Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts - EDITORIAL

Last week, U.S. Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice, Desirée Cormier Smith was in Lanka. During her time here, Ms. Smith met Malaiyaha Tamils - up country Tamils - civil society groups, and government officials to reiterate the U.S. Government’s support to help advance the human rights of members of marginalised ethnic communities in the country.   
If it were not so sad, the agenda of Ms. Smith might have sounded funny. US involvement in rights issues the world over has spelt disaster for the countries in which they intervened.
During the final days of World War II the US nuclear bombed the civilian cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing over a hundred thousand civilian deaths within a space of minutes. 

The US forgot Human Rights. It was a convenient excuse to live test the nuclear bomb. The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were simply guinea pigs - things used for experimentation. 
Claiming it was intervening to protect the rights of the people of Vietnam, the US used chemical weapons such a naplam and the defoliant Agent Orange to destroy villages and agricultural lands in that country. Over 2 million Vietnamese civilians died as a result of US ‘support’. Large parts of its countryside were scarred by bombs, defoliants and laced with land mines.  
In Afghanistan, US intervened on the pretext of helping expel Soviet troops from that country. Initially it covertly armed and trained the Afghan Mujaheddin fighting Soviet occupation.
The reality: Afghanistan is a treasure trove of huge deposits of copper, iron, marble, talc, coal, lithium, chromite, cobalt, gold, lapis lazuli, gemstones, and more, which the US continues lusting after. 

According to the Brown University’s ‘Costs of War’, US involvement in the conflict left Afghanistan massively impoverished. Ninety-two percent of the population faces some level of food insecurity. Three million children are at risk of acute malnutrition. Some regions face famine. Around half the population is living on less than $1.90 per day. At least 70,000 of those killed were civilians.

Today the US is promoting Israel’s genocidal attacks in Palestine, under the false claim of defending Israel. UN Special Rapporteurs have confirmed that the present actions of Israel in Palestine are genocidal in nature. They have also accused Israel of practicing apartheid in the Palestinian territories Israel illegally occupies. 
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reveals, 23,012 Palestinians had been killed by Israel since 7 October in air and artillery attacks on the Gaza Strip. This number includes 9,077 children. Hundreds of children remain trapped under the rubble. The total number of child deaths is likely to exceed 10,000.    

The ongoing Israeli attacks have left over 18,000 Palestinian children injured. Dozens more have suffered amputations, and hundreds more have suffered severe burns to various parts of their bodies. Worst, Israel has cut all water, electricity and medical supplies to Gaza. 
Yet the US refuses to call on Israel to stop its genocidal campaign, and has vetoed a debate in the Security Council calling for a ceasefire. 
Instead it provides Israel lethal armaments to continue the massacre. 

It is in this shameful background that the US Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice, Desirée Cormier Smith was in Lanka to help advance the human rights of members of marginalised ethnic communities in our country. We have many unsettled problems; examples are the three decade-long ethnic conflict and the more recent Easter Sunday bombings. Fortunately, a majority of the northern Tamil political parties, save one, avoided meeting the lady.
Some religious leaders have been calling for an independent international panel to further investigate the Easter Sunday bombings.

Knowing the sequence of disasters which follow US involvement in any conflict or problem situation, we need to be extremely careful on whom we invite to intervene in local issues.
Whatever the shortcomings of a local investigation, it is far better than bringing more covert operatives into the country. We need to understand that the so-called ‘international community’ does not have the interests of Lanka at heart. They enter to serve their own interests.
To the ‘international community’ Lanka’s importance arises from her strategic position in international sea lanes.
We have our problems, but let us learn to find solutions to them without turning Lanka into a Vietnam or an Afghanistan.