Lasting Peace in Sri Lanka

John MacKinnon

February 18, Wednesday 2009

Dear Mr. Thomas Fuller of the New York Times,

Hello and hope you are doing fine. Thank you for contacting me. I read your article ‘Sri Lankan War Nears End, but Peace Remains Distant’ on NY Times Feb. 17, 2009. Please share my note with Somini Sengupta.

I found it to be interesting in many ways and would like to provide you with some feedback since them Sri Lankans are extremely sensitive about how this state of affairs is presented by the press. Such sensitivity is to be expected when so many media outlets have published false LTTE propaganda. I can’t even begin to tell you how many letters I had to write asking the media not to publish LTTE-supplied fictional stories as news. The same terror propaganda was fed to our senior Senator from Massachusetts Mr. John Kerry, the current Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Even today, according to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence, the LTTE Web site Tamilnet forged images. The UK-based BBC is frequently misled by these terrorists thus causing concern. Upon pressure by the LTTE Terrorists in the UK, the BBC ignored a massive anti-LTTE rally held in London, thus violating ethics of journalism.

Many Sri Lankan’s who really care about this beautiful island truly believes that this terror force is supported by the west because of our corrupt nature. And there is plenty of evidence to prove that, unfortunately. Allow me to present one example: we found several pieces of evidence including the fact that our own Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is influenced by front organizations for the LTTE Terrorists right here in the States. I Googled “Hillary Clinton LTTE Terrorist” and found some interesting articles including the one that exposed her presidential campaign to have accepted funds from TRO. Please Google “Hillary Clinton LTTE Terrorist TRO” for more. As you know, the TRO was banned by the US Treasury Department recently for funding terrorists. They have been funding terror for the last 25 years. The fact that it took us 25 years to realize the truth is a real heart-breaker. That is so painful and should we ask why it took so long? As I write this, the TRO operates openly in Europe collecting funds for the LTTE Terrorists. As a professional, I will be fired from my job if I missed something so obvious but our politicians and allies are rarely held responsible. Where is fairness?

Then Mrs. Clinton went to London and called for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka with the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband. It is well known that ceasefires don’t work with the Tamil Tiger Terrorists because they have never honored any in the past. A ceasefire will allow the LTTE Terrorists to recruit more children, rearm and return with more terror attacks on civilians. Are we to believe that the Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary care about what happens to the civilians? Really? While the LTTE continue to amass weapons and military capabilities during the ceasefire? Ay, caramba!

How can we fix long-term problems in Sri Lanka when we can’t even see the obvious truth behind terror? What should we tell the poor survivors/relatives of the victims of 9/11 attacks if we decide to have a ceasefire with the Taliban/al-Qaeda and ignore the terror attacks in our country, and worse let Bin laden go free? How will we feel if the Islamic terrorists celebrated suicide bombers in London like the LTTE Terrorists do? Let us not forget the Golden Rule here: “Do not do unto others what you would not want them do unto you”.

As you know, India has helped terrorists operate on Indian soil and launch deadly attacks against its neighbors. When the LTTE Terrorists were in their infancy in the 1980′s, the first terrorist training camps were based in Tamil Nadu, India. Weapons to arm this viscous terror group were supplied by Tamils living there and funded by Tamils worldwide, mostly through the narcotics trade and extortion. The Indian government headed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the state of Tamil Nadu did nothing to stop this. Later, Indira Gandhi’s only surviving son, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE while campaigning in the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu. You may Google for “Rajiv Gandhi assassination LTTE”. Would it surprise you that Tamil political parties in India helped the LTTE Terrorists with this assassination? Later, the LTTE training camps were moved to Sri Lanka while logistical and political support for terror remained in Tamil Nadu. Today, this Tamil homeland in India is used extensively as an illegal arms smuggling base to terrorists in Sri Lanka by the Tamils and is a hive for ethnic hatred. In October, 2008, the LTTE Terrorists thanked the Tamil Nadu politicians in India for their attempts to spread false propaganda to stop the military campaign to liberate LTTE held areas. Then our former President Bush went on to share nuclear technology with India. Hence is it possible that when India becomes our enemy in the future, they can use that same nuclear technology we gave them to attack us? How can we forget Saddam Hussein of Iraq? We supported him with CIA intelligence during the Iran-Iraq war. Then he turned on us. So we invaded Iraq, made a huge mess and executed him and his children. I really hope we Americans wise up a bit before it’s too late.

Just today, the Union government of India making a rare statement in the Lok Sabha critical of the LTTE asked the Tamil Tiger Terrorists to lay down arms and release the hostages. No such call from the UK Foreign Secretary, US Secretary of State, Amnesty International of London, Human Rights Watch of New York, Canada, Norway or the Tamil Nadu politicians who care so much about the civilians trapped in the war zone. How come? Here’s a hint: according the Jane’s Defense Intelligence Review the LTTE Terrorists generated about $ 200 to 300 million annually in the west for their brutal war. This money buys a lot of things. We all need to put food on the table, right?

Now I would like to savor in the victories of a democracy against terrorists, if you don’t mind. There were plenty who kept saying that the Tamil Tiger Terrorists are invincible and they will always prevail in keeping their terror-held areas. The Sri Lankan armed forces proved them wrong in a short period of time with an unbelievably low amount of civilian casualties. This is an excellent example of how care for human life, determination and patriotism can achieve the impossible. Now we hear so many saying that peace will be hard to achieve for all kinds of reasons. May I pursue a more optimistic path by saying that Sri Lanka will achieve lasting peace with or without us internationals messing around or the support of terrorists? Remember, the LTTE Terrorists will always be lying to the media, funding terror in the west and going on a killing spree no matter what you give them. Trust me on this one: that will never change. They are as greedy as the CEOs we see here in the US. So what do you do with such misguided individuals? I have never heard of a drug addict cured by pumping more drugs.

I am writing this to convince you to expand your perspective and also explore why terrorism flourishes in the world while we continue to claim the moral high ground here in the US and Europe. Please consider taking a look at this letter to the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee published here: http://www.island.lk/2009/02/13/features3.html
I hope it is OK with you if I share these comments with the White House and gracious editor of Lanka Web. You should visit the site http://www.lankaweb.com when your busy schedule permits.

Best regards,
John MacKinnon

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items09/190209-11.html