Ira de Silva London, Canada

Mr. Matthew Russell Lee
Inner City Press
New York, N.Y.
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Dear Mr. Lee:
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I was sent a copy of your recent ranting about Sri Lanka dated August 3,2010 and some of the other reports that had taken place before August 3, 2010. You seem to be impatient that the panel set up by Ban to advise him on Sri Lanka is dragging it’s feet and not producing an immediate report.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  It seems you have no other subject to deal with other than Sri Lanka, so it is understandable that you are irritated by the delays but on the other hand, if you have been retained to keep the issue of Sri Lanka front and centre at UN press briefings, you must be happy that there is a delay as every time you ask questions about Sri Lanka or reportƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  about Sri Lanka you must be receiving some satisfaction.
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Is it to keep the attention of your backersƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ focussed that you state ” after Sri Lanka’s May 2009 “bloodbath on the beach” which killed thousands of civilians”? After one year of repeating this canard, has it not occurred to you that there is no evidence of thousands of civilians killed on the beach? With the UN and other western paid NGO’s operating throughout the island surely they could have come up with evidence during the past year? Where are the bodies of the thousands killed? As you must be aware your supporters have been inflating the numbers from seven thousand initially claimed to over forty thousand as time went on. Did the INGO’s, the UN, Red Cross take these bodies out of the island? Why is it that unsubstantiated statements issued by LTTE supporters are accepted by you as “gospel”?If you were not so biasedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and followed even the basics ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ reputable journalismƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ you would have taken note of the thousands of civilians who broke loose of their LTTE captors and streamed out of the beach area at the first opportunity. Did you note that the so called international community immediately changed their focus and began condemning the Sri Lankan GovernmentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ because these people were not immediately resettled into their homes – the homes they were driven from by none other than the LTTE to make them a human shield?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ One year on andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the task of resettlement is almost complete while your government’s actions have created millions of refugees in Afghanistan and Pakistan but the western press just ignores them and the fact that they will not be resettled any time soon. Also, what about the thousands of civilians that have been killed in Afghanistan and passed off as collateral damage? It seems that while the US and it’s allies have licence to claim an unlimited number as collateral damage during warƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and has been exposed by the latest publications in Wikileaks,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  you are harping on an incident in Sri Lanka that did not take place. Perhaps if you need more work you should focus on Afghanistan, Pakistan and also Iraq. There isƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ plenty of evidence to keep UN investigative panels working for decades.
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Your claim that if a country complains loudly enough Ban ki-Moon will move slowly and cautiously on war crimes is an attack on Ban’s integrity. It is hoped that Ban will move cautiously not because of loud complaints but because of the seriousness of the subject. PerhapsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Ban realises that in the case of Sri Lanka he does not have any authority to set up international panels of inquiry without the permission of either the Security Council or of the General Assembly. For your information, your former ambassador to the UN, John Bolten himself is of the same point of view because in June, 2010 writing to the Washington Times (a more reputable news outlet than yoursƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ), he called on your government to withhold funds to the UN to chastenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Secretary GeneralƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ when Ban called for an international inquiry into the clash between Israel and the aid convoy off Gaza. According to Bolten, BanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was making “an enormously significant misjudgement about his role and authority” to act without express U.N. Security Council authorization and he claimed that to do so would “far exceed his legitimate authority”. Please note that there can be only one set of rules at the UNƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ however much you may wish that there was one set of rules for the U.S. and Israel and another for countries such as Sri Lanka. I am explaining this to you in detail as you seem to think that just because you make a nuisance of your self at press briefings, rulesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ can be altered to suit you. Also, please keep in mind that Ban has appointed the panel to advise him. It is not an “investigative panel on war crimes” as you seem to infer.
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Regarding the panel on Gaza which has now been set up it after it’s initial rejection by the Israeli ambassador to the UN (Michael Oren) who statedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-we are rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with the Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take place. Israel has the ability and the right to investigate itself, not to be investigated by any international boardƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Please note that as always, the Obama administration has leapt to the defence of Israel. It appears that after a lot of lobbying IsraelƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ hasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  finally accepted the UNSG panel into the Israeli attack on the Gaza bound aidƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ships. It has not been lost on the world that the Israeli Government has indicatedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that it would not allow the committee to interrogate Israeli officers, civilians or soldiers. Who will this panel speak to and of what value will the report be?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Another waste of funding at the UN that seems to be sliding in authority and ability because of intense interference by the US. Only people like you will place any importanceƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ onƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ these flawed reports and keep agitating for them.
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Regarding your claim that following Inner City Press’ report that Mahinda Rajapakse is listed as Sri Lanka’s speaker in September’s general debate you received unprompted letters to have Ban’s panel interview Rajapakse, I feel sure that it is a figment of your imagination intended to give yourself undue importance or perhaps your backers are trying to lay the foundation for such an event. If you had any, based on your attitude, you would have surely publishedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ at least one as a sample. “We’ll see” you write. I would say to you “don’t hold your breath”. Your importance to Rajapakse on a scale of one to ten is likely to be zero.
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My final comment to you is that you still seem to be smarting that you have not been invited to a luncheon or other “free food event” by the PR for Sri Lanka at the UN. When I wrote to you on a previous occasion when you complained about notƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ receiving an invitationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to a function hosted by the PR I pointed out to you that perhaps if you were less “in your face” and behaved in a polite manner you may get an invitation in the future. It would behove you to brush up on yourƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ manners and attitude if it is that important to you that you be invited by the PR. It may alsoƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ help youƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ at the press briefings at the UN.
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Yours truly,
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Ira de Silva
London, Canada