Malcom Bruce , Liberal Democratic member of the delegation of British parliamentarians who visited the Sri Lankan IDP camps , on his return praised the Sri Lankan government for doing an extremely good job under pressure to shelter 135,000 Tamil civilians who escaped areas held by the terrorists and called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a group of terrorists who killed their own people.
Interviewed by Edward Strouton for BBC’s Today (Radio 4) Bruce who has been the Chair of the International Development Select Committee since 2005 in the House of Commons said, “We have got credible evidence that the civilians were threatened and shot at “ by the terrorists of the LTTE not to leave the war ravaged area that prevented them from leaving since they were with children.
When Strouton asked why he was referring to “Tamil Tiger rebels” in a “loaded” statement as ‘terrorists’ the experienced parliamentarian to indicate they are terrorists in deed said they have killed Tamil politicians in and out of the government and they have got credible evidence the LTTE have threatened and shot at civilians preventing them from escaping until the Sri Lanka Army assisted them to escape.
The only concern about the camps were that the authorities did not get down UN agencies fast enough to assist the camps and help themselves.
He said one cannot blame Sri Lanka for trying to get rid of terrorism from the country as “until you rid terrorism you cannot build a united Sri Lanka.”
Malcom Bruce said they got the opportunity of visiting the Northern IDP camps of where the Sri Lankan government was trying to accommodate a sudden inflow of 135,000 civilians escaping from the areas held by the terrorists. He said an unknown number between 10,000 and 100,000 are still trapped in between the security forces and the LTTE as hostages. The Sri Lankan security forces are trying to find ways of taking the terrorists with the least collateral damage to the civilians, he said.
RETURNING FROM SRI LANKA LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC MP PRAISES THE GOVERNMENT FOR DOING A GOOD JOB OF SHELTERING THE IDP’S AND CALLS LTTE A BUNCH OF TERRORIST
ON KILLING CIVILIANS HILARY CLINTON TOLD BY SAUDI NEWS PAPER:SLAUGHTERING CIVILIANS AND THEN APOLOGIZING IS CONTEMPTIBLE
Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton who tells that she is concerned about civilians in Sri Lanka has come under heavy fire from newspapers around the globe for simply saying sorry and doing nothing else after Americans killed of over 100 Afghan civilians including children.
Saudi Arabia’s leading newspaper The Arab News Said in an editorial, “stop killing and start caring about ordinary Afghans. Slaughtering them and then apologizing is contemptible.”
The newspaper reminded Clinton that her contemptible apologies are mere words but shattered bodies of men, women and children by the American drones speak more eloquently. The following is the full editorial:
“It is simply not good enough for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “deeply” regret the slaying this week of over 100 innocent Afghan civilians, including some 20 children, near Farah in western Afghanistan . Nor is it acceptable for American commanders to repeat the mantra that they do everything in their power to minimize euphemistically named “collateral damage” — i.e. killing ordinary people who have nothing to do with the Taleban.
“These are just words. The shattered bodies of men, women and children speak so much more eloquently. When citizens of Farah protested angrily yesterday, they were yelling for the Americans to quit their country and showering stones at government buildings. Who can blame them? Whether their fury actually will now translate into support for the Taleban cannot be assumed. This is still a country with bitter memories of Taleban rule. But by calling on the US and by extension NATO forces to get out, it is clear that their willingness to cooperate with the foreigners to help check the insurgency has been sharply reduced, if not destroyed.
“Unfortunately, this sort of terrible incident has happened so many times before. US forces by and large seem incapable of fighting high-tech wars in low-tech countries. It happened in Vietnam , then in Somalia and most recently in Iraq . It is happening again now in Afghanistan and along the Pakistan border, where highly sophisticated armed drones have inflicted high civilian casualties though Americans say they are targeting the Taleban and Al-Qaeda insurgents.
“It is simply inadequate to claim the men they are aiming at hide themselves amidst innocent civilians. That is the argument the Israelis used to bludgeon defenseless Palestinians in Gaza to the horror of the rest of the world. The plain fact is that if there is ever a choice between not firing and letting a target escape or firing and killing other people as well as the enemy, that choice has always to be not to fire. Insurgents cannot hide all the time in civilian communities. They must at some point break away to launch their attacks. It is then and only then that the US should be engaging them. The technology is there in the form of satellites that can read auto number plates from far out in space and watching unmanned drones that can circle slowly for hours on end. Even if the insurgents try to disguise themselves, their weapons can be spotted by these flying cameras.
“So if they have the means to target only the enemy, why is it that the Americans continue to make so many deadly errors? With so much advanced equipment, it can only be incompetence or deeply inadequate rules of engagement or worse an uncaring and undisciplined approach by those whose pushing of a button can cause death and maiming to scores of blameless people. If Washington really wants to check the Taleban and facilitate a negotiated peace, it has to stop killing and start caring about ordinary Afghans. Slaughtering them and then apologizing is contemptible
Saudi Arabia’s leading newspaper The Arab News Said in an editorial, “stop killing and start caring about ordinary Afghans. Slaughtering them and then apologizing is contemptible.”
The newspaper reminded Clinton that her contemptible apologies are mere words but shattered bodies of men, women and children by the American drones speak more eloquently. The following is the full editorial:
“It is simply not good enough for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “deeply” regret the slaying this week of over 100 innocent Afghan civilians, including some 20 children, near Farah in western Afghanistan . Nor is it acceptable for American commanders to repeat the mantra that they do everything in their power to minimize euphemistically named “collateral damage” — i.e. killing ordinary people who have nothing to do with the Taleban.
“These are just words. The shattered bodies of men, women and children speak so much more eloquently. When citizens of Farah protested angrily yesterday, they were yelling for the Americans to quit their country and showering stones at government buildings. Who can blame them? Whether their fury actually will now translate into support for the Taleban cannot be assumed. This is still a country with bitter memories of Taleban rule. But by calling on the US and by extension NATO forces to get out, it is clear that their willingness to cooperate with the foreigners to help check the insurgency has been sharply reduced, if not destroyed.
“Unfortunately, this sort of terrible incident has happened so many times before. US forces by and large seem incapable of fighting high-tech wars in low-tech countries. It happened in Vietnam , then in Somalia and most recently in Iraq . It is happening again now in Afghanistan and along the Pakistan border, where highly sophisticated armed drones have inflicted high civilian casualties though Americans say they are targeting the Taleban and Al-Qaeda insurgents.
“It is simply inadequate to claim the men they are aiming at hide themselves amidst innocent civilians. That is the argument the Israelis used to bludgeon defenseless Palestinians in Gaza to the horror of the rest of the world. The plain fact is that if there is ever a choice between not firing and letting a target escape or firing and killing other people as well as the enemy, that choice has always to be not to fire. Insurgents cannot hide all the time in civilian communities. They must at some point break away to launch their attacks. It is then and only then that the US should be engaging them. The technology is there in the form of satellites that can read auto number plates from far out in space and watching unmanned drones that can circle slowly for hours on end. Even if the insurgents try to disguise themselves, their weapons can be spotted by these flying cameras.
“So if they have the means to target only the enemy, why is it that the Americans continue to make so many deadly errors? With so much advanced equipment, it can only be incompetence or deeply inadequate rules of engagement or worse an uncaring and undisciplined approach by those whose pushing of a button can cause death and maiming to scores of blameless people. If Washington really wants to check the Taleban and facilitate a negotiated peace, it has to stop killing and start caring about ordinary Afghans. Slaughtering them and then apologizing is contemptible
Sri Lanka arrests 3 UK TV journalists
Sri Lanka police say three journalists for London-based Channel-4 television news have been arrested on charges of tarnishing the image of the government security forces.
Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera says the trio were arrested in the eastern city of Trincomalee on Saturday and investigations are continuing.
Nick Paton Walsh, the channel's Asian correspondent told the Associated Press that he had been arrested along with producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper.
Speaking by telephone, Walsh said they were being driven to capital Colombo with police escort.
He said their arrest was connected to a report filed by them on the condition of camps for war refugees and some alleged sexual abuse in those camps earlier this week.
Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera says the trio were arrested in the eastern city of Trincomalee on Saturday and investigations are continuing.
Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera says the trio were arrested in the eastern city of Trincomalee on Saturday and investigations are continuing.Nick Paton Walsh, the channel's Asian correspondent told the Associated Press that he had been arrested along with producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper.
Speaking by telephone, Walsh said they were being driven to capital Colombo with police escort.
He said their arrest was connected to a report filed by them on the condition of camps for war refugees and some alleged sexual abuse in those camps earlier this week.