A Puzzle: When Weiss, Amnesty International and Aussie Greens LIE

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, where the title is  “Moral Crusader Journeys into Duplicity”

Today’s world in the West is marked by currents of secular fundamentalism mounting campaigns against paedophiles, smoking, corruption and “crimes against humanity”.  The humanitarian campaign directed at war crimes has on occasions promoted a strange phenomenon: where people of ethical stance indulge in outright lies as well as the massaging of facts. When Amnesty International, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (Sydney) and such moral crusaders as Gordon Weiss descend to such duplicity, the world must surely take note.

MILNE on SL Christine Milne on Sri Lankawww.youtube.com = Pic 1

The Australian media-man Gordon Weiss is the epitome of a moral crusader. Of Polish Jewish ancestry, it is likely that his leanings are coloured by the horrors inflicted on the Jews in Europe during the first half of the 20th century. His presentation of self within his own web site, his intense demeanour when fronting the public on TV cameras or stage and his campaign against the government of Sri Lanka (GSL) stand as testimony to the stance “crusader for truth.”

He was the Media Officer for the United Nations and located in Colombo during the last phase of the Eelam War IV. In early May 2009, assisted by his friendship with Ravi Nessman of Associated Press, he went on world air through AP to assert that a “bloodbath” was about to unfold in the north-eastern war zone. This presentation was part of a campaign led by USA to force the government of Sri Lanka (GSL) to arrest its military operations so that the Western cabal could (a) save the Tamil civilians and (b) whisk the LTTE leadership to Eritrea, South Africa or East Timor. Witness the public statement by Under-Secretary of State Michael Owens in Washington at about the same time, the scathing attack on GSL by Hilary Clinton on 22nd April 2009, KP’s revelations to Jeyaraj (2011) and Salter’s To End a Civil War (2015).

cropped-Weiss-blogheader2 Weiss in his own presentation of self-Pic 2

8-sri-lanka-weiss in s-leader WEISS

The public interventions by Clinton, Nessman and Weiss are revealing because they occurred after the SL Army special forces penetrated the “Last Redoubt” of the Tigers on the eastern coastal strip abutting Nandhi Kadal Lagoon (NKL) in a remarkable operation launched on the 18th/19th night in April, “one of the most fascinating surgical military operations ever undertaken” according to Shashikumar, an Indian defence analyst. Between the 19th and 23rd April some 103,000 Tamil civilians and Tiger fighters who had discarded their weapons streamed across the NKL to safety in government terrain (Pics 3, 4, 5 & Map 6).

A video grab shows thousands of people the military said fled an area held controlled by the Tamil Tiger separatists in northeastern Sri Lanka on April 20, 2009. REUTERS/SLRC via Reuters TV

A video grab shows thousands of people the military said fled an area held controlled by the Tamil Tiger separatists in northeastern Sri Lanka on April 20, 2009. REUTERS/SLRC via Reuters TV

102b -- april 2009 exodus  102a-out of NKL Pics 3, 4 & 5

100--Analytic MAP--24_April_2009_dailymirror.lkMap 6

This process, including clear daytime scenes, was seen on live footage from UAVs by privileged diplomats and reporters at the operation room of the SLAF in Slave Island, Colombo on Monday the 20th April. This remarkable relief operation was not interpreted as such by the international world. Clinton’s tirade marked a different picture, supported by lamentations in other quarters such as The Economist of 23rd April 2009.

Since then Weiss has been among those peddling this reading. Like the US government his criticisms have embraced the LTTE, but then concentrated heavily on “war crimes” and other misdemeanours on the part of GSL.

One spearhead in this programme has been a battery of UN functionaries in the service of the Western cabal. The “UN Panel of Experts” appointed by Navy Pillai served as the battering ram in this campaign in a report presented in March 2011. An examination of this document by a Marga team concluded that its methodology was slipshod and that it did not proceed like a judicial board, but worked as a prosecution team seeking prima facie evidence for a trial. However, Marga is a tiny outfit in a tiny island. Its inputs are simply drowned out in the gargantuan international world of power.

Gordon Weiss has been one force in these power-games. Located in Sydney and associated with radical-liberal media and academic agencies in that metropolis, he has reached far and wide in a campaign that describes the Sri Lankan war in ways that renders GSL the prime target. His presentation at the Edinburgh Literary Festival was reworked in print form as “Sri Lanka’s Srebenica Moment.” This provided a specific slant supplementing a general survey in The Cage (2011) – a book that is widely available.

Amongst many claims, The Cage asserts: “[w]hile the Tamil Tigers preserved the Vanni Tamils as a human shield, the Sri Lankan government deliberately denied the besieged population food, medicine, shelter and medical and (sic) aid personnel” (p. 196). On the 16th October 2014 Weiss repeated this particular charge at a panel discussion organized by the University of Queensland (UQ), one which featured Emily Howie of Amnesty International and a leading SL Tamil activist, Dr. Sam Pari.

Earlier in 2014 Weiss had been part of a committee of five which compiled a large document entitled Island of Impunity? Investigation into International Crimes in the Final Stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War for the Public Advocacy Centre in Sydney. This instrument served as the foundation for an address in the Senate by Christine Milne, Leader of the Australian Greens Party, on 11th February 2014. Inter alia Milne accused the Sri Lankan government of preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the trapped populace.

This was an outrageous lie. It catered to the Western world’s ignorance about the basic political manoeuvres in the island which had led GSL from 1990 onwards to treat the de facto state of Thamilīlam as an “uncleared area” where the state officials were paid by Colombo but took orders from the LTTE, while stocks of essential supplies (barring items of military value) were despatched regularly to Tigerland. This was a massive operation financed by international goodwill as well as GSL monies and serviced by Western governments, INGOs and NGOs working in coordination with GSL functionaries.

After Eelam War IV commenced in October 2006, a Consultative Committee on Humanitarian Assistance chaired by a Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe including leading ambassadors, the Chairman of the NGOs Committee, the Director of the World Food Programme and a government official in charge of essential services among others, was set up to coordinate these activities.

To service this activity a logistics hub was located at Vavuniya in government-controlled territory just south of the southern border of Thamilīlam (Pics 7, 8 & 9). In late 2008 the Medical Superintendent in Kilinochchi and other Tamil officials in Tiger territory showed commendable foresight in stockpiling medical supplies and refrigerators for an anticipated emergency down the track.

Vavuniya logisitcs hub Pic 7

UN TRUCK CONVOY Picture2Pic 8 & 9

When land convoys conveying supplies (e. g. basic foods and medicines) to the war theatre were not feasible after late January 2009, the ICRC chartered commercial ships that were escorted to the coastal front by the SL Navy. At least 31 voyages occurred between early February and 9th May. From that land-and-water war front, the ICRC ships also evacuated injured and sick (selected by the LTTE): at least 13,794 men, women and children were evacuated to Pulmoddai or Trincomalee (Pics 10-13).

96-02_04_09_supplies_02  94-Mulli-vaaykkaal_22 Pics 10-11 – ICRC supplies & medivac evacuations-Pics from TamilNet

97b--SLnavy and escape by sea 02 95a--SLNAVY SUCCOUR 08 Pics 12 +13Evacuvees or escapees landingat Pulmoddai-Pics from sL Navy site Picture1

As UN Media Officer, Weiss would have been cognisant of such activities. In describing the inhumane impact of SL Army shelling in late January 2009 witnessed by UN officials in a chapter entitled “Convoy 11” in The Cage, Weiss inadvertently tells us that ten other convoys had taken supplies to Thamilīlam earlier.

So, his subsequent accounts amount to a work of duplicity. Christine Milne bought into this duplicity and even expanded on this act by coupling GSL with the LTTE in her charge of child-conscription:

“During the armed conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, human rights abuses and violations of international law were widespread. It is alleged that in the final years of the conflict war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by both government forces and the LTTE …. overwhelmingly the evidence gathered suggests the vast majority of crimes were committed by the Sri Lankan security forces. This includes allegations of attacks in and around civilian areas; restriction of civilian movement; denial of humanitarian assistance; killing, conscripting and enlisting of children; rape and sexual violence; torture and cruel treatment and enforced disappearances.”

While embracing the LTTE in such accusations, the international circuit has taken advantage of the absence of any surviving Tiger leaders to focus on members of the GSL as the sole target of judicial action. The main charge here is not the alleged failure to provide aid, but gross exaggerations of the number of civilians killed. In circumstances where Tiger fighters did not wear uniforms the UNPoE’s reference to the credible possibility that there “could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths” became a definitive figure of 40,000 killed in media reportage throughout the world. Amnesty International adopted this figure as fact and did not alter its internet presentation when the error was pointed out. Emily Howie’s presence at the Queensland media event was in line with the slant adopted by this leading agency for ethical action.

In pinpointing such cardinal errors in the facts surrounding Eelam War IV, I am clearly participating in the propaganda war surrounding the topic. Whatever the leanings attributed to my writings, I wish readers to focus here on an issue that fascinates me: how is it that people of ethical stance such as Gordon Weiss indulge in such chicanery? Can we conclude that the target of criticism becomes more important than the facts?  and that there are none so blind than persons of fervour glued to one horizon?

***  ***

For fuller clarifications of some of the images and map deployed here, please consult Michael Roberts: Tamil Person and State. Pictorial, Colombo Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2014, ISBN 978-955-665-231-4 …. 293 pp

      SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Anonymous 2009b “Dark victory”, Economist.com, http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13527366

Gamage, Daya 2014 The American Agenda for Sri Lanka’s National Issues, 1970s-2014,” 5 July 2014, http://thuppahis.com/2014/07/05/the-american-agenda-for-sri-lankas-national-issues-1970s-2014/

Gamage, Daya 2016 “Clinton E-Mail Scandal: Never wanted Sri Lanka LTTE defeated,” Asian Tribune, 27 May 2016

Govt Film Unit [SL] 2014 “Last Days at Nandikadal,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kEzLEafDss ORhttps://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/148fce36b9866525?projector=1

Harshula 2011 “When allegations become evidence,” 6 June 2011, http://groundviews.org/2011/06/06/when-allegations-become-evidence/

Hull, C. Bryson 2009 “Sri Lanka opens eye in the sky on war zone,” 20 April 2009, http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSCOL450259

ICEP 2014 Island of Impunity? Investigation into International Crimes committed during the Final Stage ages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Sydney: Public Interest Advocacy Centre Ltd, http://www.piac.asn.au/sites/default/files/publications/extras/island_of_impunity.pdf

Jeyaraj, D. B. S. 2009a “Wretched of the Wanni Earth break Free of Bondage,” http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/380 and Daily Mirror, 25 April 2009.

Jeyaraj, D. B. S. 2010 “KP speaks out ~ 2 – An interview with the former LTTE chief,” 13 August 2010, http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/1631

Jeyaraj, DBS 2011 “KP” Speaks Out, Vavuniya: NERDO.

Marga 2011 An Analysis and Evaluation of The Report of the Advisory Panel to the UNSG in the Final Stages of the War in Sri Lanka, https://www.dropbox.com/ s/0eybj1ynej6spaa/ The%20Darusman%20Report-%20Final%20doc-2.doc

Milne, Christine 2014 “Christine Milne speaks on Human Rights Abuses in Sri Lanka,” 11 Feb 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OXs4UA5WLo

Presidential Task Force 2011 Sri Lanka‟s Humanitarian Effort, pdf 20 pp

Reddy, B. Muralidhar 2009d “An Escape from Hellhole,” http://www.hindu.com/ 2009/04/25/stories/2009042558390100.html.

Reddy, Muralidhar 2009e “Final Assault. A first-hand account of the war and the civilians’ plight as Eelam War almost comes to a close,” Frontline, 26/11, May 23-June 5, 2009, http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=archive.

Reddy, Muralidhar 2009f “Final Hours. An eye-witness account of the last 70 hours of Eelam War IV,” Frontline, 26/12, 6-19 June 2009, http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2612/stories/20090619261200900.htm

Roberts, Michael 2009 “Realities of War,” Frontline, May 2009, Vol 26: 10. 

Roberts, Michael 2011 “Amnesty International reveals its Flawed Tunnel-Vision in Sri Lanka in 2009,” 10 Aug. 2011,https://thuppahis.com/2011/08/10/amnesty-international-reveals-its-flawed-tunnel-vision-on-sri-lanka-in-2009/

Roberts, Michael 2011 “Simpletons at the World’s Peak: Sri Lankan Situation stumps the World,” in Roberts, Fire and Storm, Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, pp.  291-302.

Roberts, M. 2013 “BBC-Blind: Misreading the Tamil Tiger Strategy of International Blackmail, 2008-13,” http://thuppahis.com/2013/12/08/bbc-blind-misreading-the-tamil-tiger-strategy-of-international-blackmail-2008-13/#more-11221

Roberts, Michael 2014 “Medical Administration and Relief within the Vanni Pocket, January to mid-May 2009,” 1 July 2014, http://groundviews.org/2014/01/07/medical-administration-and-relief-within-the-vanni-pocket-january-to-mid-may-2009/

Roberts, Michael 2015 “The Realities of Eelam War IV,” 27 October 2015, https://thuppahis.com/2015/10/27/the-realities-of-eelam-war-iv/

Roberts, Michael 2016 “Reuters in Word and Image: Depicting the Penetration of the LTTE’s Last Redoubt, 19-22 April 2009,” 19 March 2016, https://thuppahis.com/2016/03/19/reuters-in-word-and-image-depicting-the-penetration-of-the-lttes-last-redoubt-19-22-april-2009/#more-20190

Salter, Mark 2015 To End a Civil War, London: Hurst and Company.

Sengupta, S. 2009 “U.S. Faults Sri Lanka on Civilian Woes,” 22 April 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/world/asia/23lanka.html?_r=0

Shanmugarajah, V. 2014 Dr. Veerakanthipillai Shanmugarajah’s Affidavit Description of Conditions in the Vanni Pocket in Refutation of Channel Four,” 5 January 2014, https://thuppahis.com/2014/01/05/drveerakanthipillai-shanmugarajahs-affidavit-description-of-conditionsin-the-vanni-pocket-in-refutation-of-channel-four/

Shashikumar, V. K. 2014  “Lessons from Sri Lanka’s War,” Indian Defence Review. 19 November 2014, http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/lessons-from-the-war-in-sri-lanka/

UN Panel of Experts 2011 “Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka,” http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/POE_Report

Weiss, Gordon 2011 “Sri Lanka faces its ‘Srebrenica Moment’,” 23 April 2011, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/sri-lanka-faces-its-srebrenica-moment/story-e6frg6ux-1226043466322

Weiss, Gordon 2011 The Cage, Sydney: Picador.

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Filed under accountability, australian media, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, doctoring evidence, historical interpretation, human rights, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, mass conscription, military strategy, NGOs, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

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