Tag Archives: no-fire zone

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields

June 17, 2011 at 9:31 AM
Sri Lanka

Civilians, in between Kilinochchi and Mulathiv, Sri Lanka, May 2009, during the last few months of the war. (c) Private

Last night, I watched a harrowing new documentary, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields,” by Channel 4, a British media company, about the final months of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009.

The 49-minute film depicts the massive human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war committed by both the Sri Lankan government forces and the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.  The film is available online at Channel 4’s website until June 21.

Please note:  some of the scenes in the film are very disturbing.  It is NOT for younger viewers.

The film includes an extended version of the “execution video” released in 2009, in which naked prisoners are shown being shot in the head.  There are scenes of dead female Tamil Tigers who appear to have been raped and murdered.

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Sri Lanka: "Just Gimme Some Truth"

May 5, 2009 at 7:52 AM

Last Friday, I watched the Al Jazeera video, “Sri Lanka admits military bombed ‘no-fire’ zone,” in which the Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary denies, then admits, then denies again that the Sri Lankan military bombed in the government-designated “no-fire zone” in northeastern Sri Lanka.  Recently released U.N. satellite photos show craters that the U.N. said were most likely created by bombs dropped from planes since March 16.

Later that night, I found myself thinking of some lines from one of John Lennon’s songs:  “All I want is the truth/Just gimme some truth.”

Then, one of the songs from the soundtrack for the movie “Once” came to mind:  “You’re moving too fast for me/And I can’t keep up with you/Maybe if you slowed down for me/I could see you’re only telling/Lies, lies, lies.”