Bandula KothalawalaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  London

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

The US has done it again! Mrs Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, has been quick to trot out the familiar ritualistic apology for yet another slaughter of civilians by US Air Force bombings in Afghanistan.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was not long ago that the sanctimonious Mrs Clinton declared that the whole world was disappointed over Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s war against the LTTE and that it has caused untold suffering. This was, by any standards, a remarkably successful exercise in histrionics, worthy of an Oscar. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Of course, Mrs Clinton has a perfectly valid excuse. She suffers from periodic bouts of selective amnesia ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” condition not uncommon among diplomats strutting around the globe pontificating on human rights, civilian casualties, international humanitarian law etc.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Remember how Mrs Clinton reminisced about her terrible ordeal in Bosnia where she landed amidst hundreds of bombs raining over her head! It is, therefore, worth refreshing Mrs ClintonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s not-so-reliable memory with a few facts.

First of all, the world population is over 6bn now. We are, indeed, fortunate in having a self-appointed spokeswoman for all of us!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If she means the number of countries by ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the whole worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, we should still be grateful to the erudite Secretary of State who now speaks for over 180 countries. As for ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-untold sufferingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ caused by Sri Lanka fighting a bloody war against a terror outfit, Mrs Clinton may recall that an estimated 2m people were killed by her country in the Vietnam war, that entire villages were carpet-bombed by B52 fighter jets, reducing everything in their wake to rubble and killing thousands of innocent civilians and that defoliants were used to destroy crops to starve people to death. Perhaps, Mrs Clinton has already forgotten that some 655,000 people lost their lives as a consequence of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, according to a serious study published in the Lancet in 2006. Mrs Clinton should also remember how her compatriot Madeleine Albright, US Ambassador to the UN, callously claimed in 1996 that the death of half-a-million Iraqi children due to sanctions was a price worth paying.

Mrs Clinton needs to pay more attention to the plank in her countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s eye than the speck of sawdust in Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s!.

Bandula Kothalawala

London

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