An open letter to President Barack Obama
From Ven. Walpola Piyananda,
Chief Sangha Nayake of America,
Los Angeles, California
Dear President Obama,
  It is with grave disappointment in your administration’s current
position on the Government of Sri Lanka that I write this open letter to
you. On one hand you applaud Sri Lanka for being the only country on
earth that has successfully defeated terrorism –and on the other hand
your State Department allows itself to be influenced by backers of the
very same defeated terrorists, the LTTE.
It was announced that your administration will join Great Britain in
backing the UNHCR’s resolution to investigate the deaths of “tens of
thousands” of innocent Tamil civilians during the civil war that ended
in May of 2009. The resolution says that if Sri Lanka won’t investigate
itself, then it will force an outside investigation. Your representative
in Geneva will vote on this resolution some time this week, and I wish
to inform you that by doing so, sends decidedly mixed messages to the
world – particularly to the nearly 1 million Sri Lankan Americans that
have – up until now – primarily supported you and your Democratic Party,
and are and have been decidedly against the LTTE terrorists.
The Government of Sri Lanka conducted an internal inquiry called the
Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission. I was asked to testify
before this Commission and to submit a report. The Commission completed
its task in mid December, and now it is the end of February. I have seen
no comments by anyone in the US State Department about this report, and
I wonder if it was even read. It seems that the UNHCR would have
thoroughly digested this report before so quickly condemning Sri Lanka
for not implementing it – as if it could implement it in its entirety in
so short a time. I know for certain that it is implementing it in every
aspect now, but it will take time to complete, and I urge some patience.
First of all, the idea that there were “tens of thousands” of deaths
of innocent Tamil civilians is preposterous. When the North and East of
Sri Lanka were liberated, the LTTE had over 300,000 captive Tamil
civilians that they used as human shields. In one day our Armed Forces
liberated 97,000 Tamil civilians. More than 200,000 were liberated in
subsequent days. The amount of casualties was miniscule compared to the
sacrifice the terrorists were willing to make, which was the
annihilation of 300,000 of their own people. The Government of Sri Lanka
should be applauded for its humanitarian treatment of the refugees, and
not be accused of murdering “tens of thousands” of them. I know that you
depend on your diplomats on the ground for your information, but in this
case, Mr. President, your diplomats were not only misinformed, but
misdirected as well. In my official capacity as an advisor to the
President of Sri Lanka I was made privy to a great deal of information
about the crucial last days of the civil war, and I can assure you that
your diplomats had an agenda of their own, and the information they gave
you was tainted by their bias.
The remnants of the disappointed and defeated Tamil diaspora have
financed a massive on-going public relations campaign against the
Government of Sri Lanka and its high officials. This has been an
on-going program for over four years. Former United States Deputy
Attorney General Bruce Fein, a lobbyist and journalist, has been paid
“tens of thousands” of dollars – if not “hundreds of thousands” of
dollars – by Tamil groups to poison your mind and the minds of all
residents of North America. I say “North America” because Mr. Fein has
been active in Canada as well – particularly in the area of raising
funds from Tamils to pay his monthly retainers.
The United States and Sri Lanka have had cordial relations for over
150 years – trade relations and otherwise. One of Sri Lanka’s greatest
heroes, Col. Henry S. Olcott, was an American Army officer that served
on the inquest into Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Col. Olcott served
Sri Lanka in many ways, many of which led to Sri Lanka’s independence
from Britain in 1948. A statue of Col. Olcott stands in all of the main
cities of our country. We have always admired the Americans and the
American people, and many of our finest and brightest young people have
been sent to be educated in America over the years. I might add that
more were sent off to America during the LTTE war than at other times –
mostly because it was safer in America than in the home country. Please
don’t forget that for thirty years Sri Lankans lived in terror of the
suicide bomb that might go off any place, at any time. Also, kindly
don’t forget that the LTTE organization invented the suicide bomb;
terrorist extremists in the Middle East learned the technique from them.
Sri Lanka’s admiration for America, however, is beginning to wane,
Mr. President, due to the constant onslaught of your diplomats and their
false accusations about Sri Lanka’s inhumane conduct during the same
terrorist war. What you are effectively doing, Mr. President, is forcing
the Sri Lankan Government and the Sri Lankan people to leave your camp –
and you are pushing them into the arms of your rivals. Is this what you
want? Please keep in mind that Sri Lanka is and always will be a
strategically placed island in the Indian Ocean – directly on the main
sea routes between Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. In
actuality, America – and all other countries in these regions – cannot
avoid Sri Lanka. How you deal with Sri Lanka is up to you.
I arrived in America on July 4, 1976 – right in the middle of the
Bicentennial celebration. I was one of the first Buddhist monks to
immigrate to this country, and I became a US citizen in 1989.
I have always been a Democrat, as are, I believe, most of the 15
million American Buddhists that are scattered across our great nation.
Since Sri Lanka is 80% Buddhist, the American Buddhists, being sensitive
to issues that involve harassing other Buddhists, may not find favour
with you or the Democratic Party this coming November.
One of the things the Buddha taught us, Mr. President, is to
investigate, investigate, investigate – and then investigate again. This
pertains to our teachings, teachers, general information, and especially
our own minds, which are oftentimes deceiving. I believe that if the US
had investigated its information – and its sources – regarding Sri Lanka
and the “tens of thousands” of murders it reportedly committed – then I
think you would have found it flawed. As a result, the pending UN
resolution would never have arisen, and US/Sri Lanka relations would be
in harmony.
I urge you to not sign this UN resolution, Mr. President. It would be
a mistake that you and many would regret.
To isolate a small country like Sri Lanka for effectively taking care
of its own internal security problems would put America in a
questionable – if not unfavourable – light by a great many other small
countries around the globe. Please reconsider.
Respectfully,
Ven. Walpola Piyananda |
