZOA’s press release said he never actually defected to the LTTE, and that he had only stayed behind to make sure the civilians were safely out of harm’s way.

Unfortunately, we’ll probably never know the real truth regarding his loyalties. GOSL - just make sure he gets on a plane, and slam the door on his behind. Keep an eye on him in Italy, though, and make sure you get reports of what he says to ZOA, the UN, the LTTE front organisations, the Bruce Feins in their employ, and the press. His testimony should be interesting, at the very least, and will undoubtedly be used to do all the damage it can to the GOSL and its international reputation.

The sad thing is, there are too many biased individuals in the international arena that will believe this misguided soul, tainted as his brainwashed testimony is. In actuality, there seem to be lots of people in very important positions who are programmed to believe him - and will, in fact, want to believe him.

This is the second INGO found to be directly involved with the LTTE in recent months. The first was the Norwegian People’s Aid, which recently moved out of the Kilinochchi district - conveniently leaving behind about 40 vehicles for the LTTE to use in its death machine against the soldiers, displaced persons, and other innocent people of Sri Lanka. This same equipment is reported to have already been used by the LTTE to build bunkers and dig trenches.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but this sort of blatant hypocrisy literally makes me sick.

Combine these incidents with the attitude of the UN and the EU in New York last week and you’ll definitely become more than a little bit nauseated. The UN and the EU should be applauding the Government of Sri Lanka for coming so close to winning its homegrown war against terrorism.

Right? Wrong! Instead, they both show how brainwashed they are by the Bruce Feins of this world and the well-funded LTTE public relations machine. They just won’t let up on the sovereign GOSL and simply let it do its lawful job to make Sri Lanka safe for all its citizens.

It seems that the EU is very close to withdrawing (if it hasn’t already made up its mind to do so) its GSP+ concession for Sri Lanka, which will have a tremendous negative impact on the country’s economy.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations of the European Union, made her position very clear by defending EU delegation head Julian Wilson, and in her statements about the Government’s non-compliance with the EU’s twenty-seven international covenants.

Three cheers to Foreign Minister Bogollagama’s response to her insidious, threatening innuendo. I agree with him when he said, Sri Lanka “would not have expected such a short measure from a friendly development partner with whom there has been continuous and open engagement.”

Richard Boucher, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, spoke to the media in New York last week. He couldn’t keep his information straight - or remember to whom or when he had been speaking. He couldn’t even recall when he had his last meeting on the subject of the Sri Lankan conflict, but he was awfully quick to pass judgment on the GOSL’s human rights abuses.

When you add all of these things up you get: (1) one rogue Project Manager for a UN partner working in LTTE-land who may or may not have been turned to fight on the side of the terrorists, (2) one misinformed US Assistant Secretary of State, (3) one misguided EU official who, in spite of not understanding what the Government is doing, has threatened to remove its prized GSP+ status, and (4) one Norwegian INGO that leaves valuable machinery behind in the Wanni for the convenient use of the terrorists against Government soldiers.

What does it all add up to? Hypocrisy, with a capital “H.” Nobody is walking their talk. Everybody is posturing and wagging their tongues against the GOSL for unsubstantiated human rights offenses during a time of war. Everyone is paying lip service to the war against terrorism, but no one does anything but criticise the one country on earth that is actually putting an end to it on its home turf.

What about the human rights offences committed by the United States ? Anybody trying to prosecute those ? When is the international community going to get in line and support the Government of Sri Lanka for its commendable work fighting terrorism ? When are the INGO’s, the UN, the EU, and the US State Department going to dig deep for the truth and let go of their hypocritical posturing ?

When they give up their hidden agenda, that’s when. Their hypocrisy is nothing more than a thin veil for hidden agenda, and in the case of Sri Lanka, these become more transparent with each passing day.

The writer is based in Los Angeles