Bruce Fein debunks Patton-Boggs "white paper" on Sri Lanka

Fein debunks Patton-Boggs "white paper" on Sri Lanka
[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 April 2009, 21:52 GMT]

Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General and counsel for a Washington-based Tamil activist group, responding to a "white paper" on the current situation in Sri Lanka written and distributed to the media by Patton Boggs LLP, the Washington Law firm retained by the Government of Sri Lanka for advocacy work in the U.S., said, the "[p]aper is a collection of lies or misrepresentations calculated to conceal the ongoing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes perpetrated against Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s armed forces," and "fails to discredit a single one of the more than 1,000 genocidal incidents marshaled in the model genocide indictment."

* Patton Boggs: White paper on Sri Lanka

* Bruce Fein responds

Fein adds that Patton Boggs paper "omits any reference to the ongoing Srebrenica-like genocidal Tamil killings, maimings, and concentration camps by the GOSL in the northeast, and adds, "[i]ts sophomoric deceits challenge the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda’s most favorable spin on Auschwitz."

Fein identifies the "10 most blatant lies or misrepresentations" in his lengthy critique, a summary of which is given below.

A Ten-point Response

No


Patton-Boggs


Fein's Comment

1


The 26-year conflict with the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is about to end


The Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL has been employing violence and intimidation amount to genocide against its Tamil civilian population since its birth in 1948, a span of 61 years. The GOSL-Patton Boggs boast about the imminent defeat of the LTTE is reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq speech on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003. Six years later, the United States military mission remains unaccomplished in Iraq. Similarly, the Sinhalese Buddhist conflict with the Tamils is unlikely to end even if the Sri Lankan Army runs victory laps around the so-called “safe zone.” The conflict will assume a new form because the underlying savage oppression of the Tamil people will have remained unaddressed. Indeed, the Tamil diaspora is now at its high water mark of unity against the GOSL.

2


The Sri Lankan government is beginning the process of reconciliation


The GOSL is detaining 50,000 Tamil civilians in barbed-wire, militarily controlled concentration camps with no freedom of movement or access to the ICRC and vulnerable to rape, disappearances, and murder by the Sri Lankan Army. The ongoing genocide of Tamils by the GOSL as amplified hereafter is compounding the difficulties of reconciliation.

3


Its 170,000 strong army will soon become available for more UN peace-keeping missions around the world and to help to maintain regional security.


On November 2, 2007, the United Nations ejected 108 of Sri Lanka’s 950 purported peacekeepers from Haiti for sexual exploitation. The GOSL lied to the United Nations about prosecuting the sexual predators in its armed forces.

4


The State Department reports that there have been human rights abuses on both sides, but there has been no genocide, as Tamils in leadership positions in their community will attest


The evidence of genocide is overwhelming. A sample of the grisly proof is provided as Exhibit 1. It includes some of the following statements from neutral, independent observers, including United Nations officials, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Sri Lanka’s U.S. citizen and Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

5


On February 12th, the government declared a 10-mile ‘safe zone’ for civilians.


: The ‘safe zone’ is an Orwellian euphemism for a Tamil killing field. According to the best independent and impartial reporting, the GOSL is daily bombing and shelling the zone. Since January 2009, approximately 3,500-4,000 have been killed, and 10,000 seriously wounded.

6


The government has permitted access to the zone for UN officials and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) so that they may assist in providing essential services to displaced persons


The GOSL is blocking access to Tamil civilians to deny them humanitarian assistance. Not only does it refuse to grant humanitarian aid workers access to the conflict zone, there are reports that it also shells civilians and hospitals in the so-called “safe zone” for Tamil citizens. Descriptions of government camps for civilians fortunate enough to leave the conflict zone reminded us of detention centers, rather than safe havens for refugees.

7


“[President Rajapaksa] said every restraint is being maintained by the military, with clear orders given against firing heavy weapons at areas with civilians, including the areas held by the LTTE. He reiterated that no firing whatsoever was being carried out in the safe zone.


President Rajapaksa has directed the Sri Lankan military to commit war crimes against Tamil civilians in the safe zone or otherwise. "The Sri Lankan forces have committed numerous indiscriminate and perhaps disproportionate attacks consisting of artillery bombardment and aerial bombing. These include attacks on the government-proclaimed “safe zones” and on clearly marked hospitals. Statements by senior officials indicating that civilians who do not leave LTTE-controlled areas are subject to attack are indicative of an intent to commit war crimes.” Dr. Anna Neistat, HRW

8


Many Tamils are in the present government


There are no Tamils in the military or security forces, just as Adolph Hitler’s Waffen SS and Gestapo were purged of Jews. The GOSL has assassinated 4 Tamil MPs in recent years. Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, it would be criminal for a Tamil politician to discuss the idea of a separate Tamil state. The Tamils who serve in the GOSL are quislings.

9


Allegations by American lawyer Bruce Fein that the government has committed genocide are flatly denied by Tamil leaders themselves, including the Army’s senior legal adviser for humanitarian law and human rights, Major-General Mohanti Peiris, a Tamil woman


None of the more than 1,000 genocidal incidents compiled by Bruce Fein in a 1,000-page, 12-count, model genocide indictment of United States citizen and GOSL Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and United States permanent resident and GOSL Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, which has been presented to the United States Attorney General and the United States Secretary of State, have been refuted by Ms. Mohanti Peiris, other Tamils, or any representative or agent of the GOSL, including Patton Boggs.

10


The government has already recruited Tamil leaders to help the Tamil population integrate into the general society


The Tamil recruits, Karuna and Pillayan, headed paramilitary units acting as agents of the GOSL to perpetrate countless war crimes and genocidal killings of Tamils, including the recruitment of Tamil child soldiers. Karuna has served prison time in Great Britain for the lesser crime of document fraud. The two Tamils are the very definition of quisling.

end:

How naive can Patton Boggs be to claim that 170,000 army will be available for UN Peace Keeping duties.
This is a blatant lie.

SLA is busy recruiting tens of thousands of new teenage recruits to replace the dead and injured army soldiers. Even if they win the conventional war, the army has to be getting ready for a massive guerrilla war nationwide.
Despite the Jaffna peninsula being under army control for 14 years the SLA has 50,000 stationed permanently there. In the Vanni they would need 100,000 soldiers, for the 4 districts on a permanent basis to face the guerrilla war fare as well as continue the repression and oppression. - T4J