Violence and Homelands
Mano RATWATTE
It is barely nine weeks since the end of major military operations
against the LTTE. The news about LTTE moles, and Government officials
working for them while drawing all the benefits from the legitimate
Government of Sri Lanka reveal the Tigers' clever organizational depths
and devious plans.
The fact that they used international organizations as a propaganda
tool is frightening. The allegation that they used INGO vehicles to
carry bombs probably means a lot of people were complicit in aiding and
abetting them.
Can the Government of Sri Lanka afford to lower its guard? Your
newspaper revealed how the LTTE stole the food supplies meant for
innocent people in the war zone.
How come the Colombo based English speaking intellectuals who draw
their sustenance from Western funds failed to criticize this blatant
violation of the people's right to sustenance? How many spies and moles
are there in the Government establishment?
How many Tiger cadre have melted into the civilian population and are
hiding in camps? How many of the NGO activists spoke out against Tigers'
use of human shield? None! If they did utter a statement it was always
in dubious wishy-washy language and not a committed outright
condemnation ever.
Perhaps they could not be faulted for this play-safe approach lest
they earn the wrath of Tiger terrorists like Amirthalingam, Dr. Neelan
Tiruchelvam and Lakshman Kadirgamar did. No one can fault them for
keeping a healthy insurance policy against terrorism.
US Secretary of State (who has obviously been lobbied by Tiger
representatives) called for the Government to process the refugees fast.
How fast can the Government go when it has to deal with 280,000
refugees and over 15,000 hardcore fighters?
Can it make the mistake of releasing hardcore Tigers pretending to be
refugees so they can go recover their hidden weapons caches and start
another war?
Judging by the reports of the amount of weapons being recovered daily
from the war zone, it is clear that the Tigers had not only hoodwinked
the UNP regime that appeased them by signing a one-sided CFA, by
amassing massive amounts of weapons (with connivance from the dishonest
broker nations), they were ready for a hundred year war.
I hope the Government will reveal how the Tigers brought in weapons
via Colombo during the CFA, so these apologists for the Tigers who
crowed so much about the CFA will have to see how they were taken for a
ride.
Secondly while it is nice for the US to be worried about refugees,
how can the US preach what it has never practiced in Iraq? In Iraq, over
one hundred thousand combat aged men were rounded up, hooded, handcuffed
and incarcerated for over 6 years without any access to lawyers, or
family members by the US Army.
The US Army broke down doors and grabbed anyone suspicious and put a
lot of fear into the innocent Iraqi population.
The 100,000 plus were only released this year! (So much for their
preaching!) Was their proof that they were insurgents or terrorists? No.
They were rounded up across Iraq on mere suspicion if they were found in
a combat zone. Safety and security of the US troops was their number one
priority.
The Iraqi war also caused 2 million refugees to flee to Syria and
Jordan and also created one million IDPs inside Iraq.
That was a result of the US invasion and subsequent chaos and
sectarian violence.
Why? Because a born again Christian crazy President decided he had
talked to the 'higher father' (instead of his own father who would have
advised not to rush into Iraq) and decided that Iraq was ready for
liberation.
And despite promising a different approach President Obama has had to
follow Bush's course in the interest of national security with regard to
rendition and blocked the release of Abu-Ghraib photos. The Obama regime
has escalated air strikes within Afghanistan and Pakistan and caused
hundreds of civilian deaths in a war they cannot afford to lose.
They call it 'collateral damage' and not a humanitarian crisis.
Hillary Clinton does not express disappointment. It is war and it is a
war the US cannot afford to lose.
The military aspect of Sri Lanka's war ended only 8 weeks ago. The
Sri Lankan military must be given credit for outsmarting and beating
this group militarily despite attempts by Norway and US to bail their
leaders out during the last weeks of war.
The war in Sri Lanka was against the world's toughest, most dedicated
and ruthless group of separatists. The Taleban are boy-scouts compared
to the LTTE. |
