{"id":59551,"date":"2016-10-09T22:13:56","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T04:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=59551"},"modified":"2016-10-09T14:31:12","modified_gmt":"2016-10-09T21:31:12","slug":"uk-vows-to-defend-its-troops-yahapalana-government-to-create-war-crimes-tribunals-for-sri-lankan-army-who-defended-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/10\/09\/uk-vows-to-defend-its-troops-yahapalana-government-to-create-war-crimes-tribunals-for-sri-lankan-army-who-defended-the-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"UK vows to defend its troops: Yahapalana Government to create War Crimes Tribunals for Sri Lankan Army who defended the nation!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u2018We will protect them with our hearts and souls\u2026 we will never again in any future conflicts let those activists, left-wing, human rights lawyers harangue and harass the bravest of the brave, the men and women of our armed forces\u201d<\/em> thus thundered Britain\u2019s Theresa May to an audience that clapped every word. That was Britain defending troops sent to fight illegal wars! We now come to Sri Lanka \u2013 the Sri Lankan Armed Forces defended the nation & its citizens & eliminated the ground force of an internationally proscribed terrorist organization while simultaneously carrying out a humanitarian rescue operation saving close to 300,000 and what is the outcome \u2013 the current government has co-sponsored the Geneva Resolution agreeing to War Crimes Tribunal that would place the army that defended the nation on the dock as war criminals. The yahapalana government has chosen not to stand by its troops and tell the world to produce the evidence first as well as to say any evidence produced will be heard only under domestic laws of sovereign Sri Lanka. The whole world must be laughing at us for not defending our army, the ONLY ARMY to have militarily defeated an international terrorist organization.<\/p>\n

From 1990 Britain has been involved in a series of illegal wars together with US and NATO. These countries include Yugoslavia, Angola, Mozambique, Liberia, Zaire, Sudan, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now Syria.<\/p>\n

The invasions and occupations, we now know were all based on lies, people fed lies by the media, and PR firms like Bell Pottinger paid millions to create false videos and footage to justify the lies. Plenty of paid reports by human rights groups, civil society also added spice.<\/p>\n

The British troops have no choice but to land in nations when their government decide to illegally invade.<\/p>\n

British troops landed in Iraq in 2003 at one time its numbers were close to 50,000. British troops have been deployed in Cyprus since 1964. British army was deployed in Belize from 1949 to 1994 while troops have been based in Bermuda since 1701. There is a gurkha battalion in Brunei since 1962. How many are aware that the British troops have been stationed in Germany since end of World War 2 and David Cameron assured all troops would leave Germany by 2020.<\/p>\n

This is the same country asking other countries to close down military bases stationed in their own countries!<\/p>\n

The Chilcot Report clearly establishes the fault of the Blair Government. http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2016\/07\/06\/chilcot-report-2003-iraq-war-was-unnecessary-and-invasion-was-no\/<\/a> UK\u2019s invasion of Iraq was both wrong and illegal.<\/p>\n

However the prosecutors of the ICC have ruled out putting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on trial for war crimes but the soldiers will be.<\/strong> This was questioned by the father of a soldier who died in Iraq. <\/strong>It is outrageous. It is double standards. These soldiers have gone out to do their best for us and here they are being hounded and yet the guy who took them there is not being looked at. That is completely wrong and disgusting,\u201d <\/em>Roger Bacon<\/em><\/p>\n

Another father <\/em>Reg Keys who also lost his son says The ICC should be using the Chilcot report as a basis for a legal action against Tony Blair not as ammunition against British soldiers for alleged abuse,\u201d<\/em> http:\/\/www.presstv.com\/Detail\/2016\/07\/03\/473364\/Tony-Blair-Chilcot-inquiry<\/a><\/p>\n

The list of military interventions based on bogus R2P objectives has unfortunately had the troops sent by the governments of these nations committing a host of crimes. “The Responsibility of UK Officials for War Crimes Involving Systematic Detainee Abuse in Iraq from 2003-2008” detailing over 400 cases now referred to the ICC http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/exclusive-devastating-dossier-on-abuse-by-uk-forces-in-iraq-goes-to-international-criminal-court-9053735.html<\/a> There are numerous other court martials also in progress.<\/p>\n

There is a history to British crimes and these crimes have been part & parcel of state policy and these crimes have taken place in countries that the British have illegally invaded. The British Army has dropped bombs that are internationally banned. Defence Secretary John Reid admitted that UK used white phosphorus in Iraq. The British were the first to employ herbicides and defoliants to destroy the crops, bushes, and trees of communist insurgents in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/uk_politics\/4441822.stm<\/a><\/p>\n

Royal Air Force dropped diphenyl chloroarsine, an irritant agent designed to cause uncontrollable coughing, on Bolshevik troops in 1919. During colonial rule in British India, Rawalpindi experiments, hundreds of Indian soldiers were exposed to Mustard gas. All these cases are with the knowledge of and consent of the government and often it is the leaders who purchases these substances that the army are ordered to use.<\/p>\n

These illegal wars have left troops traumatized going so far as to even commit suicide. Nearly 400 troops killed themselves between 1995 and 2014. http:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/uk-news\/armed-forces-suicide-every-2-7503692<\/a><\/p>\n

However, with the exposure of PR firms being paid to prepare false video footage, and \u2018journalists\u2019 are no other than military personnel while media too are paid to justify interventions we have to seriously question the reports and \u2018witness claims\u2019 being produced by entities who survive and thrive only if there are global issues to make a living.<\/p>\n

Therefore, when Lord Richard Dannatt says it is dangerous for soldiers to \u2018feel inhibited in doing what they think is right for fear of retrospective investigation\u2019<\/em>\u2026. To have these wide-ranging inquiries into what are repeatedly turning out to be wholesale, fallacious accusations is undermining for morale and the Army’s effectiveness\u201d.<\/em> What he is indirectly implying is that the cobweb of lies and deceit that prevails in these \u2018conflicts\u2019 to which troops are sent and thereafter the inhibitions and fallacious accusations that the troops have to suffer are demoralizing the Army and it must stop he says. It would have been nice if our own Field Marshall spoke like Lord Dannatt!<\/p>\n

While the UK has had British military Court Martials for offences committed by British troops the US has given itself immunity. In Afghanistan a deal secures blanket immunity the United States shall have the exclusive right to exercise jurisdiction over such persons in respect of any criminal or civil offenses committed in the territory of Afghanistan.\u201d<\/em> In 1955 the Supreme Court ruled that veterans of the U.S. armed forces could not be court-martialed for overseas crimes that were not detected until after they had left military service. https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/American-Immunity-International-Culture-Politics\/dp\/162534046X<\/a> \u00a0In 2000 Congress attempted to close the jurisdictional gap with passage of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. The effectiveness of that legislation is still in question.<\/p>\n

US is not a party to the ICC. Global Policy Forum writes <\/em>US-led occupation forces have committed numerous atrocities in Iraq since the invasion of 2003\u2026. While some cases have been brought before military hearings, the Pentagon has covered up most of these cases and exonerated the soldiers involved. Rather than pursuing high officials and senior officers, military prosecutors have pursued only a few\u00a0low- ranking soldiers. With few exceptions, most cases have yielded relatively light punishments, while the majority has seen original charges of murder downgraded to lighter charges or even dismissed completely. The United States has repeatedly insisted\u00a0that these atrocities were committed by\u00a0“few bad apples,” obscuring\u00a0the fact that troops are regularly committing such crimes under a system of unrestrained violence attributable to those at the top.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In the meanwhile, the law firm that has hounded British troops with false allegations of war crimes is to be stripped of its legal aid funding having pocketed over \u00a34 million of taxpayers\u2019 money dragging soldiers and their families through years of unwarranted torment. This is certainly welcome news \u2013 no soldier (whether he took part in legal or illegal wars) should have to face such inhibitions just so that a handful of people can make money \u2013 same scenario applicable to Sri Lanka. \u00a0http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/debate\/article-3742454\/Now-Professor-Shyster-hounded-hundreds-innocent-British-soldiers-dock-demands-RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN.html<\/a> This should not be allowed to happen in Sri Lanka. Though recently a soldiers family had to pay compensation for killing a LTTE terrorist. It is why Lord Dannat has demanded compensation to all soldiers falsely accused of war crimes https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2016\/oct\/01\/compensate-soldiers-falsely-accused-of-war-crimes-says-ex-british-army-head<\/a><\/p>\n

The underlying message from this is that Britain is standing by its troops even which Sri Lanka\u2019s government is not. Britain is standing by its troops when they are well aware that these troops are sent to fight illegal wars and often the enemy that the troops are sent to kill are the very people that their government help train and arm.<\/p>\n

In Sri Lanka\u2019s case the troops were defending their nation against terrorists. War Crimes Tribunals have never put terrorists on the dock. Therefore the Sri Lankan Government agreeing to war crimes tribunals are only agreeing to declare our own troops as war criminals. We know that all of the tribunals held thus far have all been worthless and a waste of money though it has enabled a handful of people to become quite rich dragging the tribunal with no justice.<\/p>\n

Says Lord Dannatt – We need to ensure that when the men and women of our armed forces go out there on our behalf, willing to sacrifice themselves for our safety and for our defence, that they have our full confidence and backing in doing that and that’s what we will give them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t this what Sri Lanka\u2019s Government should be saying for its own troops? Or is that affecting this laughable reconciliation, secular-multicultural bogey that the government is foolishly riding on. The irony becomes far greater when the Canadian Court in refusing asylum to a TNA applicant says LTTE and TNA are one and the same while the present government allows the TNA leader to be the Opposition Leader and the flag bearer of reconciliation when in reality he is hoisting the separatist flag while the government has to hang to separatist lobbies for its own political survival.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reasons LTTE were terrorists. They carried out heinous crimes. Just because the UN has yet to define what a terrorist is, LTTE cannot be omitted from being held responsible for its murders. Just because Prabakaran is dead no one can simply say LTTE is no more. What about the TNA, the LTTE diaspora, the Sinhalese and foreigners who were helping the LTTE, the international organizations that gave oxygen to the LTTE, the local NGOs, the charities, the others who made money knowing they were providing material support to the LTTE, the media even some politicians who aided and abetted terrorism at some point or the other throughout the 30 years \u2013 ALL of them must stand trial for every murder and mayhem committed by the LTTE BEFORE any military person is taken before any court (local or foreign).<\/p>\n

Justice must come to the victims \u2013 the victims are those killed and injured by LTTE not the LTTE killed by those that defended the nation.<\/p>\n

Shenali D Waduge<\/p>\n

Theresa May\u2019s speech – http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/politics\/theresa-may-left-wing-human-rights-lawyers-cover-up-murder-torture-civilians-armed-forces-a7346846.html<\/a><\/p>\n

British Crimes in Iraq – https:\/\/www.britisharmykillings.com\/category\/crimes-in-iraq\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge \u2018We will protect them with our hearts and souls\u2026 we will never again in any future conflicts let those activists, left-wing, human rights lawyers harangue and harass the bravest of the brave, the men and women of our armed forces\u201d thus thundered Britain\u2019s Theresa May to an audience that clapped every word. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}