Unexploded Ordnance
Photo by tigresblanco
Recently three doctors from the warzone recanted prior statements and say only 300 civilians died. Incidentally, this took place after weeks of detention. I think it’s a forced confession and more like thousands of civilians were killed. This is obvious and I don’t see any point pretending those people didn’t die. I’ve met people in the camps and hospitals and every single one has a relation that died. Almost everyone with shell injuries says that one of their immediate families was killed by the same blast. Perhaps they all know the same 300 people, or perhaps the number is tragically more. No one knows, but surely thousands not hundreds of civilians have died in the war.
I recently spoke to someone who covered wars in Africa and she said she’s used to seeing millions dead in civil wars. It’s downright chilling to perceive human life like so much arithmetic, but I can. Robert Kaplan wrote an analysis in The Atlantic which I think is spot on. He is a suddha, but he’s a serious academic on war and he’s been here. He says:
The insurgents are using human shields? No problem. Just keep killing the innocent bystanders until you get to the fighters themselves. There is no comparison between the few civilians that have been killed by American Predator drones in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, and the many that were killed by the Sri Lankan government. The Americans have carefully targeted select al-Qaeda members and, in the process, killed a few—at the most, dozens—of civilians among whom the fighters were surrounded. By contrast, the Sri Lankan military indiscriminately killed large numbers of civilians—as many as 20,000 in the final months of fighting, according to the United Nations.
As an indication, I also spoke to someone brokering a deal to buy 10,000 metric tons of spent shell casings from the MinDef. To recycle. I saw the documents and I read the amount again and again. 10,000 metric tons. I asked if that was right and he said it was only the first order. We have dropped a shitload of ordnance on our own land and a lot landed on our own people.
Many people were killed. This is true. Many civilians. However, the war was won and the LTTE was crushed and the better future made possible may be worth it. But we have to at least acknowledge the truth, the sacrifice, and mourn. We cannot return these Sri Lankans to their families, but we can give them truth. Thousands have died, not hundreds. It’s terrible, but it is also true.
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like 
Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from 
Were they really civilians?…true maybe 15000 thousand died… but isnt it true that most of the people under the LTTE had “at least one family member” inside the org.
It is important to differentiate between civilians and the LTTE who died.. (And besides didnt the LTTE give military training to all the civilians in the land they controlled..so are there any civilians there?)
I saw the documents and I read the amount again and again. 10,000 metric tons.
I took a history high school class (Modern Western Civilizations) where the teacher spent a day talking about holocaust denial. He had a slide show which was photos of giant piles of shoes. Or giant piles of tooth brushes. Or suit cases. And there was all this documentation to go along with all this junk. All the ephermera of a mass killing, but none of the actual bodies, etc. It was an interesting take on things.
Anyways,
And besides didnt the LTTE give military training to all the civilians in the land they controlled
Did you learn that on LankaWeb?
but isnt it true that most of the people under the LTTE had “at least one family member” inside the org
So it’s cool to kill a whole family? That’s kind of stupid, putting aside the point that many people had 1 family member inside the organization because Tamil Tigers drive up with guns and forcibly take people to fight.
Actually, Afghanistan and the Predators is the wrong comparison. The 2003 invasion of Iraq is more apt. Thousands upon thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed.
I dont think it is a valid argument to differentiate at all.
Wether the thousands of dead people where poor sinhala boys and girls who joined the army out of poverty or because they believed in sinhala-buddist-military propaganda, wether they where poor Vanni tamils who joined the LTTE because they where forced to or because they believed the LTTEs “Eelam-cause” propaganda or if they where civilians who where to old, young or weak to be forced to fight.
Thousands of sri lankan human beeings where alive and they didnt get to die peacefully but in battle. For other peoples agendas.
At least for their sake all the people in the country should move on towards grieving for ALL the dead together, so that their lost lives where not entirely wasted in vain.
peace
One death is a tragedy a million is a statistic, good ole Uncle Joe knows best.
One thing that I do not undersatnd is our obsession with the number game.
Six million Jews killed, 100,000 Sri Lankan civialins killed, what is the obsession. To those who have lost someone in the war there is no comfort in that. My loss is fare greater than the six million people. That is the human nature. People who have actually lost their loved ones do not go about saying “yes, him and another 456,679 people were killed. They only say “my child was killed” . It is people who have never lost anyone to the war obsess over the numbers and try to quantufy the loss. At a personal level the loss can never be quantified. Listen to the surviours in any war.
10,000 metric tons of spent shell casings
Why do you think those brass pahanas are dime a dozen now. They used to be heirlooms and cost a arm and a leg couple of decades ago. I guess now the brass pahanas are a dime, because the arm and a leg has already been paid up. Thats my cynical view.
Anyway, I am still waiting for that second installment of the video with Rajiva Wijeysingha, Thanks
He will bring them death, and they will love him for it. (Gracchus, from the film Gladiator)
Welcome to the new era.