Gord's Notebook : Sri Lankan Government War Crimes :Bombing Civilians, Assassinations, Death Squads, Torture

UPDATE: 11:37 AM , April 6, 2009

Is Everything and anything permissible in The War on Terror ?
Sri Lanka Genocide or just collateral Damage
Abductions by Death Squads - the Disappeared
Torture, abuse, rape - Sri Lankan Government terrorizing the Tamil population
Intimidation of human rights activists and the press-
Gov't claims that Tamil Rebels are using civilians as Human Shields-
Sri Lankan government actions similar to those of the US in Iraq, or Israel in Gaza and the West Bank or the Burmese Gov't against its own people or the Chinese in Tibet
Gaza & Israel
As America aided and abetted Israel's War Crimes so India aids and abets Sri Lankan War Crimes-
Iraq-The US Shock & Awe - Fallujah Bombing Civilians
Drones Killing civilians in Pakistan
Bombing convoy in Sudan arms supply or Migrants

SRILANKA

Genocide in Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka government claiming it only wants to get rid of the terrorists Tamil Tigers and so is using the New All Purpose excuse for bombing civilians. As Israel was permitted by the US, Britain and Canada to bomb the hell out of Gaza and to ignore the deaths of innocent civilians in its desire to destroy Hamas. We now have this new Template for massive bombings of non-military targets including schools and hospitals and even UN facilities .

But Israel did not create this new template for mass murder. If anything the US in its attack on Iraq of Shock and Awe created this new template. The American forces bombed highways , bridges, police stations, hospitals, schools , buildings which housed government departments except for the oil ministry but they also bombed apartment buildings, suburbs , power stations , water and sewage treatment plants all non military targets destroying Iraq's infrastructure which has still not been repaired after six years of US occupation. The so called Shock & Awe was more like the NAZI Blitzkrieg attacks of WWII .

So all a nation has to do is call a group terrorists and therefore the government can use any tactics it wishes to in order to defeat the " Terrorists" and the deaths of non-combatants is considered a non-issue. Just kill them all and let God sort them out.
Civilian killings in Sri Lanka discussed in UN, leaked documents and double standards- April 2, 2009

Arundhati Roy says about Srilankan Genocide( on Tamils ) thanks BBC RADIO

Arundhati Roy says about Srilankan Genocide( on Tamils )

Sri Lanka has no intention of providing political solution - Human Rights Watch at the US senate hearing - 3-March-2009

Like Israel and the United States when they have been accused of War Crimes or Human Rights Violations the Sri Lankan government has accused the Human Rights UN Rapporteur & other Human Rights groups of being unprofessional and biased and therefore "Pro-Terrorists" etc.

UN fears Sri Lanka 'war crimes'- March 16, 2009

and some more background on a conflict which has been going on for some thirty years. The Tamil Tigers LTTE may commit actions which are abhorrent but that does not mean that the government and military of Sri Lanka has a right to do whatever it wishes to while ignoring basic human rights, the Geneva Conventions and other International Agreements. The abductions of innocent people who are then disappeared or who are abused, raped or killed these things are not justifiable. But it is difficult to get the International Community to act when it has done little to punish similar actions committed by the Israelis, the Americans and the British and their allies in the so-called War on Terror.

The message and example from the United States and Israel is that any action taken against alleged terrorists or their loved ones relatives , their friends or anyone alleged to have helped terrorists or anyone critical of the government is by definition an enemy of the state who can be abducted as in renditions and imprisoned, tortured or killed by way of assassinations or death squads all we are told is permissible and is done with impunity by their own government or those acting on behalf of that government. This is the sort of mind-set which has been created since 9/11 and the so called War on Terror. So why should the Israeli Government and IDF or the Sri Lankan government or the Chinese Government or Burmese governments be expected to act any differently. And of course anyone speaking out on behalf of those treated in this way are themselves to be treated no differently than the actual so-called terrorists.

The Sri Lankan government does not just target the Tamil Insurgents or Guerrillas or Terrorists but the Tamil population in the same way that Israel has targeted all Palestinians and not just the fighters of Hamas. The Americans in Iraq and their Iraqi collaborators also targeted anyone they wished to in Iraq through assassinations, death squads, massive bombings of civilian areas , massive round ups of suspected terrorists and their families and their neighbors most of whom were not terrorists or insurgents , then they were systematically abused and or tortured or killed all in the name of Freedom, Democracy, Christendom and the American Way.

Sri Lankan State Security Forces responsible for TAMIL'S disappearances
Human Rights Watch

These ongoing abductions of Sri Lankans by the Sri Lankan government and local militias sound similar to what American backed Death Squads did for instance in El Salvador , Chile etc.And now with the excuse of the War on Terror Sri Lankan government gets tacit backing from Western Nations
White van abductions [Sri Lankan Military sponsored]

Abductions carried out by armed men riding in white vans are common in Northern/Eastern Sri Lanka. These Tamil civilians are later found brutally killed or amputated within a week. These atrocities are carried out with the help of Sri Lankan military. March 30, 2007

also see:

" Sri Lankan civilians in firing line as military 'annihilates' Tamil Tigers " "Telegraph.co.uk , April 5, 2009

Sri Lanka reported the deaths of 420 Tamil Tiger fighters yesterday after three days of heavy fighting forced the group to seek refuge in a seven-square mile "no-fire zone" packed with up to 190,000 refugees.

A spokesman for the military said operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had commenced within the zone, fuelling concerns over the safety of civilians trapped between the warring parties.

The rebels have set up big guns and bunkers among encampments of refugees in the enclave on the island's north-east coast. Thousands have already been killed or maimed by shells falling in the area.

...The United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon yesterday urged rebel leaders to allow trapped civilians to move freely out of the conflict area, and pointedly reminded the Sri Lankan government of its responsibility to protect civilians.

The army has rejected all calls for a ceasefire but has not explained how it can fight the surviving Tigers without causing massive civilian casualties.

Since February the Sri Lankan Army has besieged the Tigers in a shrinking area of jungle and coconut plantation.

Conditions have steadily worsened. In the last fortnight supplies of food and medicine have run low. Medical facilities are primitive, and most families have no shelter except plastic sheeting as monsoon rains lash down.

Traumatised Tamils live in fear of new crackdown in Sri Lanka by Annie Kelly, guardian.co.uk April 5, 2009

The Sri Lankan army is on the verge of wiping out the rebel Tamil Tiger forces. But, as Annie Kelly reports, there is concern that the displaced civilian population is suffering a fresh wave of human rights violations including arbitrary arrests and abductions

...The wave of disappearances and arbitrary arrests has led a host of human rights organisations to sound the alarm. Chris Chapman, conflict prevention officer at Minority Rights International, said: "We are extremely concerned about the situation faced by minorities in Sri Lanka's conflict area. Apart from the humanitarian catastrophe in the battle zone, there is also evidence of rising incidents of human rights violations.

"We are getting reports of arbitrary arrests, abductions and disappearances among Tamils fleeing the fighting. These violations are also happening in other parts of the country. Whatever the military outcome is, we see no evidence that this pattern of human rights violations will stop.

"There needs to be serious international pressure on the Sri Lankan government to put in place a human rights mechanism to ensure that the large number of incidents of abductions and enforced disappearances in the north and east are stopped and the perpetrators brought to justice."

Anna Neistat, senior emergency co-ordinator at Human Rights Watch, said: "This isn't about the conflict; it is about the government doing nothing to acknowledge the current human rights violations being committed against Tamil civilians. We are extremely concerned about the humanitarian crisis faced by thousands still trapped by fighting in the north, and these kinds of violations look set to continue. Continued intimidation of the independent press and human rights activists also continue unchecked."