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FEIN: A genocide inquiry ? Washington Times
FEIN: A genocide inquiry?
Bruce Fein
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/20/a-genocide-inquiry/
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Bosnia has its Radovan Karadzic, Sudan has its Omar Bashir and the United States could have its Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. He is a United States citizen serving as Sri Lanka's Sinhala Buddhist defense secretary who may be complicit in an ongoing genocide against Sri Lanka's Tamils.
While Mr. Rajapaksa enjoys a presumption of innocence, the United States should be investigating to ensure it is as scrupulous in genocide enforcement as is expected of foreign governments.
Until Mr. Karadzic's recent capture by Serbia, the United States had imposed economic sanctions against the Serbian government for noncooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal. An additional earmark of United States abhorrence of genocide is the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in the U.S. Justice Department. It is tasked to investigate individuals complicit in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution who subsequently entered the United States by fraud. The guilty are denaturalized or deported.
The OSI would thus be well suited to lead a genocide investigation of the defense secretary. The United States criminal code prohibits the crime, wherever perpetrated, by a United States national, green-card holder or any other person found or brought into the country.
Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" featuring anti-Jewish diatribes previewed the Holocaust. The parallel political dynamic at work in Sri Lanka is the Buddhist Mahavamsa combined with Buddhist monk teachings that non-Buddhist Tamils must be exterminated to honor Buddha's vision of an ethnically pure Sri Lankan state. As recently as July 20, 2008, AFP news service quoted Mr. Rajapaksa's close colleague, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, as describing Sri Lanka as a "Sinhala nation" to the exclusion of Tamils. That exclusionary concept is reminiscent of Hitler's ambition to make Nazi Germany "judenfrei," or free of Jews. And just as Hitler's Waffen SS was pure Aryan, the Rajapksa-Fonseka Sri Lankan armed forces are virtually pure Sinhala.
An investigation of Defense Secretary Rajapaksa would seem amply justified by the benchmarks of the Karadzic or Bashir indictment or arrest warrant. All three are potentially culpable under the time-honored doctrine of command responsibility. Generally speaking, it imposes criminal liability on government superiors who either knew or had reason to know of war crimes by subordinates and neglected to take reasonable measures to prevent or to punish the perpetrators.
Mr. Karadzic confronts a trial for, among other things, genocide of thousands of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. On July 14, 2008, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, applied for an arrest warrant against President Bashir. The application accused him of genocide by killing, raping and starving members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups.
The prosecutor specially emphasized that President Bashir "denies victims [of genocide] access to the criminal justice system, while using the system against those who did not comply with his genocidal orders. [He] protects, promotes and provides impunity to his subordinates, in order to secure their willingness to continue committing crimes. He could authorize investigations of members of the armed and security forces, but the only officers investigated are those who refuse to participate in crimes." Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo concluded: "Al Bashir's motive was control of power. His pretext was a 'counterinsurgency.' His intent was genocide."
Length: 552
Rating: 3.60 (16 ratings)
Tags: Bruce Fein USA Canada Tamils Against Independence India Tamil Nadu United States Ciminal Serbia International Citizen New York City Washington Times Genocide TAG Documentary LTTE Sinhala justice
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Brothers At War by Jake Rademacher (7 minute trailer)
A young filmmaker risks everything, including his life to tell his brothers' story. Often humorous, sometimes lethal, this embedding with four combat units in Iraq, gives him insight into his two soldier brothers, his family, and ultimately into his own character.
Length: 428
Rating: 5.00 (22 ratings)
Tags: Brothers At War documentary Jake Rademacher
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Ann Coulter Takes on the Washington Times and the NY Times
Ann Coulter Takes on the Washington Times and the NY Times Over Foley Issue
Length: 448
Rating: 4.00 (21 ratings)
Tags: Ann Coulter Washington NY Times Foley
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Pakistani Ambassador Durrani Meets With Washington Times 1
Pakistani Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani told The Washington Times Jan. 9 that the Bhutto assassination was handled badly
Length: 60
Rating: 0.00 (0 ratings)
Tags: Pakistan Durrani Bhutto The Washington Times
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Pakistani Ambassador Durrani Meets With Washington Times 2
Pakistani Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani told The Washington Times that his government is taking measures to ensure a fair election.
Length: 397
Rating: 0.00 (0 ratings)
Tags: Pakistan Durrani elections The Washington Times
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Pakistani Ambassador Durrani Meets With Washington Times 3
Pakistani Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani told The Washington Times Jan. 9 that President Musharraf would be willing to work with a coalition of parties.
Length: 204
Rating: 0.00 (0 ratings)
Tags: Pakistan Musharraf Duranni The Washington Times
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