"We call on the Sri Lankan government to put forward a proposal now to engage Tamils who do not espouse violence or terrorism, and to develop power sharing arrangements so that lasting peace and reconciliation can be achieved."

Yes. This is what I want to happen. I want to see the Sri Lankan government put down for negotiation a proposal that is broad enough to include the kind of constitutional changes required to include the aspirations of all minorities - be they minorities on account of their ethnicity, systems of belief, sexuality or gender - and recognize and defend their rights so that Sri Lanka becomes an island where everyone is free from all forms of discrimination, harassment, violence, torture and murder to lead the kinds of lives they choose as long as they do not harm others or their environment.

I want the freedom and opportunity to participate through the democratic process in the negotiation of such a democratic solution and I want to be able to participate in such negotiations without having to suffer the fear of being disappeared in a white van, assaulted by Mervyns fascist goons or assassinated by Gothabayas canine(K9) pack. Give me this freedom and together with those who believe in democracy I will build a Sri Lanka where there is peace, where there is law and order, where human rights are accepted, respected and defended and where Fascists like Mahinda, Gothabhaya, Basil, Sarath, keheliya, mervyn, Champika and Piraphakaran are given short shrift and entertained not in the portals of democratic power but are put away in jail.

Oh! and by the way. I would like an inquiry into who gave the government of Sri Lanka thermobaric weapons for use on the Sri Lankan Tamil people. Someone out there and close to the Sri Lankan government has genocidal intent on their minds and blood on their hands. Such nations do not belong in the human community and they must be punished for their evil actions.

If Sri Lankan Sinhalese government permits foreign monitors to visit war zone, they will get caught with their pants down.
:-)

Has the US Govt.found a peacful solution to the Afganistan and Iraq crisis?At least the US Govt.Is willing to have a discussion with Iran Leaders?It is very is to give an advices to the others.

Dear Mr. Robert Wood

When dealing with purveyors of terror it is dangerous and counter productive to have double standards.

1. If the use of a human shield is shown to be a successful strategy in saving the LTTE terror outfit in Sri Lanka wont it encourage other Terror organizations from adopting the same strategy?

2. If subsequently Osama Bin Laden uses a human shield to protect himself and his followers, will the USA follow her own advice to Sri Lanka and stop ALL military operations against Bin Laden, as long as he holds the civilians hostage? No Drone attacks, no commando raids and simply put no military attempt to secure the release of the civilian hostages and capture Osama?

3. Keeping in mind that Osama is capable of holding even a million civilians hostage, will the world's strongest military passively wait as bystanders or will they use the full might of the military to capture Osama and his gang? If so, can the USA give an undertaking to the world that it has the military and technical capability to ensure ZERO civilian casualties?

4. During World War 2, ALL Japanese civilians on US soil were rounded up an interned in barbed wired camps with armed guards. There were no exceptions and even US citizens of Japanese origin were so interned. These people were deprived of their freedom just because of their race. In stark contrast to the above, in Sri Lanka, ONLY the civilians arriving from uncleared areas are detained for screening to prevent infiltration by the LTTE and no other Tamils are interned in camps just because they happen to belong to the Tamil race. The need for such internment in the USA was to ensure the security of the majority. The need in Sri Lanka is no different. If International humanitarian standards were to be judged by the living conditions and treatment provided to the Japanese by the world's richest country, this poor third world country called Sri Lanka provides much higher standards in the IDP camps.

5. USA embarked on a Global war on terror because 3000+ of her citizens were killed by a terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. In contrast Sri Lanka had lost 70,000 of her citizens and incalculable human and economic losses that almost brought her economy to a halt. The man directly responsible for these colossal losses to this little country is now holed up in an 18.2 Sq Km patch of land surrounded by the Sri Lankan Military and covering behind Tamil Civilians. Do we allow him or any of his top lieutenants to slip out to create more mayhem and take the lives of another 100,000 in the future? This country has sacrificed enough. We have suffered 25 times more deaths than what USA suffered on 9/11

6. The Sri Lankan Government nor its military has any desire to kill its own people. If this was the case, Prabahkaran and his brigands would have either been captured or killed within a single day inside the 18.2 sq km he is now holed in. The ONLY thing preventing this is the concern for our own population held as a human shield.

7. The SL Government stopped offensive actions for two 48 hour periods with the hope that the LTTE would allow the civilians who want to move to cleared areas to move. This did not happen. In fact it had a negative affect as the movement of civilians came down to a trickle. When the offensives recommenced civilians started to move into govt areas in large numbers. What does this indicate?

8. Halting offensive operations at this point in time allows the LTTE the freedom to mine the land and build earthen dams using forced civilian labor as they don't have to deal with the military. Starting offensive operations ties down the LTTE with the military and gives more freedom for the civilians to escape as the LTTE wont have sufficient manpower available to prevent the exodus.

9. When talking of political solutions, please remember that President Chandrika offered the combined Eastern and Northern provinces to Prabahkaran to administer for TEN years without any election or referendum. This offer was summarily rejected by the then powerful Prabahkaran and the LTTE. Today he has neither the North nor the East.

10. Diplomacy was tried many times. Two 48 hour humanitarian pauses yielded negative results. Appeals by your government, the UN and others to the LTTE yielded nothing. It is no secret that the LTTE is shooting the civilians trying to escape. Heavy guns have been located in the NFZ, amongst civilians, by the LTTE. I believe that nobody is naive enough to believe that these guns are not fired from the NFZ at the Army and even at the civilians to blame the army.

So how does anyone use diplomacy when the LTTE is adamant in holding on to the civilians till the cows come home. History has shown that they understand only a show of force. The best way out is to help the Sri Lankan Government with military intelligence and the necessary equipment to bring this hostage crisis to a swift end with zero civilian casualties.

Dear Dayan,

I mean Dear Diplomacy,

So you noticed that the military intelligence has stopped flowing. Sarath cannot move a finger without the eye in the sky and he knows it. I guess he has woken up to the reality that all these victories on the part of the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army were due to that flow of military intelligence. I doubt that the thug will wake up to the fact that we are being well used by big birds bosses or whether Piraphakaran ever will. And should that military intelligence start flowing to the LTTE there will be trouble.

Tell your friends Mahinda, Gothabhaya, Basil, Sarath, Keheliya, Mervyn and Champika that its time to come up with a political package for the Tamils. Piraphakaran will be looked after.

Dear Crazyoldmansl,

Typical LTTE fanatical reply,

There are 10 points raised and addressed to the US Government because that country is advocating a humanitarian pause that proved to be non productive for 96 hours.

The subject matter of my letter is a point for point reply to the contents of the US Government's statement.

I expected a rebuttal of the points raised not rantings running off at a tangent. If you believe that the Sri Lankan Military does not have sufficient capability to take out your hero having blood of 70.000+ (of ALL ethnicities and all ages, including the unborn) on his hands, please look back towards Mavil Aru where it all started.

If you believe that the USA will provide the LTTE with military intelligence, think again. I would call that a crazy idea what would you call it?

It looks like Dayan Jayatilake has become a thorn under your skin and I hope many more Dayans appear so that you will have more thorns to deal with. I for one is glad I have overnight become a thorn under your skin. The biggest accolade you have given me is to compare my maiden effort at refuting the LTTE propaganda to that of the learned doctor.

By the way ....that eye in the sky... which has become the bane of the LTTE is OWNED and operated by the SL Air force.

The greatest obstacle for peace is the intransigence displayed by people like you.

Good luck with your day dreaming.

Dear Mr. Robert Wood,

Today the Sri Lankan forces succesfuly liberated over 35,000 Tamil civilians from the clutches of the LTTE.

The LTTE reaction was to send 3 suicide bombers who exploded themselves amongst the Tamil civilians killing at least 17 of them including women and children. They have also fired heavy weapons at the fleeing Tamil civilians.

I believe your envoy in Sri Lanka witnessed real time aerial footage of this exodus, the bravery and selflessness of the SL forces, during the evacuation of the injured Tamil civilians (by LTTE fire) from the "No Fire Zone". The government has released this footage to the public via the Internet.

http://www.defence.lk/videos/20090420_Rescue.wmv

The LTTE and its supporters were crying genocide and if not for this timely intervention it would have been a genocide, engineered by the LTTE itself, to make it possible for its henchmen overseas to cry "genocide" by the SL forces.

Fortunately, our Government did not give in to external pressure as we have lived nearly three decades having to sacrifice 70,000 lives and called upon to deal with an oppressive cost of living, directly caused by the LTTE and its supporters overseas.

Today's result would have shown that the advise given by your government was ill advised and that the government of Sri Lanka took the correct decision after all.

Please help our government to look after these Tamil civilians and to safely resettle them in their original villages.