Seeing Iraqi men and women step forward to vote their beliefs - people who would most likely be tortured and killed in decades past for even expressing their opinions - is a touching picture indeed. And the election day violence itself was not horrific - for Iraq, of course.

A recent newsmagazine cover not only stated that Iraqi democracy had been finally won, but backed up the statement with that infamous picture of George W. Bush with the "Mission Accomplished" banner so shamelessly unfurled behind him on the Navy carrier.

So, if you are one who predicted that Iraq was a prime time foreign policy disaster - as I certainly did - perhaps it is time to move into gear into the newest chapter of the Iraq war book.

Unlike some famous, but unnamable, political figures who could not seem to decide whether they voted for the war or against it, for funding the war or for the war without funding it, or just for the Afghan war or for the Afghan war but only if it did or didn't go into Pakistan, yes, I was against it. And despite Sunday's moving elections, I remain against it.

When I spent considerable amounts of time in Iraq during the 1970s and '80s, I was driven close to madness by the silence of the people. I don't mean quietness of speech, or calmness of manner, or tranquility of mien. I mean utter, total, drear silence. Except for government interviews, no one would speak to you - at all. It was very much like the Soviet Union in those days, only more so.

Only once was I invited to a home. In this case, the home of a well-known and more or less government-approved writer. We all pretty much sat there for two hours, barely exchanging a sentence, while we wondered who would turn out to be the inevitable informer in our midst.

So for me, after we invaded Iraq, it seemed wondrous to see Iraqis actually SPEAK! But even that agreeable surprise was not enough. This war was, and is, still a mistake.

First, there were all the lies the American people were fed: Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction to be loosed soon upon the West! The neocon idea that Iraq would easily become a democracy and, even more than that, would then help democratize the entire Middle East. The presumption that we were "fighting al-Qaida there so we would not have to fight it at home."

These lies are as false today as they were yesterday. Saddam, a monster of magnitude, had boasted of such weapons only in order to terrify unfriendly and acquisitive neighbors like Iran. Nor is there any evidence whatsoever that these elections are having any influence on the rest of the region. And al-Qaida - was it ever in Iraq in any serious numbers?

Then there is the sheer cost of Iraq. One-idea fanatics like the American neocons don't bother their important little selves to think about the cost of their wars. Yet anyone else can rather easily figure out that these wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan have contributed decisively to our financial collapse - and will continue to.

The International Monetary Fund reported recently that at the turn of the 21st century, the United States was producing 32 percent of the world's gross domestic product, only to end the first decade producing 24 percent of the GDP. This marked the most dramatic decline in relative power of any nation in history except for the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War.

Add to this the degree to which the George W. Bush administration's and the neocons' obsession with going to war in Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11, deflected them from finding and defeating al-Qaida, the true authors of 9/11. If we fail in Afghanistan, there is little question that that failure will be due to our detouring through Baghdad and Basra to find al-Qaida Central.

New York Times writer Dexter Filkins reminisced recently in The New Republic about how we essentially threw Afghanistan away in the beginning with our obsession with defeating Saddam.

"It is useful, if a little sad," he wrote, "to recall just how complete the American-led victory was in the autumn of 2001. By December, the Taliban had vanished from Kabul, Kandahar, and much of the countryside. Afghans celebrated by flinging their turbans and dancing in the streets."

It is curious in America today - in a dramatic reversal of the parsimoniousness of our Founding Fathers - that we spend so little time thinking of what is valuable to us and what we can practically afford to do. Instead, we strike out in all directions, as if the Lord God Almighty had given us a Promised Land of Holy Credit Cards that will never come due.

And so, when something wrong goes somewhat right, like Sunday's elections in Iraq, we say, "Whew, it wasn't as bad as we thought," or, "Wow, we finally lucked out!" That's simply not enough for a great country like ours. 

China has emerged as Sri Lanka's biggest single lender in 2009, overtaking the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, the treasury said Wednesday, March 3.

China lent 1.2 billion dollars to build roads, a coal power project and a port in the island's south last year, more than half the total of 2.2 billion dollars in foreign aid in 2009.

Project loans accounted for 1.9 billion dollars of the total, with another 279.6 million dollars in grants, the treasury said ahead of the 2010 budget.

Western donors have curbed aid to Sri Lanka over human rights issues and the government's handling of the final weeks of a 37-year-old conflict with Tamil Tiger separatists, which ended last May.

The US has scaled back military assistance to Colombo, while Germany and Britain have pruned their aid to Sri Lanka. The European Union is also set to withdraw trade concessions to Sri Lanka from August.

As ties with allies in the West have soured, President Mahinda Rajapakse has deepened ties with Japan, India, China and Myanmar, as well as Iran.

"The government of China, Asian Development Bank and the World Bank were the three main donors who accounted for 1.9 billion dollars or 84.3 percent of the total commitment in 2009," the report said.

Japan and the Manila-based Asian Development Bank have in the past been the biggest lenders to the island.

The presence of Chinese in Sri Lanka owned island of Kachchatheevu, considered as a threat to the security of India, is confirmed by a group of journalists and social activists from Tamil Nadu.

More than thirty pre-fabricated structures with Chinese names were found on the island of Kachchatheevu located on the sea boundary between India and Sri Lanka by Tamil Nadu journalists and social activists who participated in the recent annual festival of Kachchatheevu St. Antony’s Church, according to Dinamalar, a Tamil Nadu daily.

The pre-fabricated structures, however, were unoccupied but evidence of people living in them was observed by the visiting journalists from Tamil Nadu who were not permitted to photograph them by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers. The presence of Chinese in the island of Kachchatheevu is seen as a threat to the security of India by its citizens, Dinamalar added.

Sri Lankan fishermen and the SLN soldiers to whom the journalists spoke during the festival confirmed that Chinese men who were staying in Kachchatheevu had been temporarily moved out due to the festival.

They were further told that a program of joint patrol surveillance training for SLN and Chinese navy soldiers is in progress in Kachchatheevu.

‘Attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen’, ‘Tamil Nadu fishermen chased off from Kachchatheevu by SLN’, ‘Chinese surveillance tower in Kachchaitheevu’, ‘China targeting India’ are some of the recent allegations raised by Tamil Nadu fishermen.

The allegation of a Chinese surveillance tower had caused quite a stir in India and when questions were raised Sri Lanka government had categorically denied any presence of Chinese in Kachchatheevu, the journalists said.

It was suggested that representatives from both countries should jointly investigate into the allegation visiting Kachchatheevu but it did not materialize due to reluctance of Sri Lanka, they added.

Hence, journalists and social activists from Tamil Nadu had participated in the festival with the aim of finding the true situation in Kachchaitheevu using the opportunity of visiting Kachchatheevu which is out of bounds for anyone.

Sri Lanka had permitted devotees from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu to attend the Kachchatheevu St. Antony’s Church festival this year after nearly 23 years.

The festival had not taken place from 1978 t0 2001 after which though important rituals were allowed until 2005, devotees were not permitted to take part in them.

Presenting her report to the annual session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay criticised Sri Lanka for failing to examine abuses committed during the civil war last year between the government forces and Tamil Tigers.

Human rights abuses in Sri Lanka are damaging prospects for reconciliation after 25 years of civil war, Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge, told the council.

“In Sri Lanka, the opportunity for peace and reconciliation continues to be marred by the treatment of journalists, human rights defenders and other critics of government”

Repeating her call for an independent investigation into war crimes allegations in Sri Lanka, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the U.N.'s Human Rights Council she was singling out outstanding cases in different countries.

"I am convinced that Sri Lanka should undertake a full reckoning of the grave violations committed by all sides during the war, and that the international community can be helpful in this regard," she said in a speech presenting her annual report.

Her comments on Sri Lanka and other states will reassure critics of the council who argue that the 47-member body often fails to deal with human rights violations as countries unite in regional alliances to shield each other from scrutiny.

Last May, the council held a special session on Sri Lanka just after the end of the war against the Tamil Tigers, but the government deflected criticism by introducing its own resolution praising its defeat of the separatist group, which was then passed.

Sri Lanka government maintains that there were no war crimes committed and says it will not allow any international investigations.

In an earlier interview with the BBC, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said he would not allow any such investigation as “there is no reason.”

Sri Lanka's president has rejected the decision by the UN Secretary General to constitute a experts panel to look into human rights abuses in the country's civil war calling it unprecedented and unwarranted and accused the world body  of interfering with the internal affairs of the  country, according to the president's office.

During a telephone conversation, on Thursday March4, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon informed Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa of his plans to ask a panel of experts to advise the world body on accountability in context of allegations of human rights violations and war crimes in Sri Lanka.

"President Mahinda Rajapaksa has pointed out that the intention of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to appoint a panel of experts to advice him on Sri Lanka is totally uncalled for and unwarranted," Rajapaksa's office said in a statement.

Interestingly, instead of denying any wrong doing, the statement by the president's office chose to cite no such action being taken by the world body about other states where military action has led to massive civilian death tolls.

"No such action had been taken about other states with continuing armed conflicts on a large scale, involving major humanitarian catastrophes and causing the deaths of large numbers of civilians due to military action." the statement read.

The statement from the president's office implicitly acknowledges large number of civilian deaths in its war against the Tamil Tigers. Previously the Sri Lankan government has maintained that civilian casualty due to its military action in the Northeast of the island was minimal.

Last month, a former United Nations official with detailed knowledge of events that unfolded in Sri Lanka in the final months of the war said Sri Lanka’s military massacred as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final onslaught against the Liberation Tigers in 2009.

“About 300,000 civilians, plus the Tamil Tiger forces, were trapped in an area of territory about the size of Central Park in New York,” said the former United Nations’ spokesperson in Sri Lanka, Gordon Weiss.

“They were within range of all the armaments that were being used, small and large, being used to smash the Tamil Tiger lines … the end result was that many thousands lost their lives.”

The statement from president's office further said: "the implementation of such an intention would certainly be perceived as an interference with the current general election campaign being held island wide."

"President Rajapaksa reiterated that any appointment of such a panel as intended would compel Sri Lanka to take necessary and appropriate action in that regard.", the statement further said.

It was not clear what these 'appropriate actions' would be. 

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Liberal Democrats Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey all addressed the Global Tamil Forum’s inaugural meeting in London on Wednesday, 24 February.

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) launch saw delegates from 14 countries gather in the UK House of Commons to be addressed by speakers from across the political spectrum, including parliamentarians, councilors and prospective parliamentary candidates.

The delegates were also able to hold a private meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Organisers described the event as “a momentous show of support for the Tamil Diaspora congregation” and expressed quiet satisfaction at the success of the launch.

The meeting, in the Gladstone Room of the House of Commons, began at 10am and concluded at 4pm, followed by a reception between 4pm and 6pm at the Terrace Cafeteria.

Among the guests were a Buddhist monk and an Islamic theologian, both of whom had travelled from Sri Lanka for the event. An African National Congress parliamentarian from South Africa, Sisa Njikelana, had flown to Britain especially for the event and was in the country for only 6 hours.

Messages had been sent to the organizers from Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister, David Miliband, British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, Leader of the British Conservative Party, William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary and Robert O. Blake, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

The event started with an introduction by Father S J Emmanuel, the president of GTF, who mentioned that it was appropriate that the launch was being held in the British parliament as the need for the GTF is a result of the decision by the British to give Sri Lanka independence 62 years ago.

The opening address was delivered by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband who hoped that GTF would contribute to a newfound peace that would serve the rights and hopes of the people of Sri Lanka.

The Liberal Democrats Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey stressed that he would be raising the issue of land rights with the Sri Lankan High Commission as it was not appropriate for the state to grab the land of the displaced.

The closing address was delivered by William Hague MP, Conservatives Shadow Foreign Secretary who called for the reconciliation and political process to begin in earnest soon.

Rev Ven. Madampagama Assaji Manayake Thero, a Sinhala Buddhist monk, and Mr Abdul Majeed Mohammed Casim, a Muslim theologian from Sri Lanka also attended the event and addressed the audience.

Among the dignitaries who addressed the event were Keith Vaz MP, Gareth Thomas MP, Simon Hughes MP, Andrew Dismore MP, Andrew Pelling MP, Susan Kramer MP, former MEP Robert Evans, Virendra Sharma MP, Joan Ryan MP, Dawn Butler MP, Siobhain McDonagh MP, David Burrows MP, Lee Scott MP, Stephen Pound MP and Andrew Pelling MP. A number of prospective parliamentary candidates also addressed the delegates.

Mr Andrew Thillainathan introduced the audience to a GTF project sponsoring 1000 children and 450 families in Sri Lanka who were suffering as a result of the war, while Dr Sampavi Parimalanathan spoke of the launch of the Global Tamil Women’s Forum (GTWF).

Robert O. Blake

Letter to GTF

During my tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, and since becoming Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, it has been a distinct honor to have had the opportunity to meet on a regular basis with Tamil-American community leaders – a number of whom are represented in London this week. I am pleased that the United States Government shares with its Tamil-American citizens the same hopes for peace and prosperity for all of Sri Lanka’s peoples.

As Tamil Diaspora leaders from around the world come together in London, my sincere hope remains that Sri Lanka Tamils and the global Diaspora can unify around a common position that explicitly rejects violence and recommends a sustained engagement, to the extent practicable, with the Government of Sri Lanka, and a commitment to re-join and strengthen Sri Lanka’s democratic process and institutions. The global Tamil Diaspora can and should play a critical role in national reconciliation in Sri Lanka, including, but not limited to, support for reconstruction in the North and East. The United States stands ready to partner with you and the Government of Sri Lanka to help ensure that Tamil-Americans have every opportunity to play such a role.

With best wishes for a successful Global Tamil Forum.

Dismissing the response by Colombo that Ban Ki Moon had not appointed panel of experts on other countries where there are "continuing armed conflicts on a large scale, involving major humanitarian catastrophes and causing the deaths of large numbers of civilians due to military action," as "simply untrue nonsense," Francis A. Boyle, professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, said that during the past year alone UN Human Rights Council had authorized Goldstone Commission investigation into Israel war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.

Noting that the "United Nations is just beginning to do the right thing for the Tamils," Prof Boyle urged that "Tamils around the world could do the same thing for establishing an International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka (ICTSL)."

"Of course this statement by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is simply untrue nonsense, and the GOSL knows it. During the past year alone the UN Human Rights Council authorized the so-called Goldstone Commission investigation into Israel war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against the besieged 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. The Goldstone Report ultimately found that Israel had indeed inflicted war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinians—just short of genocide," Boyle pointed out.

"Any appointment of such a panel as intended, would compel Sri Lanka to take necessary and appropriate action in that regard," Sri Lanka's President had told the UN Secretary General, local media in Colombo reported. The reports did not clarify what the "necessary and appropriate" actions are likely to be.

"The UN Human Rights Council has so far done the right thing for the Palestinians. Unfortunately, the GoSL was able to manipulate anti-Western sentiments there in order to block similar action by the Human Rights Council when it came to the investigation of the GoSL’s own international crimes against the Tamils. So now one year after the GoSL’s genocidal massacre against the Tamils, the United Nations is just beginning to do the right thing for the Tamils. But better late than never," Boyle added.

"I already have a proposal for the establishment of an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI) that is currently pending before the United Nations General Assembly," Professor Boyle pointed out, and added, "Tamils around the world could do the same thing for establishing an International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka (ICTSL). The UN General Assembly would have the power to establish an ICTSL as a “subsidiary organ” under U.N. Charter Article 22. That way, the concerned GoSL members (e.g., Rajapaksas, Fonseka, General Staff et al) could be held accountable for their international crimes against the Tamils without needing any prior reference by the U.N. Security Council to the International Criminal Court, which would be subject to a likely Great Power Veto—for example by China.

"But there is no veto in the U.N. General Assembly. We would just need a majority vote in the UN General Assembly to set up an ICTSL. Concerned Tamils around the world should contact their respective governments of current nationality or legal residence and ask them to sponsor my proposal for establishing an International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka by the United Nations General Assembly," Boyle said.

African National Congress

Letter to GTF

We are delighted to send this congratulatory message to the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) on its inaugural gathering.

Having resolves our past political, social and economic challenges in South Africa through dialogue, we firmly believe that willingness to engage, listen to views and ideas of fellow compatriots and the international community, will go a long way in finding a solution to Tamil concerns in Sri Lanka.

We are encouraged by the GTF’s commitment to a democratic and non-violent approach. As an umbrella organisation representing mass-based formations in many countries around the globe and in the Tamil Diaspora, may you grow from strength-to-strength in achieving your objectives by peaceful means.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers and dignitaries for honouring this historic occasion.

AMANDLA!

4,147 out of an estimated 6,000 to 6,500 eligible Eelam Tamil voters in Denmark participated in the referendum conducted by a third party professional institute on Sunday February 28 and 98.2 percent of them voted yes for the formation of independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the contiguous north and east of the island of Sri Lanka.

Denmark is the eighth country in the West where Eelam Tamils have overwhelmingly demonstrated their aspiration for independence through a series of referenda conducted among the diaspora.

Even though the population of Eelam Tamils in Denmark is relatively small, since their number is known with fair accuracy, the turn out and poll results are very significant in silencing detracting campaign against the very democratic process of Tamil referendum, diaspora circles said.

According to official statistics, 7,147 people of the origin of the island of Sri Lanka and over 18 years old, live in Denmark.

Between 500 and 700 of them are estimated to be Sinhalese who mostly live in the capital Copenhagen. Some Danish Tamils have migrated to other European countries in recent times.

Making allowances, eligible Eelam Tamil voters over 18 living across Denmark is estimated to be numbering between 6,000 and 6,500.

The participation of 63 to 69 percent of them in the referendum and 98 percent of them aspiring Tamil Eelam is a verifiable mandate, diaspora sources said.

TNS Gallup, a third party professional institute, specialised in sociological and public opinion research services, functioned as Election Managers in working out the voting system and monitoring.

The polling agency conducted the ballot deploying electronic devices and confidential registration to avoid any duplication, dispelling all doubts on the credibility of the democratic exercise.

After electronic registration each voter was given with a password by the third party presiding officer to vote yes, no or blank on the question displayed electronically. The polling agency said 98.2 percent voted yes, 0.5 percent voted no and 1.3 percent voted blank.

Taking the official figure 7,147 for all people from the island of Sri Lanka as the base for calculations, TNS Gallup put the turnout at 58 percent.

Initial poll analysis released by the polling agency showed that out of 33 centres across Denmark, the turnout in one centre at Skanderborg was 95 percent, in 13 centres it was over 70 percent, in 13 centres it was between 50 and 69 percent, 6 centres registered 30 to 49 percent and Copenhagen the Capital registered only 16 percent. According to Danish Tamil circles, the turnout pattern is related to the demographic distribution of Tamils and Sinhalese in Denmark.

Eelam Tamils have mandated independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the general elections in the island of Sri Lanka in 1977, when it was the election question put to them through the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of 1976 by all Tamil political parties of that time.

Referenda seeking re-mandate is now being conducted in the diaspora since last May and Eelam Tamils in Norway, France, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK and Denmark have so far re-mandated independence.

Eelam Tamils in the island are disenfranchised from expressing such a political aspiration by the constitution of Sri Lanka.

The re-mandate in the diaspora arises from the necessity to voice on behalf of the people brutally silenced and face genocide in the island, to lay the bearings for democratic political organization and to quell the 'vicious campaign' and assumption that aspiration for independence is only an LTTE agenda and Tamils no longer subscribe to it, said diaspora Tamil circles.

Two former war-crimes specialists were recently hired as consultants for Guinea's military junta after it was accused of massacring civilians -- and produced a secret report downplaying the violence, Foreign Policy has confirmed.

David M. Crane, the former U.N. prosecutor for the Special Court in Sierra Leone, and his chief investigator, Alan W. White, were once on the front lines of the international effort to hold war criminals accountable for their misdeeds, securing an indictment in 2003 against the former Liberian warlord and president Charles Taylor.

The two American war-crimes specialists, who now run a consulting firm called CW Group International, LLC, recently used their expertise on behalf of the government of Guinea's former military leader, Moussa Dadis Camara, who stands accused by a U.N. commission of inquiry of responsibility for the Sept. 28, 2009, murder and disappearances of more than 156 civilian protesters in the country's national soccer stadium.

CW Group signed an agreement with Guinea's military junta on Oct. 15, three weeks after the massacre, to "conduct a confidential investigation into recent allegations of shootings and sexual assaults, including gang rapes, that occurred on September 28, at the national stadium." The findings of the investigation were first published early this week by the newsletter Africa Confidential, but Turtle Bay has independently obtained a copy of the secret report and secured the first interviews with Crane and White.

The report confirms that an elite Guinean presidential guard -- known by their red berets -- opened fire on opposition demonstrators at the national soccer stadium, and sexually assaulted women inside and outside of the stadium. But the death toll -- 59 -- and the scale of the violence described by Crane and White, is lower than that described by international human rights investigators. The report also downplays the role of the Guinean leadership in the killings or the abduction of scores of civilians and makes no mention of a coverup of the crimes, which has been claimed by the U.N. commission and Human Rights Watch. "Simply stated it appears from the facts extant that a crime against humanity was not committed by government forces on September 28th," the report states.

On the contrary, CW cites the efforts of key military commanders to defuse the standoff and to protect the opposition leaders who had gathered in the national stadium to protest Camara's effort to run for president in 2010. CW places some of its greatest emphasis on criticizing the country's opposition movement, Le Forum Des Forces Vives, for carrying out its demonstration in defiance of President Camara's wishes.

The report places most responsibility on the unit's commander, Lt. Aboubacar Cherif Diakite (a.k.a. Lt. Toumba), noting that President Camara had instructed the military to stay out of the stadium. "Those military personnel who responded to the stadium were in violation of a direct order issued by President Camara," the report stated. Lt. Toumba later told Radio France International that he shot President  Camara in retaliation for seeking to place the blame for the killings on him. Toumba is in hiding and Camara is receiving medical treatment in Burkina Faso.

"The CW report is a dishonest and misleading report, and it is shameful that persons formerly associated with the Sierra Leone Special Tribunal authored it," according to an international human rights researcher who investigated the massacre. "It is absolutely clear that they ignored evidence that was widely available to them, both in terms of the scale of the atrocities and the responsibility for the massacre. Their motives in writing a white-wash report for the Guinean authorities have to be questioned."

Crane and White deny that their report was a white wash. But it stands in stark contrast to the U.N.'s investigation, which is based on nearly 700 interviews with witnesses and government officials and concluded that forces under the command of President Camara launched a "widespread and systematic attack" against the demonstrators, killing more than 100 civilians in the stadium, including 40 whose bodies have never been recovered. The U.N. report -- which said the assault constituted crimes against humanity -- says at least 109 women were sexually assaulted, including several who were held for days by soldiers in sexual slavery, and hundreds of others were tortured. The U.N. commission found that "there is a prima facie case that President Camara incurred direct criminal responsibility in the perpetration of crimes."

An investigation by Human Rights Watch echoed those findings, concluding that Guinea's military rulers unleashed a premeditated massacre of more than 150 people in an attempt to silence the political opposition. It also documented an effort by the Guinean military authorities to cover up the crimes.

Crane acknowledged in an interview with Turtle Bay that his firm carried out the investigation in order to assess what had taken place in the national stadium, but that the intent was not to clear Camara of responsibility. He also said that his firm's report was merely a preliminary assessment of events that could change as further evidence came to light, including that provided by the U.N. and Human Rights Watch. He noted that the report called on Guinean authorities to set up a 15-member task force to conduct a more extensive investigation, and to interview the more than 1,350 people his report claimed were treated for injuries.

"There were no punches pulled," Crane said. "It was clear to us that crimes were committed against the Guinean people and had to be dealt with under domestic law and possibly international law. We certainly want to see justice for the Guinean people and particularly the victims."

While the report does not hold Camara personally responsible for the killings, Crane and White both insisted that the firm privately warned Camara that he bore ultimate responsibility for the crimes and had to prosecute those responsible for them. "Even though there's no direct evidence in the preliminary assessment that links you directly as commander and chief you are ultimately responsible," White recalled telling Camara. "We told him to his face if you do not take appropriate action and hold those responsible for what happened you could be held criminally responsible: plain and simple."

The two war-crimes experts first appeared on the international justice scene in 2002, when they were appointed to lead the U.N.-backed investigation against Charles Taylor on charges that he provided financial and political support to a ruthless rebel movement, the Revolutionary United Front, that was known for mutilating its victims.

The two men had previously served in the U.S. government for more than 30 years. Crane, now a professor at Syracuse University College of Law, rose within the Pentagon to become a senior inspector general in the Defense Department, and an assistant general counsel of the Defense Intelligence Agency. White served as the director of investigative operations for the Defense Criminal Investigative Services before joining the U.N. court.

Crane and White said their firm is committed to the same principles that drove its two founders to champion the cause of human rights in Sierra Leone. Their consultancy work in Guinea focuses on promoting human rights and the rule of law. In Guinea, the company proposed a plan in December to provide Guinean troops training in the laws of armed conflict, and to promote a series of good governance policies that would lead the country toward "free and fair elections," Crane said. The proposal was dropped after the assassination attempt against Camara. "We were pursuing international justice to ensure that impunity did not continue in Guinea."

Crane and White were paid for their confidential report, but wouldn't reveal how much. White said the amount was "inconsequential."

The two men also insisted that their work on behalf of the Guinean military junta did not constitute lobbying, which would require that they register as agents of a foreign government. "We are not lobbyists," said White. "They try to prop you up publicly. We didn't do that.... At the end of the day, our integrity and ethics and moral standards will never be compromised. We do believe in Africa and know they lack capacity." 

India is considering Sri Lanka's request for additional aid to ensure resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs), external affairs minister SM Krishna told reporters on Saturday March 6.

Sri Lanka had conveyed to India that it needs building material to house these IDPs.

"So far, the government of India has been able to support to some extent, and we are now considering how much more can be done," he told reporters Delhi.

Asked about the condition of Tamils in Sri Lanka after the presidential elections, Krishna said, "The conditions are getting better".

Of the 2,80,000 IDPs, lodged in camps in Sri Lanka's north after the end of the war against LTTE last year, 1,80,000 have gone back to their places.

"There are still about 90,000 IDPs in the camps. The rules on (their) movement has been relaxed in the camps." he added. 

David Cameron

Letter to GTF

I am delighted to send my best wishes for today’s inaugural Global Tamil Forum Conference.

Members of the Tamil diaspora have contributed a great deal to our society, and this event brings them together with their friends from around the world.

Today we are united in a common cause and wish to see the same outcome – a peaceful, stable and prosperous Sri Lanka, where the democratic and political aspirations of all ethnic groups are fulfilled and all Sri Lankans are able to live together in harmony.

Sri Lanka has recently emerged from a very difficult period in its history and it is vital that a negotiated settlement occurs and a period of reconciliation and healing begins in earnest. I know that the Tamil diaspora is ready to play a full part in this process, and I am sure this Conference will be a positive step forward in this work.

On behalf of the Conservative Party, I would like to congratulate the Tamil diaspora for their energetic efforts to ensure enduring peace in their country, and to wish the Global Tamil Forum inaugural Conference every success.

David Miliband