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Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - 5.21 GMT |
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US report not
comprehensive;
US should support SL, not interfere – WT |
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The Rapp
report
is not
comprehensive,
more a
list of
allegations
than a
fully
documented
indictment
and
America
should
support
the Sri
Lankan
government
or 'keep
its nose
out' of
Colombo's
business,
stressed
the
Washington
Times in
its
editorial
today
(28).
Last
week,
Stephen
Rapp,
U.S.
Ambassador-At-Large
for war
crimes
issues,
filed a
report
to
Congress
on
incidents
during
the
recent
conflict
in Sri
Lanka.
Most of
the
offences
listed
are
either
directly
attributable
to the
Tamil
Tigers,
such as
forcibly
recruiting
children
to fight
for
them, or
the
consequence
of
terrorist
activities,
reported
WT.
The tone
of moral
equivalence
in the
Rapp and
Goldstone
reports
is most
objectionable.
War is
by its
nature
violent,
complex
and
tragic.
Rules
exist to
mitigate
war's
suffering
but can
never
eliminate
it.
Terrorist
groups
like the
Tamil
Tigers,
Hamas
and al
Qaeda do
not
consider
themselves
bound by
the
rules of
war and
violate
them as
a matter
of
doctrine
by
targeting
non-combatants,
using
civilians
as human
shields,
torturing
and
executing
prisoners,
and by
using
hospitals
and
religious
sites as
headquarters
and
sniper
platforms.
Any war
against
such an
enemy
will
impose a
degree
of
tragedy
on
people
who
under
other
circumstances
would be
spared
war's
horrors.
But this
is part
of the
terrorist
tool
kit, and
reports
such as
these
play
into
their
hands.
By
placing
the
terrorists'
systematic
offences
against
human
dignity
on par
with the
unintentional
or
otherwise
regrettable
actions
of the
regime
trying
to
defeat
them,
such
reports
level a
moral
playing
field
that by
rights
the
terrorists
have no
right
even to
set foot
on,
insisted
WT.
The WT
stressed
that Mr.
Leahy --
Sen.
Patrick
J.
Leahy,
the
Vermont
Democrat
whose
subcommittee
on the
State
Department
and
foreign
operations
requested
the
report,
should
control
his zeal
to
pursue
what he
views as
justice
in Sri
Lanka.
Any
objective
comparison
of Sri
Lanka's
war
against
the
Tamil
Tigers
or
Israel's
offensive
against
Hamas to
America's
struggle
against
al Qaeda
would
cast the
United
States
in the
same
light,
and
elevate
our
enemies
to a
status
they do
not
deserve.
It hands
the
enemies
of
freedom
unearned
victories
even as
they are
being
defeated,
WT
further
stated.
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