How do you know? What are you comparing it against? If there had been no LTTE, what would have happened? My point is that if it hadn’t been the LTTE, it would have been another force that would have also used violence. The LTTE was not the only militant group that arose at the time. The SL Tamils had no choice. I am not celebrating the LTTE. Far from it. But it was inevitable. You ask if all other marginalized groups in other countries resort to violence. Yes, they do, when no space is provided for genuine political and legislative negotiation and when they have a history with the land. And once there was a terrorist force, there were only certain ways it could have turned out. With an ineffective force, they would have crashed and burned early. With an effective one, they would have gone from strength to strength and perhaps attained their goals. LTTE missed their chance. It went from strength to hubris, until the next inevitable thing had to happen–the spawning of a Rajapaksa, one monstrosity giving birth to the next.

Why are you so surprised that the SL Tamils would continue to pin their faith on a megalomaniac? Did they have a lot of options? Why do the Sinhalese support their megalomaniac?

“That’s why most Sri Lankans are immensely glad that the LTTE issue is over, despite the massive cost it entailed. So when you act all surprised at the cost to lives in the final war, people have to wonder what planet you were living on prior to that. One cannot analyze the situation from an idealistic perspective, entirely divorced from ground realities.”

I know of one ground reality. I know if Rajapaksa had declared war to the death on the LTTE at a time when the LTTE had decided to base themselves in the South, you would not be singing this same song that war always costs lives. You would not be so cool about the collateral damage. What planet am I living on? A Tamil planet. But at least I am acutely aware of my racial biases.

As for why the SL Tamils had to go so far looking for a new home instead of going to Tamil Nadu, did you expect them to risk their lives to move from one refugee camp to another? They wanted a life. You seem to hold even that against them.

“An entire country full of hapless people cannot endlessly pay for such idiocy, and the demise of the LTTE was long overdue.”

Yes, but you see, the LTTE is dead now. But you folks are still paying for YOUR idiocies, are you not? Do you think the Tamils have a monopoly on idiocy?

Just a word about Sarvanathan–I concede your point that he has made much negative criticism of GOSL. I had not seen the latest interview and thought you were referring to an earlier one. But just an observation on the interview–he calls a small section of the diaspora scum, but actually views Prabhakaran as the victim of their mischief. I thought that was really interesting.

I think Julian Asange wouldn’t be among the living if he were a Sri Lankan! Yet, this is not what you expect from a country which is said to set standards of democracy to the world!

You say:

“But these facts have been found out, despite US government attempts to hide them. That’s transparency…” That’s the most hilarious statement anybody can make ; waiting till sombody reveals what was covered up and then call it “transparancy!” This must be the definition of bigotry!

Then you say:
“Those atomic bombs were required to make Japan surrender. Even after the first bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, they still refused to yield, despite knowing that an atomic bomb had been devised and having seen the devastation caused. So then the second was dropped. Doesn’t Japan have to take any responsibility for it?”

In the same way the LTTE should take the responsibility for using the civilians as a human shield when they jolly well knew the consequences. Doesn’t the LTTE responsible for the civilian deaths in that case? The same argument was put forward by the Israel ( that is that the Hamas were using the civilians in the Gaza strip as human shields and therefore they(the civilians) were legitimate targets..) the Western powers (naamely the USA and Canada) protected Israel! Infact the USA vetoed the resolution against Israel in the UNHRC.(when Israel had not only used white phosperos against the civilians but targeted the UN food convoys delibarately whlie keeping a blockade to starve the civilians in Gaza Strip) This is the forked tongued policy of the West!

One more point on killing one’s own citizens. The civilians in the West Bank who get shelled belong to Israel while those in the Gaza could either belong to Israel or Palestine. Anyway the establishment of Israel itself was not done legally and therefore it remans an illegal state!

RE: “So I guess you think the Tamil problem is all resolved?”

I never said this. What I said was that the LTTE exacerbated the situation. So most of the rest of your argument is a waste. Let’s stick to the points, so that neither of us have to waste time on the imagined position of the other?

You still haven’t explained, how “the LTTE kept this devastation off”?

RE: “Then why are people entrusting their lives and that of their children to the high seas and hightailing it to faraway continents where they can at least hope for some humanitarian treatment?”

Tamil Nadu is less than 100 km away and is clearly a safe refuge. If escape from horrendous persecution and death is the immediate need, wouldn’t anyone in their right minds travel to the closest safe haven? Why risk one’s life traveling so many miles more to these other “developed” countries?

RE: “have you considered that there are some politically correct things someone in a position like his has to say in order to allow him to carry on doing the good work he is doing?”

That’s a possibility. I did consider it. However, Sarvanathan has not hesitated to point out the negative aspects of the government also, and some of his comments are not “politically correct”. He does not appear to have a problem with calling a spade a spade.

RE: “Also, thank goodness for GOSL’s determination not to present their war behaviour to scrutiny. So you folks can continue to avoid facing the truth.”

I think you are ignoring a critical aspect of this problem. For 30 years, the people in the north lived to fulfill the dictats of a deranged individual. Meanwhile, this never-ending war was taking a tremendous toll on the country as a whole. People dying brutally left, right and center was the order of the day. That’s why most Sri Lankans are immensely glad that the LTTE issue is over, despite the massive cost it entailed. So when you act all surprised at the cost to lives in the final war, people have to wonder what planet you were living on prior to that. One cannot analyze the situation from an idealistic perspective, entirely divorced from ground realities.

RE: “given the situation that existed and the overwhelming political power of the Sinhalese over the Tamils, was there really a chance that a terror organization like the LTTE would not come into existence?”

Are you saying that everywhere there’s a majority which oppresses a minority, a terror organization comes into existence?

RE: “If innocent Tamil civilians had not been targeted in state-sponsored pogroms and massacres, what are the chances that the terror organization would also not target innocent Sinhalese civilians?”

I’ve never thought that the initial support by the Tamil people towards the LTTE was wrong. It was an understandable reaction in the face of barbaric persecution. What I criticize, is the continuous support of idiotic individuals to an organization that was *no longer fighting for equal rights for Tamils*, but *fighting to create a personal fiefdom for a megalomaniac”. An entire country full of hapless people cannot endlessly pay for such idiocy, and the demise of the LTTE was long overdue.

“If the war in Iraq and Afganistan is as transparent as you say why should a whistle blower citizen’s organization have to take the risk of revealing the files that are termed ‘classified’? In the latest revelation of 400,000 such classified files it is shown that the US government has under-reportd the civilian deaths by about 15,000 and turned a blind eye to rampant human rights abuses. If this is the transparency that you are talking about, why should the US defence establishment decry it as a ‘threat to the national security’?”

But these facts have been found out, despite US government attempts to hide them. That’s transparency. And guess what? Julian Assange is still alive. He doesn’t fear being hunted down by US, but rather tried for treason. What would have happened to him if he had been Sri Lankan? GOSL has killed far less dangerous journalists than that.

Of course the US defence establishment will decry it as a threat to national security–the war is still on. Not so with the SL civil war. What is SL’s excuse for still refusing even minimal knowledge of what happened?

“Where are the advisory panels to UN to conduct investigations into these civilian deaths? Whatever action was taken by the US so far was confined to internal trials by the military only.”

It is up to other countries to demand such investigations. Many of them don’t because they don’t want UN investigation into their own war crimes. That’s how SL got away with it at the UN. It’s not just a matter of the big bad West. It’s also a matter of the big bad East.

“What about the alleged killing of around 40,000 surrendering Iraqi troops during the first Gulf war? Where are the advisory panels to the UN to file action in this?”

Haven’t heard of this. Are you speaking of the retreating troops on the Highway of Death? Apparently, it is not against international law to fire against retreating troops. Seymour Hersh claimed 350 surrendering Iraqi soldiers were killed but I don’t know where you got the 40K figure from.

“When the US dropped those two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki “IN THE FINAL STAGES OF” WWII, which killed about 200,000 civilians according to some estimates how did Harry Truman get away with that crime? Why isn’t it being investigated as a war crime in these Supreme Institutions that look after the human rights?”

Those atomic bombs were required to make Japan surrender. Even after the first bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, they still refused to yield, despite knowing that an atomic bomb had been devised and having seen the devastation caused. So then the second was dropped. Doesn’t Japan have to take any responsibility for it?

Thank goodness for the LTTE–without them, who else can one point fingers at? Also, thank goodness for GOSL’s determination not to present their war behaviour to scrutiny. So you folks can continue to avoid facing the truth. Let me ask you this: given the situation that existed and the overwhelming political power of the Sinhalese over the Tamils, was there really a chance that a terror organization like the LTTE would not come into existence? If innocent Tamil civilians had not been targeted in state-sponsored pogroms and massacres, what are the chances that the terror organization would also not target innocent Sinhalese civilians?

I think before one can argue about whether the LTTE stood in the way of the total devastation of SL Tamils or not, there has to be full disclosure of what happened in the war and what is happening now. Without that free access to information, our position in argument can never be equal–you have the unfair upper hand and can freely base your argument on lies and government propaganda.

”In 1993, Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi, invited me to contribute to a volume, entitled World Without Violence, memorialising the 125th anniversary of the Mahatma’s birth. Motivation for the project, he told contributors, was rooted in a life-changing sojourn at his grandfather’s ashram when he was a very young man. Through relatively simple words and examples, Gandhi tried to share some fundamental ideas with his young grandson.

The causes of violence in society are not complicated, Gandhi maintained, and could be traced to eight blunders:
1. Wealth without work, 2. Pleasure without conscience, 3. Knowledge without character, 4. Commerce without morality, 5. Science without humanity, 6. Worship without sacrifice, 7. Politics without principle and 8. Rights without responsibilities

The ‘eight blunders’ became the organising concept for Arun Gandhi’s commemorative volume. Each contributor was invited to use one ‘blunder’ as a theme around which to organise an essay on a World Without Violence.
I chose ‘politics without principle’ and drew two lessons from Sri Lanka ‘s experience. First was that practising politics without principle, even in pursuit of principled goals, is likely to push a society toward violent conflict. Ethnically diverse societies are particularly susceptible to this pathology. The second lesson was that processes of democratic political campaigning and elections pose nearly irresistible temptations to practice politics without principle. The more worthy the aspirant, the stronger the belief that his or her leadership is needed to deal with crises or achieve worthy goals, the more irresistible will be the temptation to compromise the principle of satya (truthful or moral conduct) and commit the seventh blunder. ”

Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka ‘s Civil Wars, Prof John Richardson, 2005:
”S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike’s term marked the beginning of a ‘poisonous’ cycle in Sri Lankan politics that has worked to polarise society along communal lines. When in power, leaders of both parties have seen the need for reasonable concessions to Sri Lanka Tamils in order to maintain national unity. But when in opposition, these same leaders have become uncompromising advocates of Sinhalese nationalism in order to gain political support. In the early 1950s the charismatic SWRD Bandaranaike altered Sri Lanka’s political landscape forever by beginning to vocally advocate an overly populist, pro-Sinhalese and pro-Buddhist political agenda. Campaigning on a political platform to make Sinhala the only official language ‘within 24 hours’ after becoming Prime Minister, and to give preferential treatment to Sinhalese in education and employment, he swept to power in the general election of April 1956. A new and turbulent era in Sri Lankan politics had begun. Having opened the Pandora’s Box of race-based politics, Sinhalese politicians could not close it.”