Oh those Americans!

US soldiers from Viper Company (Bravo), 1-26 Infantry listen as First Sergeant Victor Rivera (unseen) speaks during a formation at Combat Outpost (COP) Sabari in Khost province in the east of Afghanistan on June 23, 2011. President Barack Obama June 22, ordered all 33,000 US surge troops home from Afghanistan by next summer, declared the beginning of the end of the war and vowed to turn to 'nation building' at home. - Getty Images

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(July 01, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I read with much interest the article ‘A World Overwhelmed by Western Hypocrisy’ by Paul Craig Roberts who is reported to have been an editor of the Wall Street Journal and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

I was reminded of Gordon Weiss, the former UN spokesman in Sri Lanka.

As usual, I read the article through my Australian experience. Mr. Roberts for example says ‘One would think that if law any longer had any meaning in Western civilization, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, indeed, the entire Bush/Cheney regime, as well as Tony Blair and Bush’s other co-conspirators, would be standing before the International Criminal Court.’

The name that sprung to my mind was that of our Australian Prime Minister - Mr. John Howard – who ‘happened’ to be present in Washington during the 9/11 attack. That to me was a manifestation of Truth I knew about Mr. Howard – that he was part of the reason why 9/11 happened. I wrote on the basis of my own painful experiences, to Mr. Howard when he was Prime Minister of Australia – that I foresaw Australian deaths the way Sri Lankan deaths were happening – if we did not strongly invest in elimination of Racial Discrimination. In addition, I as a lay litigant, took Mr. Howard to Court. Mr. Howard hired barristers to defend himself and lost in the Court of Natural Justice. The Truth known to me was that Mr. Howard’s investment in Racial Equality through the principles on which our Racial Discrimination Act 1975 is constructed was far below mine and hence in that issue I was the governor and he the citizen being disciplined. Mr. Howard was not humble enough to become a facility through which a citizen could manifest her Truth.

I forewent my earned opportunities to sue my employers –the University of NSW. Mr. Howard as Prime Minister was at the top of that list. As per my knowledge and assessment neither Mr. Paul Craig Roberts nor Mr. Gordon Weiss sacrificed their earned opportunities in that system to criticize their employers. To me they were part of that very system that they are now criticizing. They are, if they grew beyond their true levels of earned status and received more pay than an ordinary citizen doing the same work. People in Public Service often get paid for ‘seniority’. Those positions carry that element and unless Truth were more valuable than that status – the occupier is part of that system with all its wrongs. The leaders become immune as individuals when they step out of that system. Their immunity needs to be respected at equal level as these above officers’ freedom once they step out of those systems.

Mr. Roberts says ‘In a June 27 interview on National Public Radio, Ban Ki-moon, Washington’s South Korean puppet installed as the Secretary General of the United Nations, was unable to answer why the UN and the US tolerate the slaughter of unarmed civilians in Bahrain, but support the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Gadaffi for defending Libya against armed rebellion. Gadaffi has killed far fewer people than the US, UK, or the Saudis in Bahrain. Indeed, NATO and the Americans have killed more Libyans than has Gadaffi. The difference is that the US has a naval base in Bahrain, but not in Libya’

The thought that came to my mind from within was that ‘ Sri Lankan Government which also does not have authority over a US naval base (mental or physical) is also not currently being favored by the West’. Which American Official – ex or current - has of her/his own free will used her/his status to help either side of the Sri Lankan war? Such Americans are true allies of Sri Lankans. Most others are investing for their own selfish reasons and hence their return karma. To the extent that selfishness is within the Common Structures, Laws and Processes – they would not damage either side nor would they suffer as individuals. Once they exceed those limits, they risk damaging themselves as individuals. Hence it is important for ex officials to express through Common systems their own Truth and no more. I express/ed through Racial Discrimination Act 1975 here in Australia and the UN’s International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination – at the Global level. Once we step out of family / institutional systems – we are protected only by Truth. At the level of criticizing Heads of States and Heads of Global Structures – that Truth needs to be deeply felt.

As Gandhi said ‘To give service to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayers’

Each one of needs to seek at the level of our True earnings. Belief is true investment and renders us natural authority. Americans seem to have difficulty believing in their own laws and principles. They need to reconcile their customary values to their national laws or take their places at their earned levels as investors in processes / prayers, unless they believe in the values that those laws would lead to – for example racial equality. Even a single act of service to the needy through Common Processes would bring wholesome satisfaction at our truly earned levels. As per my observations of American Politics – most Americans are led to think and desire more than their earned benefits – especially in terms of ‘status’. They are the parallels of the Brahmins in India and Vellelar / Farmers in Northern Sri Lanka about whom Reporter Pearl Thevanayagam says ‘Tamils used the caste system to enslave least 75 percent of the Tamil population by obtaining their services virtually free based on their belonging to the servile class’

Be it Americans or Tamils used to slavery - no one escapes their own Karma. As Lord Buddha said - when it does not belong to the ‘other’ side which other side is a truly ‘free’ person – it comes back to the sender. When Americans seek through their Truth they will find their own answers and the wars would not really affect them adversely.