Ira de Silva London, Canada

Mr. Philip J. Crowley
US Assistant Secretary
State Department, Washington, D.C.
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ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dear Sir:
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I refer to your Daily Press Briefing of October 29, 2010 and your comments on Sri Lanka. I am writing to you to bring to your attention some fundamental errors in your understanding of Sri Lanka which isƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ evidenced in yourƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ statements.
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1. You state that the U.S. is waiting for a full account on the final days because it is important for Sri Lanka’s future. Sri Lanka’s future was changed by the defeat of the Tamil terroristsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who had terrorised the people of Sri Lanka for thirty years and in the “final stages” held the Tamil population of the areas they temporarily controlledƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ asƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ hostages, using them as a human shield to avoid defeat.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You are correct it was important for Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The defeat of the LTTE has brought peace to the country.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There has not been a single suicide bombing or terrorist attack on civilians since the defeat of the LTTE.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lankans ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ can now move freely throughout the island without fear and try to get on with their lives.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The U.S. waiting for a full account is is not going to change that fact. What you need toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ indicate isƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ whatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the U.S. is planning to do based on the “full account” which it deems necessary andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  expects and how it will affect Sri Lanka’s future. Will it signal continued interference in the internal matters of a sovereign country based on the belief that the U.S. knows what is best for Sri Lanka?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

2. Why is the U.S. waitingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ for a full account of what you term the “last days of the war”? You must be aware that in the final stages of the war the U.S., Norway, Britain, France and other western countries, who had been supportive of the Tamil terrorist group in their effort to destabilise Sri LankaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ , openly tried to force on the country their solution which included the division of the country as promoted by the LTTE and their supporters in these respective countries. The U.S.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was actively engaged in Sri Lanka through your Ambassador in Sri Lanka at the time, Mr. Robert O. Blake who did his utmost, together with the other western countries to save the leadership of the LTTE terrorists. Your Secretary of State, Mrs. H. Clinton called for a pause in the fighting so that the terrorist leadership could be saved and evacuated. The U.S. was fully engaged in interfering in the internal matters of Sri Lanka, using every possible avenue to help the Tamil terrorists by saving them so that they could continue to terrorise the country in the future. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If you want an “account”, you need go no further than Mr. Robert O.Blake who is now in Washington. In this regard, I would like to point out the duplicity of the U.S. so-called war on terrorism. According to Mrs. Clinton, the LTTE were “good terrorists”.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In my view it is only the U.S. that has a designation of terrorists as good and bad, the good being those who the U.S. supports andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  uses to impose it’s will on other countries, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the bad being those who the U.S. wants to eliminate by any means at it’s disposal.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The U.S. supported the LTTE that had been designated as the most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world by your own FBI while waging war on perceived terrorists in Afghanistan, killing thousands of civilians, bombing indiscriminately and creating millions of refugees.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is not U.S. policy to pause and evacuate, rather it is a shoot and kill without question or hesitance. It is ironic that you should be waiting for an account of the war in Sri Lanka that has the legitimate right to defend it’s citizens against terrorism at the same time as the world is now aware of the indiscriminate killing, rape torture etc. by U.S. forces in Iraq which facts wereƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ knownƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and approved byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the U.S. government although they denied knowledge of these extreme ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ human rights abuses and war crimes. The world is now gettingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a glimpseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of the atrocities committed by the U.S. in Iraq andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Afghanistan.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When is the U.S. going to provide the world with a full account of it’s actions in Iraq and Afghanistan?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The world awaits your full account and “encourages the U.S. Government to provide a full accounting”.
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3. In the case of Sri Lanka the war is over. In the case of the war by the U.S. in Iraq, which has now been proven illegal, and it’s so-called war on terrorism in Afghanistan, the killings and atrocities continue unabated. It is therefore essential that the U.S. provide an account to the worldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of what has taken placeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ since 2001 becauseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  based on the latest reports, the U.S. has lost any moral authority it had.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It claims to promote democracy and peace but in reality has been shown to be acting without any morality or principles.
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4. You comment that Sri Lanka had an election and has the authority to lead Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For your information, Sri Lanka has had several elections.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is based on the authority vested in the elected government that Sri Lanka prosecuted the war against the Tamil terrorists. Their defeat was recognized by the Sri Lankan people who have returned to power the government thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ defeated Tamil terrorists. The future for Sri Lanka will be based on the will of the people of Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  As indicated in my earlier comments, the U.S. supported and promoted the Tamil terrorists in their fight against the people of Sri Lanka. Through the mandate given by the people, Sri Lanka will move ahead without the failed solutions that were being imposed on the country by the U.S. and other western powers. The future is for the people of Sri Lanka to decide, not for the U.S. or any other foreign powers to decide. Whether the Government of Sri Lanka is capable or not is not the “special responsibility” of any outside power and certainly not the countries that actively supported and continue to support the LTTE terrorists. The same applies to the so-called human rights groupsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch etc. who are paid by western interests to promote their policies in third world countries. As correctly pointed out by the Foreign MinisterƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of Sri Lanka in London, U.K. recently,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  for others to believe thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ they know best what is good for Sri Lanka smacks of “an attitude that is almost colonial, patronising and condescending the assumption being that other people must step in because Sri Lankans are unable to chart a course for their own future”.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
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5. RegardingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the U.S.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  calling on the U.N. for a tribunal to investigate war crimes,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ based on the latest information that has been made public, it wouldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ be more appropriate for the U.N. to immediately call for the U.S. to be investigatedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  for human rights abuses and war crimesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If the U.S. is supposed to be the “leader”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of the world’s democracies and set standards for others to follow, it would be appropriate to provide information to independent investigators who could be named by the U.N. and set the benchmark of any investigations of this type. That would be true leadership. If not, the U.S. has no right toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ call for any other country to be investigated except themselves.
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Yours truly,
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Ira de Silva
London, Canada