“If Gotabhaya is really a US citizen, instead of trying to harass him, the US government should send him a special invitation and give him a hero's welcome by rolling out the red carpet. For, he is the only American to have led a successful war for the past so many decades!”
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By Prabath Sahabandu
(November 04, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The US government remains tight-lipped on an 'interview' the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sought with Chief of Defence Staff and former Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who is currently in the US. The State Department (SD) has claimed it has no knowledge of the DHS move. One is intrigued! If the SD is unaware of a vital decision another US government agency across the street has taken in respect of a UN member State, how come it claims to have any knowledge of what it terms possible 'war crimes' alleged to have been committed on a battlefield tens of thousands of kilometres away?
It has been established that the DHS's objective is to ferret out some information from Gen. Fonseka to be used against Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry has rightly pointed out that the US government must not seek access to 'privileged information' Gen. Fonseka may have of Sri Lanka's national security in his official capacity as CDS as well as former Army Commander. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama for once hit the nail on the head, when he said on Monday, as we reported yesterday, that the US could not use Gen. Fonseka's Green Card, which was a mere visa arrangement, as an instrument to elicit any information from him about Sri Lanka.
Even if Gen. Fonseka were a fully-fledged US citizen, it would still be wrong for the US government to try to obtain any information with a view to using it against the government of Sri Lanka. The US has made a fundamental mistake by trying to use a Green Card holder against a foreign government. In so doing, it has made each and every US citizen look a spy in the eyes of foreign governments as well as foreign organisations including terrorist outfits.
When Barack Obama was elected President, even the worst critics of the US thought the world would have a less arrogant America under the new political dispensation. But, the Obama administration has proved to be worse than the Bush regime, which, in spite of all its failings, did not choose to pander to the whims and fancies of terrorists and their fronts, especially those proscribed in the US.
The US may enjoy the luxury of bullying small nations by virtue of its military might and economic prowess while shamelessly pontificating to the world about democracy and equality, but with the top bureaucrats at the helm of its State Department, it needs no enemies; they are furthering the interests of terror backers on some flimsy pretext. How they are mishandling Sri Lanka's successful war on terrorism is a case in point.
The State Department worthies have turned a Nelsonian eye to the fact that the defeat of the LTTE has eliminated scourges such as forcible child conscription, political assassinations, massacres of civilians, bombing of civilian targets, extortion, kangaroo trials, turning men and women into human bombs, gun running, drug trafficking and a host of other criminal activities which posed a grave threat not only to this country but the whole world. The death blow Sri Lanka delivered to the LTTE's narcotics trade has benefited children not only here but also in New Delhi, Washington, London and other places. Hadn't the LTTE leadership been wiped out, this country, especially the people of the North and the East, would still have been plagued by the curse of terrorism and the State Department would have had to update its reports on the LTTE's crimes year in and year out. Now that the US has embarked on a witch hunt against Sri Lanka, no small country would want to battle terrorism with might and main for fear of being victimised by the world powers. What better service could terrorists the world over ask from the US?
Before trying to frame Gotabhaya et al by taking the advantage of their Green Cards or US citizenship, the US government must deal with other US citizens who openly aided and abetted war crimes committed by the LTTE, which are well documented in the State Department reports. As regards, US citizens backing terrorism, two prominent names come to mind: Fein and Rudrakumar. Would the US government care to get the Department of Homeland Security to 'interview' those terror backers on the LTTE network and its illegal activities on the US soil? We bet our bottom dollar that the Obama administration will not dare to do so. It does not want to open a can of worms for itself by undertaking to investigate the likes of Rajaratnam, who has contributed generously to the Democratic Party and its bigwigs. There is nothing called a free lunch, eh?
If Gotabhaya is really a US citizen, instead of trying to harass him, the US government should send him a special invitation and give him a hero's welcome by rolling out the red carpet. For, he is the only American to have led a successful war for the past so many decades!
(The writer, Chief Editor, the ‘The Island’, daily news paper based in Colombo, where this piece appears. He can be reached at prabhath@unl.upali.lk. )-Sri Lanka Guardian
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Yes I do agree. I think Patton Bog should complain about all US citizens supports LTTE which is a ban terrorist group in USA. There were many US citizens conducted demonstrations in front of white house to save LTTE leader. I think it is the time to complain about those to INS.
It is funny when US quiz an officer of a democratic country, which was devastated from terror for 30 years. It was not a war against any group or community, just a war against terrorism. If they try to blame SL government on war casualties who is responsible for the death of thousands of innocent Iraq’s and Afghans. This is pure stupidity of Obama and Hillary regime
It is funny when US quiz an officer of a democratic country, which was devastated from terror for 30 years. It was not a war against any group or community, just a war against terrorism. If they try to blame SL government on war casualties who is responsible for the death of thousands of innocent Iraq’s and Afghans. This is pure stupidity of Obama and Hillary regime
A brilliant piece of journalism. If Home Land Security is so concerned to interview General Fonseka to implicate the government of Sri Lanka, they also should investigate all the LTTE supporters who are domiciled in the US for a long time. Tamil Net is operated from the US, and there is a huge block of LTTE supporters in Boston, New York and California. Then US government allowed over 60 bus loads of Tamils to find their way to Washington to demonstrate in support of LTTE, a banned organization in the US. Rudrakumar and Rajaratnam are two of the most prominent operatives along with Bruce Fein who represented them for supporting a banned terrorist outfit in the US, if they are talking seriously.
Well if Sarath Fonseka & Gotabhaya Rajapaksa are US citizen, they will have to face the US laws and therefore cannot be governed by SL law. Find herewith an extract of article which relates to former Liberian President Charles Taylor's son who was heading the Anti Terrorist Unit in Liberia where he had to face charges on torture etc. Therefore they will have to face the same fate for killing innocent civilians under the pretext of humanitarian rescue mission during the latter part of the war in Wanni. You can hide the true facts to some majority SL (Sinhalese), but dont try to fool the world all the time.
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Thought the commentators would like to be elightned on U.S. laws ... below are parts of an article ... "Today’s verdict in the US trial of Charles 'Chuckie' Taylor, Jr. for torture committed in Liberia is a significant step to ensure that victims see justice and that perpetrators do not expect sanctuary in the United States, Human Rights Watch said. The jury in the trial, which has been taking place at a Miami federal court since September 29, found the defendant guilty on all counts today.............Chuckie Taylor is the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is on trial for war crimes by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. Chuckie Taylor was charged with torture and conspiracy to commit torture between 1997 and 2003 while he headed Liberia's notorious Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) during his father's presidency........The Taylor case is the first brought under a 14-year-old federal law that allows the United States to bring charges against a person accused of torture abroad if the accused is in the United States or is an American citizen (18 USC § 2340A)...........Taylor, Jr., an American citizen born in Massachusetts, was taken into custody on March 30, 2006, while trying to enter the United States from Trinidad.......On December 6, 2006, the day before his sentencing, he was indicted on torture charges."
Posted By: Dilip
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