Are you daft. It says sri lanka will address the issues in accordance to international standards, it says nothing about having an international body conducting investigations. The government has appointed a panel which it claims will uphold the rome statues, the UN has to at the very least wait until those results are published.

The Secretary-General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The Government will take measures to address those grievances

” accountability process”

D-oh!

You Daft Dodo…The wording I have specifically pointed out is open to several interpretations. It could mean accountable through a panel as well!

Please why do you even bother reading if you canNOT read between the lines!

By reading between the lines what you really mean is creative extrapolation. Get grip dude, there is nothing there about any course of action the secretary general will take. Moreover, Ban is not the UN he’s merely a glorified clerk who does the paper work of the UN and ultimately the security council. He’s doesn’t even have the authority to make a proclamation about taking action against Sri Lanka or even starting an investigation for that matter.

” accountability process”

Google those two words you may understand the definition and how broad it is. He maybe a glorified clerk but know that Palitha Kohona is then a glorified peon for the UN. MR is just a fat turd and WW is just a pube when it comes to global perspective. It doesnt take too long for pubes and turds to get wiped clean.

Good for you, as long as your head is buried deep inside MR’s or WW’s arse, we can watch SL dive deeper into a mess.

Never forget DODO, we are a member of the UN thus making us ‘accountable’ for all our actions especially when it comes to being in compliance with all our signed treaties and agreements.

Anyway what you peasants fail to realise is that this will NOT affect us, only the fat pigs at the top so why bother? Did you even care when the IMF dictated all our fiscal policies that affected over 15 million Sri Lankans? Why make a fuss about something that affects at most 250 people?

You get a grip on reality

DK, once again you convolute the UN with Ban, but still indulge in a two bit tirade. Your arrogance is only overshadowed by your incompetence.

Dodo,

All I hear from you are personal attacks since you have nothing to counter-target me with me so please keep going further up MR’s rectum

Why didnt you answer my question about the IMF & the masses? Convolute the UN with Ban or vice versa? Are you on crack?If I don’t associate Ban with the UN, do I need to associate it with your Royal Cardboard Highness MR?

Dodo pretty soon you WILL be extinct so will this misguided, arrogant, incompetent regime. I eagerly await the day I see them tumble off their arrogant bottoms!
:-D

You see DK, you still don’t get the point about the disconnect between Ban & the UN, but bark away like a rabid dog.

As for the IMF DK, what am I to say you never really made a critique about it. how am i to respond to some vague assertion about the ‘ebil’ IMF taking over the country. that isn’t an argument; it’s a sentiment, and a myopic one at that. First you should say something substantial about this country’s fiscal policy.

Thanks Man, I will bother to reply to him once he stop sucking his own D..K

Its already started, so you can wake up to your nightmare you Nationalistic Sinhala Pride Non-Sensical arrogant so called ‘patriots’. To me you sound more like parrots miming all the nonsense the poli-tickos yell about.

The UN panel doesnt affect you and I, it will affect MR and all his hooligans, including his brothers and sisters and dogs siblings. Petty minded nationalistic goons like you should be shouting at the IMF for grilling us under their thumb and quite literally DICTATING all our fiscal policies. This affects millions of people not the GOATs and Buffaloes committing atrocities during the war.

You guys need to go suck your mum’s c..t! I dont need to suck d..k because my understanding of the world is way less petty than yours. I see the whole bigger picture, you only see what your masters want you to see. So now pls go worship King Water Buffalo and his herd.

:-D

so how many of those have happened recently

as far as i know, govt forces don’t disclose that information to the public.

Surely, these aren’t hermits living in the jungle. If your best friend or parent disappears or gets whacked off, don’t you make a fuss about it. At the very least, where is the fuss? except, for that random unimportant dude, who supposedly ‘disappeared’; or as your type presumptuously puts it ‘made to disappear by the government’.

Fucking hilarious!

Hey Dodo
You don’t know much about Sri Lanka do you?
So you actually think Sri Lanka is a really nice happy place where no one ever gets kidnapped and goes missing forever for political reasons? And do you think that if you were the family members of someone who was working against the interests of the government and was subsequently abducted, you could just waltz into a police station and the nice oic would serve you tea, listen to your troubles and start a full scale investigation?
Do you know that we don’t have a independent police commission? Or an independent anything for that matter?
Just an example. The current IGP was appointed by the president. The elections commissioner tried to get the Police to act impartially during the last Presidential Elections. He didn’t have much luck.
Shit rolls downhill. No one wants to get transferred to the middle of nowhere. And if you ever get stopped for a traffic violation, smile and be nice to the cop – I’m sure he’ll offer you a slightly more appealing, “on the spot” option than a visit to courts or even a trip to the local police station/post office to pay a fine.
Welcome to Sri Lanka. Enjoy your stay.

Hey guys!
I just thought I’d lower the tone/lighten things up with this…

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The only reason the US media went to town about it was because media in other parts of the world went to town about it first. The US media is pretty biased:

http://watchingamerica.com/News/60788/waterboarding-not-always-torture-u-s-media/

http://enduringamerica.com/2010/07/06/american-media-analysis-when-is-torture-not-torture-hint-if-the-us-is-involved/

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/publications/papers/torture_at_times_hks_students.pdf

You think the American media is unbiased, free and fair? Your naivity shows yet again.

Why hasn’t the US signed up to the ICC if it was so concerned about human rights and alleged human rights abuses carried out by its security forces?

Illegally invading another soverign country based on a deliberate lie (weapons of mass destruction) and killing more than 600 000 civilians in the process is something to be celebrated and cheered on I suppose?

I guess you don’t see the double standards here?

Yes roj you’re right.
These guys do it so this allows us to do as we please and screw things like the Geneva Conventions, Rules of Engagement and International Law etc.
Hey I’ve got an idea! This should please you no end – let’s just chuck all these bit of paper in the bin and go back to the Law of the Jungle! Brilliant idea, eh? I mean let’s get rid of all the hollow posturing – lets show our true colours – we are basically animals after all right?
Then the American’s wouldn’t have had to cook up the whole weapons of mass destruction story – they could have been honest. “Iraq. You’ve got more than 10%of the worlds remaining crude oil reserves. We like Oil. We’re coming to get it.” No one would have even noticed when they decided Sri Lanka was in a relatively useful position strategically and had a nice Natural Harbour and decided they’d quite like to own it.
Yes roj. That’s the way forward. The Law of the Jungle. Biggest is best and screw the little guys.
That would really work for Sri Lanka, right?

Anyway. Enough of the banter. What you fail to realize is that you’re off on a random tangent and fail to see the bigger picture. You’re like a little kid that sees the big boys smoking and doing drugs and goes “me too! me too! if its good for the goose its good for the gander! me too, me too!”
What do you think held Sri Lanka back all these years? I mean everyone likes to bang on about how Sri Lanka used to be better than Singapore and now look at the two countries.
This internal conflict, which started out with the deliberate, state sponsored discrimination against Tamil people is basically responsible, isn’t it?
Now Mahinda aiya has appointed the grandly titled LLRC (complete with an ex-tiger) and what good will it do to hide the truth here?
How can you “learn lessons” if you’re not being completely honest about what happened? How will that make the Tamils feel? How can “reconciliation” be achieved if the Tamils feel that all wrongdoings of the Sinhalese/Sri Lankan Army were simply covered up and forgotten?
Do yourself a favour. Quit your posturing and take a step back to look at the big picture.

You are trying to justify what America is doing and has done? Yet want to target SL? Nice value system you’ve got there. Your shrill cries aren’t doing a good job of hiding your hypocrisy. Once again, why hasn’t the US signed up to the ICC if it was so concerned about human rights and alleged human rights abuses carried out by its security forces?

“deliberate, state sponsored discrimination against Tamil people ” – care to elaborate?

You must be one naive bunny if you think a the UN’s panel is going to do anything for reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

I’ve never tried to justify what the US has done/is doing. But to be fair by the US/UK etc., at least they make some sort of pretense at playing by the rules. If they don’t and get caught with their pants down, there is more of a chance of their being a free and fair investigation into the matter. I cite Bill Clinton quite literally getting caught with his pants down as a humourous example. Also Abu Graib.
Why? because their politicians do have a marked degree of accountability to their people. What accountability does our President have to us??! He can do as he pleases and no one says a damn thing.
Hypocrisy. Let’s talk about hypocrisy for a bit. Please tell me. What did you do about the US/UK coalition invading Iraq? What have you done about the 600,000 civilians killed as a result of this invasion? Were you out there protesting and shouting and trying to ensure justice was done? I seriously doubt it.
But now you seem almost happy it occurred, just so you could cite this as an example why we shouldn’t be investigated.
Naive. You’ve used this word repeatedly so I’m assuming this is your sesame street word of the week. You’re naive if you believe that Tamils have always been treated equally and fairly by post independence governments of our country. And this discrimination was state sponsored. It was started in 1956 by swrd by changing the national language to Sinhalese. If you want to know more about this, can I suggest you contact another regular visitor to this site, Myil Selvan. He’ll tell you everything you need to know.
Now instead of going round in circles, just answer a straight question, roj.
What are your specific complaints about a advisory panel being appointed by the UN Secretary General? Are you afraid that we actually did commit war crimes and will be exposed?
Or are you just complaining for the sake of complaining because you’re bored because schools out and the other kids won’t let you join them?

Mahinda, the problem is that you seem unwilling to admit that it’s not a level playing field. The entire narrative is hypocritical and skewed towards the bigger, powerful — responsible, if you like, stable if you don’t like — nations. Why was a nuclear nonproliferation treaty made up only after all the powerful countries had ‘em? Why is it OK for some nations to have nukes, but illegal for others to? And don’t tell me if you don’t like it, don’t sign it, ‘cos we all know what happens when you don’t sign. Why is it OK for the US to threaten Iran over nukes, but not North Korea, when we all know who’s more likely to use the weapons — but wait, that IS the reason, isn’t it. Why is it OK for the US to refuse to sign the Kyoto Protocol and the Hague Convention, but most of the Third World is forced to? Why is it that the veto right at the Security Council is only for the permanent members — why ARE there permanent members picked by Roosevelt in 1949? I could go on — why is the EU calling on us to release — under pain of trade sanctions — lists of those held on suspicion of terrorism, but not cutting trade ties with the US which holds hundreds of anonymous “non-status” prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, some of whom were captured in EU territory with the help of EU security services?

And yet you say that allowing the GoSL to get away with something will set a precedent. The thing is that it is the US and other big boys who are setting that precedent that the GoSL is trying to follow. “If it’s OK for the US, Israel and China to get away with it, why can’t we?” they ask. Why must only the weak be brought to justice? Is it OK that we bust small-time crooks while the Mervin Silvas getaway? No it’s not, but the UN says yeah that’s cool. We can’t go after the big boys ‘cos they’ll laugh in our faces, so we’ll come after you and teach you never to grow up to be like them.

The point is that the rules are set by the narrative, and lesser nations must play by these rules or suffer. Eg: you say that the US punished those who were guilty at Abu Ghraib. That’s rubbish. They punished the guys — and gals — who were caught on tape and film. The lowest rankers. Absolutely nothing was done to the guys who commanded the prison or the civilian contractors who set the rules of interrogation. And it’s not an anomaly of the Bush administration — it goes all the way back to Vietnam. Lt Calley and some of his NCO’s were charged and court-martialled for the My Lai massacre, but Capt Medina, the company commander who allegedly set the context for the atrocity wasn’t even brought to trial. And in reality, Calley — the only man found guilty — never served a day in prison; his term was set as house arrest, and once the media spotlight moved on, he was quietly pardoned by Nixon. The US and the UN don’t play by the rules, they play by THEIR rules. The GoSL is now trying to play by its own rules instead of the UN rules, and is getting hammered for it by the western media who set the narrative.

So first, Mahinda, get off your high horse and stop batting on about justice and fairplay and admit this is just another way for the world establishment to maintain the status quo and show us all who’s who in the food chain.

Personally, I don’t think the GoSL has handled the Ban panel too well. It failed to prevent it being set up, and then chose the wrong way to fight it — in the limelight. I know you’ll now ask me what I’m scared of, and I’ll tell you. The fact is, atrocities were committed in this war, as they have been committed in every war in human history. The proof is probably there, just as it is in Iraq, Vietnam, Palestine, Afghanistan, Ireland, Jammu & Kashmir, and so many other places. An investigation WILL reveal atrocities as will an investigation into ANY war you care to pick. My fear is that Sri Lanka alone will be punished.

Good points, Mahinda

Hello Davis Blacker.
Good reply. Well put together. I like it.
I have never for one second doubted that it’s not a level playing field. I know what you’re saying is right – the US does play by it’s own rules. The US/UK coalition invaded Iraq (in the Telic Ops – the second Gulf War) against the wishes of the majority, if not all the other members of the security council.
So does that make it ok for everyone to act in a similar manner? They could just go “well, the big boys do it so why can’t we”. Then why even bother with the UN/International Law/The Geneva Conventions/the ICC etc? We could just let all the Governments in the world (whether elected democratically or not) deal with their conflicts (whether internal of inter-state) as they thought fit – a giant free-for-all, with the biggest, best-armed states coming out on top.
Wouldn’t it be preferable for us to try and ensure all allegations of war crimes (or any crimes for that matter) were properly and impartially investigated where possible? Now at this point I must stress that I believe these allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka are false – with the exceptions of isolated incidents where our troops may have taken the law into their own hands, I am confident that no war crimes were committed by our troops as a part of an official strategy. General Fonseka says no war crimes were committed and I have no reason whatsoever to doubt this remarkable man. I also think that this whole issue is being played up by our own politicians as a means of focusing our people on an “international conspiracy” or an external enemy, which would increase the support for them over here – to con people into believing that we somehow need to rally round and support our “king” in order t0 defeat these “international conspiracies”.
If we were to bow to international pressure now and allowed the advisory panel appointed by Ban Ki Moon to go about their business and establish the truth as it were, would that not consolidate our position in the international country as a democratic country where justice prevailed (and increase our eligibility for further international aid and concessions like GSP+) and also allow us to put pressure on the US (or any other powerful country) to submit to a similar independent international investigation, if such a situation arose in the future?
Sure, that last bit is a bit idealistic – we can’t fix the world. But we can try.
We can, however (and should) try and fix our country. Should we not seek truth and justice as the noble Buddhists we profess to be? Should we not just DO THE RIGHT THING? After all, if someone committed a crime, they should (after a fair trial) do the time, right?
Also, the “precedent” I was talking about is not “allowing the GoSL to get away with something”. It’s the precedent we set at home – that actions by Sinhalese against Tamils will be condoned by the Sinhalese and the GoSL.
Because that is the root cause of all our problems.
Looking forward to your reply.

Mahinda, I am not saying that because the US/UK/EU/etc commit war crimes, it’s OK for us to do it, nor am I suggesting that we should do away with the Geneva and Hague Conventions. What I AM asking is why is it wrong for us to not cooperate with an UN investigation, when nations such as the US, China, and the UK are not subjected to such investigations. Ie: why must only WE be punished? As for the conventions, my question is why aren’t they implemented against the above-mentioned nations.

As for whether the UN laws prevent bigger nations coming out on top and bullying smaller nations, we both know they don’t. As you pointed out, the US- and UK-led coalition invaded Iraq without a shred of proof, occupied it, and refuse to leave. China simply annexed Tibet and got away with it. India invaded East Pakistan and no one stopped it. The USSR invaded Afghanistan, murdered its president, set up a quisling, and the UN scratched its head. The only reason the USSR left was ‘cos an even bigger bully sneaked in and kicked them out. Let’s not even talk about internal conflict — Tiananmen Square, Guantanamo Bay, Chechnya, Georgia, and on and on. The UN and its conventions are completely impotent. The only power they have — and that only when the big boys on the Security Council allow it — is to strong-arm small Third World countries when they misbehave. Sort of like keeping the kids in line while the adults smoke coke.

YES, it is better if all allegations of war crimes are investigated, and yes, we should strive to ensure that is done, but since there’s no light at the end of that tunnel, shouldn’t we meantime, make sure that we ourselves are not preyed upon to salve the conscience of a largely impotent Secretary General? If justice is arbitiary, it’s bad, but understandable — blindness can lead to randomness, but if justice is myopic and can only focus on smaller things placed under its nose, that is not justice.

Yes, I agree that this is being played up by the GoSL to distract the people. I think we should have let the panel in and quietly obstructed them like Saddam Hussein did. After awhile Ban and the media would’ve got bored and moved on. No, I don’t think UN investigators should be allowed to carry out a thorough investigation because they have an agenda and, as I said before, they WILL find evidence of atrocities, as they will find if they investigated the US, China, the UK, or any other warring nation. Once this happens, pressure will then be brought on the UN and the Hague to initiate prosecutions, and if we fight that, we’ll really have sanctions to deal with as Serbia did. And no, I don’t think cooperation will allow us to one day put pressure on the US — you call that hope overly idealistic, but I suggest it’s pure fantasy. The narrative will not allow it. The narrative KNOWS that all Third World nations are corrupt, unstable, and undemocratic, while the west is GOOD & JUST.

And YES, we should try to fix our country, noble Buddhists or otherwise. WE should. Not the UN. And if we’re left alone to do it, I think we eventually will. Eventually. But if it is forced on us before we’re ready, it’ll be resisted, and never seen to be fair by the Sinhalese. It will be seen to be a victory of the diaspora Tamils, an act of vengeance that will only sow the seeds of even more racial conflict. If you’re interested, read DBS Jeyaraj’s column — he’s telling the diaspora Tamils the same thing, more or less.

Doing the right thing IS important, and yes, the guilty must be punished. But as you yourself say, it’s unlikely that genocide or large scale war crimes were carried out by GoSL policy, and if soldiers took the law into their own hands or were excessive in their treatment of civilians and POWs, the UN investigation isn’t going to pick ‘em up, only we can. The UN is far more likely to see the GoSL’s callous disregard for civilian casualties as policy and read it as a war crime, which theoretically it may be, but in practice is no more nor less than the US’ policies in Iraq.

Finally, if you want the Tamils to see that they are not helpless, and that the Sinhalese and the GoSL will in fact protect them and punish criminals, then this MUST be done by the GoSL itself, and not forced by the UN. All that’ll do is tell the Tamils that if they want to be protected they need the UN, and it’ll tell the Sinhalese extremists that they shouldn’t get caught by the UN. WE must convince our government that they need to do the right thing.

Again, good comment.
You agree that this issue is being played up by the GoSL in order to distract the people. I would also like to reiterate (I’ve previously stated this in one of my comments above) that this whole situation was exacerbated by the GoSL (the UPFA) during the Presidential Elections 2010 – by misquoting General Fonseka – for pure political gain. They highlighted this issue in order to falsely discredit and turn the fickle public against General Fonseka, with no regards whatsoever to the possible consequences of their actions.
Now the GoSL is using this issue to create an illusion that foreign powers “are jealous that we defeated terrorism and are taking action against our brave soldiers” in order to fool, distract and win favour with the general public. Again they do not seem to care one bit as to the negative consequences of their actions.
I think it will be very hard to defend this government from the allegation that their policy aims only to benefit the ruling family and party, with no regard to the fact that their actions are detrimental to Sri Lanka in the long term.
Now do you honestly think this government will hold a credible investigation into anything? I would like to suggest that THIS is a true fantasy.
Lets also consider our people, The good Sinhala people of Sri Lanka, who voted in this Government (although I’ve also heard something about a lady called Jill with a computer who apparently had a major role to play in this matter, but then I wouldn’t know anything about that).
You (or was it DBS Jeyaraj?) made a very correct and insightful comment to the effect that any foreign trial of SL Army soldiers for war crimes (regardless of how despicable the crimes were) would never be seen as fair by the Sinhalese. “It will be seen to be a victory of the diaspora Tamils, an act of vengeance that will only sow the seeds of even more racial conflict”. That doesn’t say a lot about us, does it? It basically shows that we don’t regard crimes against Tamil people to be crimes at all. That doesn’t really set the stage for reconciliation and peaceful coexistence does it?
I also find it amusing that a lot of Sinhalese people are lamenting the fact that the rain in Galle will probably prevent their hero, Murali of reaching the magic 800 test wickets… Murali… A Sri Lankan Tamil of Indian descent. His grandfather was from Tamil Nadu.
Anyway – you seem convinced that any international investigation will definitely turn up irrefutable evidence of war crimes and lead to the subsequent trial of SL Army soldiers. Personally, I don’t share your fears – after all, if General Fonseka (a man who can and will be held responsible if the war crimes allegations are proved to be true) is not worried, why the hell should we be worried? What do you know that he doesn’t??!
Along similar lines, you also suggest that we should have let the UN panel in and quietly obstructed them like Saddam Hussein did. So how did that work out for Saddam? Not too well, say the history books. Now what would have happened if Saddam agreed to cooperate fully with Mr. Hans Blix of the IAEA? Mr. Blix would have visited all manner of sites throughout Iraq, turned up nothing and Bush and Blair would not have been able to launch “Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Telic 1″.
So why didn’t good old Saddam want to cooperate with the UN/IAEA even though he had actually nothing to hide? It must have been because he didn’t want to lose face and be perceived as weak by his people, among other items on his personal agenda and… oh… I just thought of another fat, mustachioed leader of a country who is trying to go against the UN due to his own personal agenda…
Anyway.
gtg.
Suba Anagathayak!

I don’t know if the MR administration will ever hold a fair investigation, or if it will take another government to do it. The British government took forty YEARS to release a fair and unbiased report on the Bloody Sunday massacre. So why the rush to make us investigate immediately?

The USA didn’t become a properly functioning democratic nation until the late 1960s, about fifty years ago. How then can that nation’s democratic values — which they themselves ignored for the centuries between independence and the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement — be imposed on a nation with its own timelines? It’s ludicrous if you stop to think about it.

Mahinda, you’re still talking in absolutes. You expect the Sinhalese to be absolutely fair, and to all want justice and fairplay. You expect that justice is an absolute. But we aren’t discussing dry absolutes; we are talking about society, and there’s nothing absolute there.

You condemn the Sinhalese as being unjust and racist if they resist UN investigations into crimes against Tamils, but that’s a universal feeling. Let me ask you a question. What do you think would have happened if the UN tried to intervene in the conflict between the Civil Rights Movement and white America? Do you think the concessions ultimately given, and the federal laws eventually passed, would ever have come into being if they had been imposed from outside? The American majority would have resisted it, and you would have asked them if they then thought crimes against blacks were not crimes. Instead the liberal whites were able to enforce their way of thinking on the conservatives. The same goes for Sri Lanka; we need to find our own just and civil society. On our own. From within ourselves.

As for the war crimes, as I told you, every war will turn up its own atrocities, and SL is no different. You seem convinced there weren’t many here, and in relation to other wars, you’re right. But there’ll be at least as many as there’ve been in Iraq (relative to scale) or Afghanistan. And often what’s defined a war crime is subjective. I’ve seen this war very close up, and I’ve seen what happens. However, I didn’t say that investigations will lead to prosecution of SL soldiers, in fact I pointed out that it will not. What it will lead to is possible — emphasis POSSIBLE — prosecution of the leadership — Fonseka and his brigade and divisional commanders, and the Rajapaksas, perhaps the SLAF commander. And that will impact SL — especially if we don’t give them up.

As for your comparison between what happened to Saddam Hussein and what could happen to MR, I think that’s an analogy gone too far. The US was hellbent on securing Iraq’s oil, and deposing Saddam to do it. Even if he had cooperated, they’d have found a way to push him to the point where he couldn’t be pushed anymore. SL doesn’t have that value.

Hello again, David Blacker,

So you think there is a possibility that an international investigation will lead to the prosecution of the Rajapakse’s, Fonseka and SLA Brigade/Divisional Commanders and the SLAF Commander?
If they did something wrong, then by all means they should be prosecuted, right?
Or do you oppose their prosecution under any circumstance because they did what they did in the interests of our country and people? Because their actions effectively “rid Sri Lanka of Terrorism” and therefore deserve our loyalty, and we should try and protect them no matter what, out of gratitude?

You also state that “I’ve seen this war very close up, and I’ve seen what happens”. Does this mean you know a lot about what went on within the Army? You must know a thing or two about General Sarath Fonseka then… Since you know so much, you will know that this man never sought to make one cent in commissions out of his position. He said he would not leave this job for another army commander to complete and he meant business. A strict disciplinarian, he rid the Army of corruption wherever he found it. He changed the Army structure – promotions were given on performance – not seniority – he even commissioned Corporals who he deemed worthy. He was one of the only officers speaking out in the interest of the Army during the ceasefire period. He was the one who pushed for a military end to the conflict when our king was still talking peace and settlement.

He got the job done.

But you know all this, right? Because “I’ve seen this war very close up, and I’ve seen what happens”?

Now he’s locked up, falsely accused of making commissions on procurements, engaging in politics whilst in uniform (of course this is not an offense if you’re Yoshitha Rajapakse) and plotting a coup (this is ridiculous – if he wanted to grab power by force, it would have been very simple for him when he was the Commander of the Army). So if you’re so protective of our leaders and commanders and feel the need to protect them, why aren’t you protesting against the treatment of this man? This hero of Sri Lanka? This man who was instrumental in the ending of the war, to whom we owe so much?

You also suggest that reconciliation cannot be rushed and cite some examples where an apology took 40 years to be made. Right. So we sit and wait till we’re ready to apologize and reconcile, and expect the Tamils to be patient. But what if some young charismatic Tamil, full of hate and vengeance, decides to incite other young Tamils, also full of hate and vengeance, to rise up against the Sinhalese? We fight for another 30 years?

About the invasion of Iraq. Yes – we in Sri Lanka probably don’t need to be overly worried about a US Invasion force – as long as the Oil Fields of Mannar don’t suddenly turn out to be significant!
However, if Saddam had fully cooperated with the IAEA and UN, all justification for the invasion would have been removed. You may remember that the only reason they could press ahead against overwhelming opposition from within their own countries was because they claimed there was credible evidence that Iraq had WMD’s which could be mobilized against the UK within 45 minutes. If that evidence was refuted by the IAEA, then there would have been little or no chance of the invasion taking place.

Sorry, Mahinda, I was under the impression I was in a discussion with a knowledgeable — if overly idealistic — person, not a naive schoolboy. Please, do disabuse me of this notion before this all gets very boring.

First of all, I do not oppose any prosecutions. Did you somehow skip through my last comment and just pick out the interesting bits? I oppose selective justice. I oppose ONLY Sri Lankan military officers and civilian leaders being prosecuted. If Fonseka, and Gotabhaya, and Shavendra Silva are suspected (with evidence) of war crimes, they must be prosecuted, but I also want to see Colin Powell, and Condoleeza Rice, and Norman Schwarzkopf, and James Mattis, and Mike Jackson up there in the dock with ‘em. Is this simple and absolute enough for you to comprehend?

Thank you for the heart warming little defence counsel summary on Fonseka, but if you reread my comment you’ll see that I didn’t at any point accuse him of anything, so take a chill pill. To reiterate (since you kinda fell asleep while reading my last comment), I don’t see the need to protect anyone in the military or civilian leadership. I only want justice to be fair. Fonseka, and Gotabhaya, and all the others did no more nor less than anyone in the US/Israeli/British leadership have done in their recent years, so if our guys our guilty, then so are suspect, then so are the above, and all should be treated alike.

But in your haste, Mahinda, your slip has shown. Methinks you reason for demanding cooperation with the UN is so that Fonseka’s name would be cleared (hopefully) in an investigation. FYI, I think Fonseka is a great hero, but he’s a crap politician, and that unfortunately has landed him in a cell. Also, contrary to popular belief, it would have been no simple matter for him to seize power while Army commander. It is for this very same reason that a coup theory is equally absurd.

And yes, the Tamils must be patient. They lost the war, and when you lose, you also lose the right to demand anything. Ask the Germans and Japanese, ask the Iraqis and Afghans. The Irish waited forty years, the Palestinians have waited sixty, and are still waiting. The Sinhalese dead of the two insurrections will have to wait too. What makes the Tamils so special?

And no, we won’t wait thirty years to kill the next Prabhakharan. He won’t last thirty days.

And lastly, about Saddam and Iraq, are you truly so naive as to believe that Bush, Cheney & Co would have said “Oh yes, he’s a good boy now that we know he hasn’t any nukes, let’s all go down to Texas and shoot us some Messicans”? If it wasn’t WMDs, it would have been Osama and Al Qaeda. If it wasn’t that it would have been Kurdish freedom. If it wasn’t that it would have been freeing Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Or finding the Ark of the Covenant. They’d have got Saddam in the end ‘cos as George W said “He done tried to kill ma daddy”.

Grow up, machang.

Hello again, David Blacker
Interesting comment again – made me laugh!
You seem quite concerned as to what sort of a person I am… Well that is one of the problems with this newfangled interweb thingy, isn’t it? You never can be sure exactly who you’re dealing with…
Anyway – enough of the banter.
Right let me deal with your comment in detail, without missing anything out (I wouldn’t want to get you all hot and bothered again, would I?).
So you don’t like selective justice. Fair enough. You say “if Fonny/Gota/that Shavendra fellow are to be prosecuted (with evidence) that’s fine, but I want to see Powell, Rice, H. Norman and Mike Jackson (the General/Sir type, not the late plastic surgery fanatic, I assume?) up there in the dock with ‘em”.
You basically want to change the way the world works. You want to see the big boys being treated the same as the little boys. Let me know how you get on with that.
Now although you take issue with selective justice at a global level, you don’t seem overly concerned with the blatant selective justice meted out by the Government/Police/Judiciary at home…

Wimal and his boys are allowed to protest and beat cops up but priests/students/Golden Key depositors are beaten up/arrested if they stage peaceful protests.

Karuna and Pillayan are given senior administrative roles and military protection, KP gives guided tours to members of the Tamil Diaspora but General Fonseka languishes in Military Custody.

If you could please explain to this naive schoolboy how these are not examples of selective justice and why they are not of more concern to us, seeing as they occur on our shores, I would be much obliged to you, O Knowledgeable David Blacker.

You were also concerned that Fonny, Gota et al would be hauled up before a war crimes tribunal, but as you said, what they did is no better and no worse than what US/UK troops did in Iraq/Afghan. As such, do you honestly think they would A. be hauled up before a tribunal and B. be declared guilty by the said tribunal?
Imagine the precedent that would set – the anti war protesters would go to town and demand that UK/US troops be tried as well. In some cases, they would have video footage (complete with an incriminating soundtrack), to be used as evidence – far more credible evidence than evidence any investigative panel on Sri Lanka would be able to come up with. So its not likely, is it? It is a bit difficult to compare any of the Sri Lankan ‘leaders’ you mention to the likes of Radovan Karadzic, isn’t it?
However, with regards to our friend Karuna, last seen dancing at a wedding without a care in the world, its quite a bit easier to equate him with the likes of good old Radovan – as much as I dislike Sri Lankan cops, getting them to dig their own graves and then mowing them down with automatic fire isn’t really recommended in Debrett’s Guide to Etiquette is it? I understand Debrett’s Guide also takes a similar dim view of the massacre of innocent Buddhist priests…
However in the UPFA guide to Sri Lankan Etiquette, appointing such an individual to Deputy Leadership of the Party is quite acceptable conduct.
Sri Lanka. Where justice isn’t selective at all. Being such a shining beacon of freedom and justice, we find ourselves at liberty to pick faults with the conduct of foreign countries and international organizations.

With respect to good old Fonny, yes – you didn’t accuse him of anything, but then seeing as you oppose injustices and you let on that “you’ve seen this war very close up, and you’ve seen what happens” you didn’t seem to be standing up for Fonny either. I found that upsetting. I like and respect General Fonseka very much, you see.

You also say he’s a great leader but a crap politician. Good point. Fonny really needs to look at Mahinda, Wimal and Paba, to learn a thing or two… In Sri Lanka, the truth , intelligence and actual ability count for nothing. It’s all about the bs, the cheap political stunts and learning to kiss the correct ass at the correct time. If SF can land a decent tele-drama role (or take part in Sirasa Dancing Star), this should help no end as well. After all, it doesn’t matter if you were born in, say, Kuwait or someplace and know absolutely nothing about the constitution (and go on Derana 360 to prove that fact) – being in a tele-drama and performing on Sirasa Dancing Star is a tried and tested method of extracting votes from the Sri Lankan public.

You also state that “contrary to popular belief, it would have been no simple matter for him to seize power while Army commander. It is for this very same reason that a coup theory is equally absurd.”

Actually, Fonseka had more control over the Army than any previous commander before him. This was partly due to the influence of Good Old Gota, who having served together with him, knew the caliber of the man, knew he was the man for the job and allowed him all sorts of freedom, despite the reservations of his more powerful aiya. If Fonseka wanted to grab power by force, it would not have been that difficult – a lot of senior officers and commanders were extremely loyal to him (although all these Fonseka loyalists were immediately transferred or sent overseas during the run up to the presidential elections, to be replaced by Fonny haters (like Maj. Gen Manawaduge) who were quite plentiful due to Fonny being the strict disciplinarian and working “to get a job done – not to win friends” ). Fonseka would have never considered such a course of action, but if he had wanted to, it would have been possible. The idea that Fonseka was planning a coup/presidential assassination together with his wife, daughters and a few retired, unarmed soldiers (I think there were only 9 soldiers who carried only small arms with him) using the Cinnamon Lakeside as a base, is however, completely absurd and laughable. How you see the two situations as similar leads me to question your purported intelligence and knowledge.

My respect and adoration of Fonny aside, I also think that we need true peace with the Tamil people in order for Sri Lanka to move forwards – this war has held us back for over 30 years and the war and the reasons behind the war were created by us. You’re clearly not a Tamil and my NIC has a very Sinhalese name on it as well, so it’s a bit difficult for us to appreciate what the Tamils went through. SWRD made the official language of the country Sinhalese and it was all downhill from there.
Allegedly intelligent and knowledgeable people like you don’t help either – I quote “And yes, the Tamils must be patient. They lost the war, and when you lose, you also lose the right to demand anything.”
Oh right. so the war was with the Tamil people after all… and here I was, the naive schoolboy, thinking that the war was against the LTTE… I didn’t realize that the LTTE and the Tamil people were one and the same thing, and now they’ve lost, and the Sinhala have won, and Tamils can’t demand anything – even though they constitute close to 20% of our population.
You confidence that the “next prabhakaran” will only last 30 days is admirable, but I’m just afraid that you underestimate the resolve of desperate young people (possibly very intelligent, educated and well financed) filled with hate and righteous indignation.

Finally, about Iraq, I am slightly more inclined to agree with you. Although I have to point out that the anti-war sentiment ran deep in countries like the UK and if Saddam announced a U turn at the last moment and decided to let the IAEA inspectors in, they would have found nothing and given much more credibility to the anti war protesters who insisted the intelligence was flawed (possibly deliberately) and made a subsequent full on invasion of Iraq based on Osama and Al Qaeda, Kurdish freedom, freeing Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves or finding the Ark of the Covenant considerably more difficult.

Have a good day, my Knowledgeable friend.

Nice work Mahinda.

international relations is all about double standards when we don’t agree.

We need to start somewhere to hold governments responsible.

I don’t mind the US trying to push for investigations because they are a better functioning democracy than we are. And they do a better job of obeying their constitution and laws than we are.

Cheers, myil

Lol, Mahinda, interesting rant, but sadly you discuss everything you can think of, except the point — which is the Ban panel, and why it’s unjust. Let me try to cut through your smoke and bring a bit of sense to it.

“You want to see the big boys being treated the same as the little boys.”

No, I don’t, and if you had read my comment and tried to understand the context, you might have grasped it. I want the little boys to be treated the same as the big boys. Too nuanced for you? Go back and reread my comments, perhaps it’ll be easier second time around.

“You basically want to change the way the world works.”

Of course. Don’t you? Or do you prefer a status quo where the powerful have a licence to run rough shod over the weak? But wait, I thought that’s what you wanted to do in SL — change the way it works. Or is it that you just want SL to change and the world to go on as it is? Sounds very fair and just that.

“Now although you take issue with selective justice at a global level, you don’t seem overly concerned with the blatant selective justice meted out by the Government/Police/Judiciary at home… ”

Really, how did you deduce that, Sherlock? I am very concerned about injustices at home, but as you say, “that is one of the problems with this newfangled interweb thingy, isn’t it? You never can be sure exactly who you’re dealing with…” But that doesn’t mean that my concern for injustices at home makes me welcome further injustices from afar.

Your comments on Wimal, Karuna, et al are all valid and I agree that those are things that this country must rectify, but what has that do with the Ban panel?

Your suggestion that the SL leadership being hauled up before a Hague tribunal is unlikely because of the precedent it would set is pretty hilarious. Did you see anti-war protestors thronging the streets demanding that the US/UK go home when Milosovic was brought to trial? Or when the Rwandans were? Get a grip, man, you’re grasping at straws. And why would the Hague give monkey’s about anti-American protests when they have been trying to get the Yanks to sign the Hague Convention for years? As for whether our leadership can be compared to Karadzic, no they can’t be, but ask the Tamil diaspora protesting in London and Toronto and Sydney last year, comparing MR to Hitler, and you’ll understand that objectivity counts for nothing in the narrative, and as I told you before, the narrative dictates that Third World leaders are racist, corrupt, and tyrannical. But since you don’t want me to change the way the world works, you should be pretty happy with that narrative.

“Sri Lanka. Where justice isn’t selective at all. Being such a shining beacon of freedom and justice, we find ourselves at liberty to pick faults with the conduct of foreign countries and international organizations. ”

Oh, but I’m not trying to do that. It’s the foreign countries that are trying to pick faults with SL. I’m merely pointing out that before they try to get the chip out of our eye, they should get the plank out of theirs.

“you didn’t seem to be standing up for Fonny either. I found that upsetting. I like and respect General Fonseka very much, you see. ”

Yes, I’m sure he loves you too, and I’m very sorry that you’re so upset, but I’m sure the general can manage without my help. If he does, however, tell him to give me a call and I’ll pop over and stand up for him.

As for your rather nonsensical analysis of Fonseka’s ability to seize power while Army commander, let me explain why you’re wrong. It’s nothing to do with my intelligence — purported or otherwise — but it is to do with knowledge; something with regard to the SL Armed Forces, you seem to woefully lack. Don’t take offense, but you’re no more ignorant about the Army than the average civilian. You say that many Army officers were loyal to Fonseka — and they were and are — but just as many were far more loyal to the state and — more importantly — to their regiments. But for the sake of argument, let’s say that a sizeable number of officers were loyal to the general, loyal enough to commit treason, loyal enough to cut their regimental ties — something which is frankly inconceivable in the SL Army (you can see its effect all the way up to Fonseka and Gotabhaya, both of whom still remain tied to the Sinha Rifles and the Gajabas with cords of steel), but we’re being hypothetical, so why not? — loyal enough to risk their careers and their lives for him. Now, and again here, I know that you don’t really understand the regimental system, and probably see the Army as this vast green machine, but let’s say that these loyal officers were able to then cut through the whole system and convince junior officers from units as diverse as the Special Forces and the Gemunu Watch and the Armoured Corps and the Medical Corps to all band together and make an attempt at seizing power. They would have to do this without the help of the SL Navy and the SLAF who, as we both know, hate Fonseka’s guts. So the Army — or whichever elements that were willing to revolt — would now have to move their fighting battalions down from the Northeast by road (since they can’t fly without the SLAF or sail without the Navy), using vehicles run on petrol and diesel from stockpiles that both the latter services could destroy in hours. All the while, they would have to get through Kfir airstrikes and Hind gunships, traveling along narrow two-lane highways. Sounds pretty simple, right? Good luck with that, Rommel.

But before we get there, let me clue you in about the SL Army. The regimental structure created by the Brits was done precisely to prevent coups. It is in its very essence a system of division. Every fighting regiment in the SL Army religiously believes it is better than every single other regiment. The only thing that holds it together and allows a Light Infantry colonel to take orders from a Vijayabahu brigadier is their oath to the state. Take it away and replace it with a Fonseka, and it all falls apart. The only things that have ever been able to supersede the regimental loyalty is religion, as we’ve seen in Muslim Pakistan. Now if you believe that Fonseka could have garnered the loyalty that a religion can, you’re free to do so, but I doubt it. If he held that kind of loyalty, I think we’d have seen more rumble in the jungle when he was arrested. The transfer of his more loyal officers would not have been sufficient to hold the Army in place. What held it is its iron discipline and unswerving loyalty to its individual families — the regiments. To say that Fonseka could have overthrown the government with the SL Army is pure fantasy — Fonseka himself knew it, and even if the idea had crossed his mind, it would have prevented him from acting on it. Fonseka is Sinha Rifles through and through, and no fool. If you had ever served in this Army, you would not require this lengthy explanation.

My comment about the Tamils having lost the war and not being in a position to demand anything should have been taken in the context of your comment (“So we sit and wait till we’re ready to apologize and reconcile, and expect the Tamils to be patient”)to which I was responding. Yes, the Tamils must be patient. This war WAS against the LTTE, just as the invasion of Germany by the Allies was against the Nazis, but it was still the German people who lost the war. And yes, it was the Tamils who lost this one, as a people. Don’t take my word for it, read DBS Jeyaraj, one of the most articulate Tamil voices for reason to emerge out of this conflict. I’m sorry if that’s too politically incorrect for you to grasp, but that is the reality. I pointed out earlier that you were only comfortable dealing with absolutes, and again that discomfort with reality is evidenced here.

“I’m just afraid that you underestimate the resolve of desperate young people (possibly very intelligent, educated and well financed) filled with hate and righteous indignation.”

We have faced many such young people — in 1971, in 1987, and for thirty years in the Northeast — and against all odds, we have won every time. You underestimate the will of a paranoid race, believing itself to be besieged on all sides, and with its back to the sea, who have nowhere to call home but this island.

Finally, on Iraq, you remain amusingly naive. Do you really think that there would be a day and a time when the IAEA would’ve said “job done”? It would’ve gone on for years, while the US intelligence services fed in false reports, brought in the Iraqi opposition, the Kurdish factions, dug up perceived dirt on Al Qaeda in Iraq, connections to other terror groups, etc. The US had decided Saddam had to go, and go he did. It was inevitable.

Myil, do you even understand what you’re typing, or do you just Google it?

Oh look.
David Blacker’s back.
Now he’s gone and read a book about the SL Army and has become THE subject matter expert on all issues concerning the SL Army. I’ll add few more thoughts on his newfound knowledge later, let’s first address his issues with the Ban Panel.

I do apologize for my mistake, O Great David Blacker – so you want the little boys to be treated the same as the big boys as opposed to wanting the big boys to be treated the same as the little boys.

Surely that shows questionable morals? If your letter to Santa had asked for the big boys to be treated the same as the little boys this Christmas, it would mean that you were interested in justice. That you were a nice guy. Fighting for what’s right. That you opposed prisoners being mistreated and tortured, and that you opposed soldiers engaging and destroying civilian targets – unarmed men, women and children – while sitting in a relative comfort of a helicopter gunship. That you opposed the Israeli army shooting little kids. That you would like Ban to set up a panel to advise him on these events as well.

But no. you’ve asked Santa to make sure the little boys are treated the same as the big boys. Assuming of course that the big boys we are talking about here are the likes of the biggest bully in the yard, America, you want the rest of the world to be treated the same way. Take the recent leaking of the video of a US Helicopter engaging civilian targets, including women and children (if you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, go to youtube and search for “collateral murder”). No Ban Panel on that (or the multitude of similar incidents involving the US) is there?

So you want the UN to take a similar “look the other way and miss it” approach to all incidents involving little boys (Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Bosnia/Serbia/Yugoslavia), right?

So when you say you want to change the world, you seem to want to change it to a lousier place than it already is… Care to clarify your position?

Now you’re only going to come back with some protracted reaction about me taking your comments out of context, and to be fair by you, you have previously have stated “I oppose ONLY Sri Lankan military officers and civilian leaders being prosecuted. If Fonseka, and Gotabhaya, and Shavendra Silva are suspected (with evidence) of war crimes, they must be prosecuted, but I also want to see Colin Powell, and Condoleeza Rice, and Norman Schwarzkopf, and James Mattis, and Mike Jackson up there in the dock with ‘em”.

So, Great, Knowledgeable David Blacker, once you have enlightened us mere mortals as to what sort of a place you’d like to change the world to, please share your plans of action – how you hope to set about achieving your lofty ambitions of changing the world. After all, that book you read on the SL Army would have definitely covered the decision making process taught to KDA and Sandhurst Officer Cadets as well Camberly Staff College Commanders Course material, which would (aside for making you the master of all knowledge pertaining to the SL Army) ideally equip you to take all relevant factors into consideration, conduct your estimate, decide on your course of action and ‘prepare your orders’, right?

Further, with regards to your subject of expertise, the SL Army, someone with such an intimate knowledge of the intricacies of the SL Army would, as I’ve previously suggested, know a lot about its most successful commander, who also holds the distinction of being the highest ranked serving Officer in it’s history. I would also like to add that all this talk of how likely a coup was is strictly hypothetical, seeing as he would have never considered such a course of action. He was very loyal to the president as the Commander of the Army, only becoming disillusioned with the leadership of the country after the end of the war.

Anyway, David Blacker, Master of all Matters Pertaining to the SL Army, I’m sure you know to what degree General Fonseka controlled the operations up north – he always had live satellite/aerial images of the operational areas (even on the rare occasion where he was overseas) and would control the situation, even down to section level. You could say this is micro management but this guy was effectively everywhere. Knew everything. He was in control.

This was nicely summed up by Brig. Shavendra Silva, once upon a time – at a military function just after the end of the war, Brig. Silva was congratulated by General Fonseka’s elder daughter, to which he replied “we just did what your father told us to”.

Brig. (now Maj General) Silva has subsequently changed his tune but then there you go…

So do you honestly think that, had General Fonseka’s ultimate ambition been to secure power using his position as Commander of the Army (I stress that this is not the case – he isn’t really the type to commit treason), he would not have achieved this? This is not a man you’d do well to bet against in a Military Situation.

Your (also hypothetical) vision of having Sinha Regiment troops trundling down the A9 (after having publicly announced “we’re staging a coup now, ok?”) fighting off Gajaba troops, MI 24′s, Kfirs and MIG’s in scenes worthy of a hollywood blockbuster is, well, ridiculous. Any self professed military expert would know that speed, surprise, and secrecy would be the hallmarks of such an operation.

But again. All hypothetical. General Fonseka loves his country and the SL Army. To stage a coup would be to go against the principles of a Soldier. I don’t think he would have ever done this, despite any convictions that he needed to save our country from it’s corrupt leaders… Which is not the same as saying he couldn’t have done it.

I also think Sarath Fonseka would have made a great president. Sure he’s a bit strong for some people’s taste, but he would have been the change we needed.

Now on to my comment

“I’m just afraid that you underestimate the resolve of desperate young people (possibly very intelligent, educated and well financed) filled with hate and righteous indignation.”

and your reaction

“We have faced many such young people — in 1971, in 1987, and for thirty years in the Northeast — and against all odds, we have won every time. You underestimate the will of a paranoid race, believing itself to be besieged on all sides, and with its back to the sea, who have nowhere to call home but this island”.

Yes. Well done us, the Sinhala people. We successfully killed lots of our own in the JVP uprisings and also killed tens of thousand of our own countrymen. And we’re rearing to go, ready to do it all over again. We’re not into examining the reasons behind these uprisings/conflicts and taking credible steps to ensure that history didn’t repeat itself. I also like the latter part of your comment very much – “nowhere to call home but this Island” – you must mean that Tamils do in fact have someplace other than to this island to call home… So you must be one of the “if you don’t like it, fuck off to Tamil Nadu” brigade… I also admire the fact that you’re not worried into the slightest about another possible uprising, or even isolated incidents designed to “send out a message” by causing the maximum amount of carnage possible, by using small, isolated “cells” – I understand al-qaeda is quite fond of this MO.

Anyway, back to us, the brave Sinhala people, unafraid of anything that comes our way… We’re definitely not interested in taking a step back in trying to examine our status as a country which recently gained independence from the British and extrapolating the development and progression of our nation (if its was not plagued with uprisings and civil war) and comparing it with our status today.

Even if we did, we wouldn’t conclude that the discrepancy is primarily due to the repercussions of the war, which was in turn due to the step motherly treatment of (as well as blatant discrimination against) the Tamils, and realize that it is in our best interest, as a nation, to ensure that such a situation was not allowed to arise ever again…

We’d just blame the discrepancy on the “kari demallu” and that would be it.

I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would come up with a phrase like “Sinhalaya Modaya”

Lol, this gets funnier with each retreat you make from reality, Mahinda. I mean, come on, you start of discussing the Ban panel, but now more than half of each of your comments is dedicated to shoving your tongue up Fonseka’s backside. Why don’t you set up a blog and FB group to canonize the man while you’re about it? Ha ha. Anyway, on to the actual subject, the Ban panel. I can only find one paragraph in your ramble that is even remotely connected to it.

You question my morals because I want SL to be treated like the US, and since you feel that the US, Israel, etc are a horrible bunch, that I want the world to be a horrible place. This assumption is not surprising, given that a lot of your theories are based on assumption. But let me ask you this. If the SL military fought this war largely in a clean manner (as you yourself claim), comparable say to the US or UK in Iraq and Afghanistan, shouldn’t we then be treated the same way as the US and UK? It’s not a question of morals, but one of fairness and justice.

“So you want the UN to take a similar “look the other way and miss it” approach to all incidents involving little boys”

No, I don’t. Whatever gave you that idea? What I do want, which I have repeated several times in my comments (but which seem beyond your grasp), is for the UN to have a fixed point of reference (say the Hague and Geneva Conventions) regardless of whether they’re looking at SL, the USA, or whoever, and for this point of reference to be implemented equally, regardless of the country. If you find that to be immoral, if you think that’ll make the world a lousier place, then so be it. I think it’s fair.

“Further, with regards to your subject of expertise, the SL Army, someone with such an intimate knowledge of the intricacies of the SL Army would, as I’ve previously suggested, know a lot about its most successful commander, who also holds the distinction of being the highest ranked serving Officer in it’s history”

This is what I mean about you being ignorant. Fonseka wasn’t the highest-ranking officer to serve in the SL Army. He was the highest-ranking officer to hold the post of Army Commander. Gen Hamilton Wanasinghe was promoted from lieutenant general (his rank while Army commander) to general when he took over command of the Joint Operations Command in the mid-’90s. That’s why most of your fanciful ideas of a military coup are ludicrous — they aren’t based in reality, but in the pages of some Tom Clancy novel.

“Any self professed military expert would know that speed, surprise, and secrecy would be the hallmarks of such an operation. ”

Oh right, so tell me oh self-professed Fonseka expert how this speedy, surprising, and secret operation would have been carried out. Was he going to beam the Armoured Corps up to the USS Enterprise and then teleport them down to Temple Trees with their phasers set on stun? Great moons of Saturn, Jim, why didn’t I think of that?

“To stage a coup would be to go against the principles of a Soldier.”

And there you have it, Watson. Fonseka isn’t the only soldier with that set of values, and I doubt he could garner the loyalty that would make the SL Army (or even a few loyal officers) ignore that principle. Which is what I told you before I set up the scenario. Once more, you missed that most important bit, while trying to find holes in the sandbox exercise.

“Yes. Well done us, the Sinhala people. We successfully killed lots of our own in the JVP uprisings and also killed tens of thousand of our own countrymen. And we’re rearing to go, ready to do it all over again. We’re not into examining the reasons behind these uprisings/conflicts and taking credible steps to ensure that history didn’t repeat itself.”

Oh, I think we should examine the reasons behind these issues and take sincere steps to prevent them happening again. Whether your hero Sarath”Minorities Shouldn’t Ask for Undue Things” Fonseka would allow this is another question, but we should. However, trying to impose such an examination from outside, will be counterproductive. I’ve explained why, and given you examples of similar scenarios very early in this conversation, so rather than repeat myself, I’d urge you to scroll up and reread and perhaps try to understand this time. But my response was to your other hypothesis that we might face a fresh revolt by the Tamils.

“I also like the latter part of your comment very much – “nowhere to call home but this Island” – you must mean that Tamils do in fact have someplace other than to this island to call home… So you must be one of the “if you don’t like it, fuck off to Tamil Nadu” brigade…”"

Even if that was what I meant, which it wasn’t, I’d pretty much be saying what your mango friend Fonseka said, no? — “I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people.” LIKE our people, Mahinda, but not OUR people. I also note that you quote only the parts of my sentences that you find easy to argue with. What I said was, “You underestimate the will of a paranoid race, believing itself to be besieged on all sides, and with its back to the sea, who have nowhere to call home but this island.” I didn’t say it was what I believe.

“I also admire the fact that you’re not worried into the slightest about another possible uprising, or even isolated incidents designed to “send out a message” by causing the maximum amount of carnage possible, by using small, isolated “cells” – I understand al-qaeda is quite fond of this MO.”

Not only AQ, but the JVP too, and look what happened to them — from blood-thirsty commie guerrillas to eating Lemon Puff outside the UN gates. Again, you would be ignorant of course of attempts by isolated LTTE pockets to restart fighting in the East in the last six months of 2009, using caches of hidden weapons. They were hunted down and exterminated by special operations units. I don’t dismiss the danger of another separatist uprising in the future, and I have written many times that we must prevent it by winning over the Tamils, but imposing an external UN-sponsored investigation will not do it. You cannot force someone to be nice; polite, yes, nice, no. They just have to become nice.

“We’re definitely not interested in taking a step back in trying to examine our status as a country which recently gained independence from the British”

To step back, Mahinda, we need space. The LTTE-supportive elements of the diaspora are not interested in that, and in fact exult in every perceived new or continued persecution of the Tamils (read the comments on Transcurrents). The Ban investigation is counterproductive. Give us the time to find our own path to becoming a true democratic nation, just as the USA did fifty years ago when it finally became a true democracy that abided by its constitution. And if you think our independence was recent, you should look at the end of the war in that same timeframe; which would put May 19th 2009 at about five minutes ago. So as I asked before, what’s the hurry?

“I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would come up with a phrase like “Sinhalaya Modaya””

Not sure myself, since I’m not Sinhalese, but why don’t you ask Fonseka — he’s Sinhalese, I hear.

Now that we’ve discussed my morality, military coups, Fonseka’s saintliness, and so many other diverse subjects, do you have anything further to say about the Ban panel?

Mahinda, when are you going to get to the point? Even attempting to read your posts is tiresome, let alone responding, because you seem to engage in this grand exercise of beating about the bush. And please try not to entertain delusions about Fonny being a good president. The man had no idea about how to run a country in fact his 10 promises or whatever has to be the greatest insult to human intelligence I’ve seen in while. While the average sri lankan voter is stupid they are certainly not stupid enough to think that head master fonny can get rid of all corruption in Sri Lanka and then convert all that money into ridiculous welfare benefits. His advisors must have been morons; fonny should have had at least some internal consistency in manifesto. At one point he says ‘I will stop inflation’, and in the next sentence he says I will increase all wages by 10,000. While the average sri lankan might not understand the lunacy of these two sentences but for some of us this is a classic ‘picard’ moment. Of course the practical aspects of all this would have been handled by people like ‘Ravi Karunanayaka’. Maybe he’ll sell of half of sri lanka to maharaja this time around. Now enough with the fonny rant.
You are also naive to assume that Fonseka and Mahinda are the only people who will be affected by a war crimes investigation. What do you think will happen to this country’s economy for the duration of the investigation & subsequent trial, which would take more than five years? What do you think will happen to the large amounts of foreign capital that is flowing in here during those 5+ years, especially the large private initiatives? What about the development projects in the North & East? Sri Lankan economy look good right now and investor confidence is at an all time high, but investors and speculators are all very fickle creatures. if they feel like things are not looking too well here they will liquidate and leave. And we don’t want a liquidity problem, especially with a budget deficit.
As for closure, well, closure really achieves nothing. It’s not like closure will feed the hundreds of thousands of impoverished Tamils in the north & east. What does achieve something and is achieving something is economic development and economic integration. Having visited the north and east a little, and from what little I have seen there is rampant progress economically. And the people, especially those in Trinco are quite satisfied with their current arrangement because they see that their lives are and livelihoods are improving. If the Japanese ran around asking for closure for the Americans firebombing Kyoto, & nuking Hiroshima & Nagasaki they would have gotten a serrated dildo up their already emaciated arse, as opposed to the marshal plan.
All this rhetoric about the horrible state of Sri lankan society ultimately amount to nothing unless you have a mechanism of fixing things. The same goes for Tamil grievances. People like myil are beginning to disgust me. A lot of the so called Tamil lobby doesn’t even seem marginally interested in the actual well being of the Tamil people, but are far more interested in gaining cookie points by setting up some sort of feel good scheme. The problems with Sri Lankan society and the ethnic issue can be resolved through economic progress. You will find that once a society has reached a certain degree of affluence it can afford to be nice to one another, it is only in such a society that dialogues about rights and freedom can properly take place without it being auctioned off for pennies. Moreover, attitudes such as racism and jingoism and all other forms of extremism flourish where there is poverty. And the Sinhala and Tamil communities will learn to live together when they realize that there is a shit ton of money to be made by doing so. In order to get remotely close to achieving something like this People like Ban, the dumb tamil lobby as well NGO morons need to shut up and support the development of this country with engaging in a collective wank off

Hello Blacker (and Dodo),
Sorry I couldn’t find time to reply earlier.

Right. The Ban panel. I have no objections to this whatever, since I think true reconciliation between Tamils and Sinhalese can only happen is everything is disclosed, wrongdoers are punished where applicable (or given reduced or suspended sentences if there are any mitigating factors) and our leadership encourage and establish a culture of peace, equality and reconciliation based on truth. I cannot for the life of me see this happening with a Rajapakse in charge (which they will be for the next few decades, by hook or by crook, going by current trends).

If you want to blame anyone, blame your own government for not taking any credible action towards investigating the allegations of Human Rights Abuse.

You also claim, Blacker, that I suggested that this war was fought cleanly. I only said that I believe that there was no official policy to commit atrocities such as Hitler’s orders to exterminate Jews. I know our people and I know what happens when you give the average uneducated Sri Lankan a uniform, a weapon and a bit of authority – it’s power trip time! I’ve heard many stories, including some involving barbed wire and the reproductive tracts of captured female LTTE cadres, so I would never say that this war was fought completely cleanly.

I personally believe that if any crimes were committed by either side during the conflict, they should be impartially investigated and anyone found guilty of a crime should be punished. If our government won’t do it, I think the UN should be allowed to.

Despite my respect and regard for General Fonseka, I believe that even he should answer to any credible allegations of Human Rights Violations.

You seem to think otherwise, which naturally causes me to question your morality.

Moving on from the Ban Panel, I would also like to touch upon the hypothetical question of whether or not Gen. Fonseka would have been able to stage a coup.

Your lack of imagination amazing. If you think that it would be preposterous to even suggest that someone who was able to mastermind the defeat of the LTTE, with all the resources at his disposal (with some troops loyal to the death even though others were perhaps markedly less so), could not have engineered a situation which resulted in the outcome we are speaking of, there is something wrong with you. There is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat.

Also also. If this is so unlikely, why was the toothless CDS position created and why did Rajapakse and Co. “promote” him to CDS?

But the fact remains that he, as an Honourable Officer would not have staged a coup.

You’ve also mentioned the “treat them as our people”… “should not, on the pretext of being a minority demand undue things” comment made by General Fonseka as the Commander of the Army.
I was not thrilled when I heard this comment for the first time either.

I was however, perfectly happy with his stance with regards to the Tamil people as a Presidential Candidate.

Can I suggest, Blacker, that you watch the movie “invicta” if you find time between cartoons?

Mandela, as the newly elected president of a country at an important juncture it’s history places the greatest degree of emphasis on reconciliation, even at the risk of losing the support of the masses, his supporters. He does not pander to the demands of the ignorant, vengeful masses in order to win further support and ensure his political longevity – he acts the way a true leader of a divided nation should, and brings about reconciliation and peace.

I found another relevant piece of information about Mandela’s policies on the net – “Mandela later admitted that the ANC, in its struggle against apartheid, also violated human rights, sharply criticizing those in his own party who attempted to remove statements supporting this fact from the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission”. This hardly reflects the stance or policies of our own government.

If Mahinda maama found himself in Mandela’s shoes, his priorities would have been more along the lines of “Right. The Kimberly Mines. Malli, I’m putting you in charge of this and all other gold related affairs”…

My problem is not with us investigating possible human rights violations that occurred during our 30+ year conflict, but more with a government willing to do anything to stay in power, and more interested in lining it’s own pockets than developing our nation.

Also, Dodo, I personally think General Fonseka would make a good President.

The last presidential campaign was less that perfect (what do you expect, with it being thrown together as hastily as it was and being faced with problems such as an extremely biased national media network that actively engaged in creating and slinging mud, a severely biased police force and an impotent elections commissioner?) and the “ten Promises”which you rubbish were created by the UNP (including the celebrated economist Dr. Harsh Silva) and approved by Ranil Wickremesinghe. General Fonseka was involved, but acted solely on the advise of these esteemed economists and experienced politicians. So if you’re taking issue on these points, you should direct your issues at sirikotha and their personal agendas.

gtg now, but please feel free to post a reply and I will respond asap

It’s hilarious the lengths you go to lionize SF. He was a moron of a politician who got manipulated by UNP and Ranil. They threw the bait and he caught it hook, line and sinker. The degree of SF’s political acumen, or rather the lack of there in, is apparent even from your statement. If he was a good judge of policy why did he adopt the two bit platform the UNP offered him. He could have easily sought a secondary opinion from someone else. That alone shows his inability to run for the top office and lack of judgement. Let’s face it SF thought he could run the rest of sri lanka like he was used to running the army. This would have never worked, the skills needed are completely different.

Right, Dodo. So what you’re saying is that that Ranil simply used SF as a part of his own agenda, sabotaging SF’s presidential campaign whilst pretending to wholeheartedly support it, simply because he wished to remain as the leader of the opposition, right?

You also suggest that SF lacks the “skills” required to run a country.

Alright, then. Are you suggesting that good old Mahinda has these skills in abundance? If so, can you please highlight a few point’s to show what a good leader Mahinda is?

Please don’t bother with the one about a good leader of a country having to appoint his entire family, extended family and key supporters to important roles within the administration, regardless of qualifications (or lack thereof). I already understand that one fully.

I also appreciate the importance of having a good puppet and a good puppet/enforcer (WW and MS) in order to help you out in tricky situations, so you needn’t bother including that one either.

There’s a few more which I also think I understand, like the importance of getting the national media, the police force and the elections commissioner onside, one way or another, in order to ensure a successful outcome in an election. Included in this point is the ability to negotiate with terrorists to get non-supporters to boycott an election, as their votes may swing things the other way, and also the importance of forgiving and forgetting someone’s troubled past (KP and Karuna/Pillayan etc), but feel free to touch upon these as well, if you feel it’s necessary.

Let try not to erect 15 billion strawmen here. My comment was about SF being politically inept, and being played for a clown.

“I personally believe that if any crimes were committed by either side during the conflict, they should be impartially investigated and anyone found guilty of a crime should be punished. If our government won’t do it, I think the UN should be allowed to… You seem to think otherwise, which naturally causes me to question your morality. ”

The GoSL has never said it won’t investigate crimes. My question is, what’s the burning hurry that necessitates the UN getting involved merely a year after the war? They’re in no hurry to investigate in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they were in no hurry over Bloody Sunday, even though the US and UK governments didn’t really investigate anything. The only hurry seems to get SF out of jail, or for Ban to be seen to do something before his term is up, neither of which to me seem huge issues compared to other issues of national interest. If after say, five or ten years, nothing has been done, then it’s understandable for the UN to get involved.

“I’ve heard many stories, including some involving barbed wire and the reproductive tracts of captured female LTTE cadres”

Lol, where do you hear these stories, and what are you smoking when you hear them?

“Your lack of imagination amazing. If you think that it would be preposterous to even suggest that someone who was able to mastermind the defeat of the LTTE, with all the resources at his disposal (with some troops loyal to the death even though others were perhaps markedly less so), could not have engineered a situation which resulted in the outcome we are speaking of, there is something wrong with you. There is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat.”

Lol, all you seem to have is an overactive imagination and blind faith in SF’s godlike abilities. So in the face of your lack of any practical plan, forgive me if I don’t take your Hollywood script too seriously.

“Also also. If this is so unlikely, why was the toothless CDS position created and why did Rajapakse and Co. “promote” him to CDS? ”

Because (a) they’re a paranoid bunch, and the Indians frightened them with the coup rumour because they didn’t want him to remain as Army commander. You’ll remember that at the time, Gota scoffed at the idea of a coup — he’s a soldier, and knew how absurd the idea was, though MR probably didn’t feel so confident. Because (b) they don’t want anyone built up into a larger-than-life character who could later be a political opponent. Also, I said SF in late 2009 could not have engineered a coup, but that doesn’t mean that with a few years more of command and control, he couldn’t have prepared for a more successful coup attempt — and remember even an unsuccessful coup is something a government will want to avoid. Finally (c), he was promoted because his time was up as Army commander. He’d been on extension, and instead of simply retiring him, they promoted him to a position where he would still be well looked after, responsible for policy, but not with any command authority.

“But the fact remains that he, as an Honourable Officer would not have staged a coup. ”

We’ve been through all this, Mahinda. SF isn’t the only honourable officer in the SL Army, and those other honourable officers would have resisted a coup — or are you suggesting his team would’ve been made up of dishonourable ones? :)

“Can I suggest, Blacker, that you watch the movie “invicta” if you find time between cartoons?”

Never hear of that movie, but I have watched ‘Invictus’. Did you watch it, or just read the back of the DVD cover? MR is no Mandela, that’s for sure, but SF is no Eisenhower either.

“My problem is not with us investigating possible human rights violations that occurred during our 30+ year conflict, but more with a government willing to do anything to stay in power, and more interested in lining it’s own pockets than developing our nation. ”

Good for you. So let’s get on with solving that issue instead of rabbiting on about human rights investigations. Unfortunately, SF shot himself in the foot whenever he opened his big mouth, and is probably now got as much chance at the presidency as Ranil.

“the “ten Promises”which you rubbish were created by the UNP (including the celebrated economist Dr. Harsh Silva) and approved by Ranil Wickremesinghe. General Fonseka was involved, but acted solely on the advise of these esteemed economists and experienced politicians. So if you’re taking issue on these points, you should direct your issues at sirikotha and their personal agendas.”

Well, if he wanted to be a president, he should’ve been able to choose his advisors and understand their policies. Not just say, “But Harsha promised it’ll all be good”. Is that how he won the war — Arty commander comes up and says, trust me, let’s buy the 120-mm shells from a Bangladeshi garage — I promise you it’ll be ok. The prob was SF was so eager to grab the presidency immediately that he just blindly followed what the UNP (the bunch who can’t get themselves voted into a paper bag) was telling him. If he was serious about the national good, he’d have taken some time and learned the ropes, understood the battlefield, and gone for the next elections.

“Are you suggesting that good old Mahinda has these skills in abundance? If so, can you please highlight a few point’s to show what a good leader Mahinda is? ”

The first ability a good leader must have is to demonstrate his leadership abilities so that he’ll get himself into the leadership position. In other words, get elected. Mahinda is doing that, SF can’t. Any other questions?

All hail Mr. Blacker, Master of all the worlds knowledge!

“The first ability a good leader must have is to demonstrate his leadership abilities so that he’ll get himself into the leadership position. In other words, get elected. Mahinda is doing that, SF can’t”

So in your divine opinion, were the last presidential elections free and fair?

An example of how His Excellency admirably demonstrated his leadership qualities during the PE if you please?

Are the “leadership qualities” he demonstrated in fact the actual qualities you wish the leader of your country to have?

“All hail Mr. Blacker, Master of all the worlds knowledge!”

Lol, it’s not too difficult, Mahinda, when faced with arguments as asinine as yours! You’re largely ignorant of reality even when it comes to your idol, SF, which makes it childsplay to just shoot you full of holes.

“So in your divine opinion, were the last presidential elections free and fair?”

I doubt there’s been a single election in SL — presidential, general, provincial, whatever — that’s been ENTIRELY free and fair. Hell, we all saw how George W Bush was elected, and that was in the Land of the Free. But I think the last presidential election was LARGELY free and fair. Now, yes, I know all you SF fans will have little fits and come out foaming at the mouth, but if you stop to think about it, you’ll see I’m right. And for the record, I myself voted for SF, though in hindsight I’m not sure I should have. See, I believe all the projections of SF’s voter base was a load of horseshit. We had a bunch of Colombo hopefuls who just talked it up — who told each other over and over, SF’s gonna win — “my uncle’s cousin’s driver who lives in Kurunegala said that they are all for SF” etc. They kinda convinced themselves that this was true. Websites picked up blogs and tweets. The Sunday Leader ran the web articles as journalistic pieces, and so on and on. There was not one solid statistic that showed SF had a snowball’s chance in hell. Not even exit polling! But we wanted to believe. Then the SF camp became so bitterly disappointed when they realised the scale of the defeat, that of course, “umpire hora” just had to be it, right? There was no way the Greatest Hero the Nation Had Ever Seen, the Conqueror of the Tigers, the Lion of the Wanni, the World’s Best General could have been beaten, no? Give it up, machang, you’re sounding like Myil and his blind worship of the Tigers. Sadly, SF’s shot his bolt, and as I earlier said, will probably never see the inside of Temple Trees, except as a guest. He showed great patience in the war, and like Monty in WW2, waited til all his pieces were set. But he jumped the gun as a politician. End of story.

“An example of how His Excellency admirably demonstrated his leadership qualities during the PE if you please? ”

He didn’t have to. When the Tigers were defeated, everyone knew that MR would call for elections, because he was unbeatable. His leadership — like SF’s — had been proven in victory. The UNP knew they had no chance of fielding anyone suitable, so they played up SF. Unfortunately, while MR had proved himself as a political leader and the leader of the nation, SF had only proven himself on the battlefield. He needed to show the people he could lead them too. But as soon as he opened his mouth, his tongue fell out and he stepped on it.

Great military leaders don’t always make great political leaders. Some have, like Eisenhower, Washington, and Sharon, but many — like Patton, Montgomery, Zukov, MacArthur — would have been disastrous.

“Are the “leadership qualities” he demonstrated in fact the actual qualities you wish the leader of your country to have?”

They are not, but the majority of the country think they are, and that’s democracy.

One more thing: You will note that in the West — the First World — great military leaders no longer become great political leaders. Occasionally, you get presidents and prime ministers who have had SOME military experience — JFK, Bush Sr, Perry, Churchill, Powell — but they have not been great generals such as Grant, Eisenhower, Wellington, etc. The places you do see this still happening is in the Third World and the Middle East — Sharon and Dayan in Israel, Musharraf in Pakistan, Chavez in Venezuela, etc — nations warring with their neighbours and themselves, who need military strongmen. Democratic institutions are not places for great soldiers, just as the military is no place for democrats.

You dress up your comments well…

If you can call an election where the State media and the Police Force etc were so blatantly biased (and in the case of the National Media, actively creating and slinging mud) was free and fair then you’re either stupid or just selectively deaf and blind.

Most people in Sri Lanka only have access to the National Media network and base their opinions on what they hear on national tv and radio.

However dissatisfied with your current president, you wouldn’t want to vote for someone who was like Idi Amin, would you? And that’s how the state media falsely and shamelessly portrayed the General, as a part of their ‘anti fonseka” coverage leading up to the elections.

By the way, do you know that as a part of the 2005 Mahinda Chinthanaya, Our beloved president promised to make the National Media Networks completely independent and free them from political influence? He really came through on that, didn’t he? Just like the abolishing of the executive presidency, giving state workers a wage hike straight after the elections etc etc etc?

You’re also not in the slightest bit concerned about good old Dayananda’s speech and demeanor as he released the results, which is nice…

It’s quite easy for people like you and indi to dismiss SF now that he ‘lost’ the election even having voted for him and possibly supported him. Indi may have claimed to be neutral during the PE, but the fact remains that he chose to be at sirikotha on the 26th of Jan, not Temple Trees, where everyone was welcome and was given 5 start treatment.

I actually know the General and know the caliber of the man. He might not be a very good politician, but he is just the sort of leader we need to get our country back into shape. 100% against corruption, brave, intelligent and he never gives up once he decides to get something done.

You claim that Mahinda has proven himself to be a good political leader and the leader of the nation. Really?

Personally I would describe Mahinda as a perfect politician. Very good at PR and ‘balancing’ the correct person at the correct time in order to achieve his own ends, taking full credit for any major accomplishments and cleverly using a scapegoat for any actions that he may need to distance himself from, and not being overly concerned with little details like election pledges and promises one he gets elected, instead focusing on more pressing matters like improving the prospects of future Rajapakse’s. I think we’ve had quite enough politicians for some time. Ranil is no better, shamelessly clinging on to his position to the detriment of his party and the nation.

You also claim Mahinda’s leadership qualities are not those you wish the leader of your country to have, but you seem perfectly content to have him as your leader. Good for you.

C’mon, Mahinda, you’re whining now about what a big unfair world it is. For decades, the state media has been on the side of the incumbent — Premadasa, Chandrika, they all used it. Chandrika even used it to undermine Ranil when he was PM. Just as the rules are that the US gets away scot free on Vietnam, Iraq, Guantanamo, etc, while SL must be made accountable to the UN over our little war, you have to accept that in SL the state media is with the administration. Are you telling me SF missed that bit — that he attacked without reconnaissance? You say you know SF personally, well ask him this question for me — there is only one tactical need that warrants a ground commander choosing to attack without reconnaissance — ask him what that need is — he will know, of course — and ask him whether that need was present at the PE. Brig Samantha Sooriyabandara did it at Muhumalai in 2006, and suffered for it too. Ask SF why.

As a soldier, SF will also know that a defender in prepared positions has all the odds on his side, and if you cannot overwhelm him with numbers as we did at Aanandapuram, you have to think outside the box and outflank him through the marshes as we did north of Mannar. Where was SF’s out-of-the-box thinking in January? If the state media was against him, he should have found other ways to reach the public. He underestimated the enemy, and hesitated so many times to commit himself. SF made all the mistakes that his predecessors in the SL Army made. Here’s another question to ask SF — ask him what the greatest tactical failing of formation commanders in the previous Eelam wars; but this one I’ll give you the answer myself — it was their failure to commit their reserves at the crucial time, both in offense and defence. SF made the same mistake at the PE. He took so long to commit to his campaign and get it off the ground. MR had a good three weeks lead on SF before he even appeared at his first rally. Ask him why.

I agree with everything you say about SF’s character, and also about all MR’s broken promises, etc. But that’s not the point is it? Ranil’s got good economic policies, but he can’t get elected either. You have to convince the people and get elected — if you can’t, you can be the Einstein of economy, or the Terminator of corruption, and it mean’s jack shit. You have to convince the voter.

“You also claim Mahinda’s leadership qualities are not those you wish the leader of your country to have, but you seem perfectly content to have him as your leader. Good for you.”

Well, I’m not gonna go into the loo and slit my wrists over it, if that’s what you mean. The public has chosen MR. Put someone up to challenge that, and maybe I’ll vote for him. I just hope the challenger has the ability to win.

So the UN is being hypocritical? And so is the US and UK when they preach to Sri Lanka?

You don’t think the death of 600 000+ arab civilians is “genocide”? (contrast that with the death of around 1000 US soldiers). The displacement of 2 MILLION Pakistani civilians is “just another day” while Clinton was preaching to Pakistan that it was “not doing enough” to fight Al Qaeda?

Are there “clear cut” guidelines for these? If so, what are they?

the death of 600,000+ arab civilians is definitely mass murder, but whether it’s genocide is debatable. As genocide is roughly defined as an attempt to deliberately and systematically destroy a people and their culture, I’m not sure whether invading a country with the intent on stealing their oil constitutes as genocide in international law. Incidentally, Iraq’s treatment of their Kurdish population is considered genocide.

I think the UN is being hypocritical. It’s a giant bureaucratic system that’s acts on the the whims of its nearly 200 member states… how can it not be hypocritical?

And given the US’s and UK’s dirty track records, any preaching about human rights is of course hypocritical. However, I personally prefer their method of at least attempting to stand up for human rights (however hypocritical and self-serving it may be) over China and Russia’s policy of unwaveringly supporting any sleazy government irrespective of their human rights record.

personally, i find your deflection of sri lanka’s alleged war crimes towards other countries’ a tad hypocritical. why do you care more about dead and displaced iraqis/pakistanis/afghanis than you do about your fellow countrymen?

So what you’re saying is that the UN doesn’t care about obvious mass murder when it’s done by the US or Britain? It’s continuing to happen as we speak… so where are the war crimes investigations? Where is the outrage? Don’t those 600 000 dead arab civilians deserve justice? What about the millions of dead vietnamese? The thousands upon thousands dead in Afghanistan? Why is it hypocritical to point out the hypocrisy of the UN and other countries? Why should SL have an investigation when other countries don’t? Yeah, civilians did die in Sri Lanka… but then 60 000 died in the South in the 1980s…

Ash,

The US, UK et al offer unwavering support to sleazy governments in places like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But because they also find time to make disapproving noises about Sri Lanka, you prefer them to China and Russia. Hollow posturing works for you, does it?

Also, is it not tenable that we can care deeply about our fellow countrymen, about justice and restitution for the aggrieved – while at the same time questioning the dubious credentials and motives of hectoring outsiders? Where is the hypocrisy there?

I think Ash has forgotten the support the US has given to several South American dictatorships.

RajivM, i do think that hollow posturing is better than no posturing.

Governments don’t speak out about other countries’ human rights violations because they have a conscience, because governments’ don’t have one. the democratic processes that exist in countries like the US, UK and Australia (all sleazy governments in my opinion) enables lobby groups and human rights orgs to force issues (like Sudan/Darfur, Indonesia/Timor Leste, & Sri Lanka) to be addressed. There is no mechanism for that within China or Russia.

I think that sri lankans are so angry about UN ‘meddling’ is because it’s easier to focus on an external enemy (be it the LTTE, the Tamil Diaspora, Norway, NGOs, the UK, the US, the EU, Akon, or the UN,) than to actually face the problems that exist in Sri Lankan society. & As for Sri Lankans themselves caring deeply for ‘justice and restitution for the aggrieved’, how much actual internal pressure is being put on the government for this to happen?

Roj, a lot of the incidents that you have mentioned have been investigated. That is how we know about it. We have an idea of how many Iraqis died, we know about the atrocities of abu ghraib and the Vietnam war, partly because of these investigations. The same cannot be said about the Sri Lankan conflict. we don’t know how many people died and for too long the government even denied any civilian casualties.

i don’t think does not UN care, but it’s impotent to do anything about it. and since SL is protected on the security council, the UN will also be unable to actually do anything against sri lanka, if they find evidence of war crimes. & it’s not just South America – during the cold war, the US & UK installed & supported some the worst dictators that Africa has seen.

No we only know about how many Iraqis have died from non-US military sources. Tell me, when do the stories of these killed civilian ever make it to the the tv or the newspapers in the west? But when 2 American or British soldiers die, the whole sky has fallen down and its front page news? What investigations are you talking about? Who was put behind bars for killing more than 2 million vietnamese? Who was put behind bars for the death of 600 000+ Iraqi civilians? Who is behind bars for the deaths of thousands of Afghanis? Anyone? And no, we don’t really know how many civilians have died in Iraq – just like we do not know in Sri Lanka. It is all estimates.

Hollow posturing is better than no posturing? LMAO.