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| Sri Lanka |
| U.N. Chief Calls Sri Lanka War Zone 'Very Sobering' |
| 2009-05-24 |
| MANIK FARMS, Sri Lanka, May 23 -- Night after night, with heavy shelling over their farming village, Krishma Lela and his family did what they could to survive: They dug a trench out of the red earth and huddled inside. They moved only among a network of bunkers, made by hundreds of other Tamil villagers trying to avoid being caught in the crossfire between the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels during the last days of fighting in a quarter-century-long civil war that came to an apparent end Monday. "We were so afraid," said Lela, a rice farmer who had made it to Manik Farms, a hastily erected camp now housing 200,000 people. "Sometimes at night my wife screams out. Her mind can't rest. She thinks like she's still inside the trenches, hiding." Their story and others like it emerged Saturday as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon toured the biggest displacement camp for Tamil civilians and flew over the ravaged northeastern coastal villages, where the final battles were fought. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 UN says "Sobering" eh? I guess he is finally admitting they were sh*tfaced drunk regarding their original "treat the terrorists nice" plan. Guess what? Wars suck. People die, and stuff gets blown up. That's why sane people don't start them, and the only way for sane people to end them is utterly destroying the insane ones who start things liek that. And before the leftys start hollaring about Bush, the Iraq war was just a continuation of the 91 war Saddam started and Bush Sr refused to let us finish completely. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-05-24 22:08 |
| #10 The conspiracy continues! |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2009-05-24 19:57 |
| #9 Here's an ignorant question - are our intelsats good enough to track trajectories of artillery fire over a given period of time? You are correct. It is an ignorant question. We here at HQ expect our other Divisions to know these things. Or, if they do not, at least direct their question to HQ and not the "General Public"! We have decided to close your Division and reassign the staff...except for you of course, We know you will understand. That is all. |
| Posted by: Haliburton - Head Quarters Division 2009-05-24 18:25 |
| #8 Parabellum - I'm with you noticing the emphasis on "deep craters". It makes the authors sound like six year olds with Tonkas in the sandox. I'd be very interested in the Rantburg expert opinion on these reports. There are craters and then there are "craters". There is passing reference to the LTTE setting off their ammo dumps, and these would certainly produce "craters", which an untrained reporter (i.e. anyone) would notice. But I'm much more suspicious of the conclusions involving artillery - it's simply a leap to go from mortar fire to heavier stuff to ammo dumps, and lay it all out as a "war crime" by the SLA. Here's an ignorant question - are our intelsats good enough to track trajectories of artillery fire over a given period of time? Could there be a chart of times and distances of such fire? That would be several degrees of proof better than after action helicopter flybys. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2009-05-24 11:17 |
| #7 Yet another failure of the "free" press to do anything other than deliberately misinform the public. Reports like this should be hunted down ruthlessly, and brought to justice for their crimes (rope, tree or s simple .22 to the back of their heads) |
| Posted by: Slath the Full Bosomed8290 2009-05-24 11:07 |
| #6 the earth was also marked by deep craters -- believed to be from bombs Gee, ya think? |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-05-24 08:23 |
| #5 You notice that not once during the entire article are the Tigers' brutality mentioned. To an alien who just landed from Mars, it would appear that the LTTE and SL government were two sides of the same coin. This is, in fact, a trope or narrative, and journalists will harp on it even when (especially when) it's not true. One side was firing on civilians, and the other side was doing its best to save them, but try telling that to the Associated Press. They'd instantly mentally reject the idea, much like suggesting to a mandarin that the peasants all be taught to read. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-05-24 07:33 |
| #4 You just did. ;-) But at least in your paragraph it makes sense. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-05-24 01:43 |
| #3 Sober and UN are not two words I would put in the same paragraph. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-05-24 01:39 |
| #2 gorb, of course not. Ban's chief job is moral preening and passing judgments. Since the LTTE were not part of an organized army in uniforms, to Ban they are civilians. Killing civilians is bad. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-05-24 00:46 |
| #1 Good thing the LTTE selflessly capitulated when it became apparent that their supporters were starting to suffer than if they had to live under oppressive Sri Lankan rule. /sarc Deep question: Will Ban get it? |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-05-24 00:31 |