Obama maintains silence on LTTE

By Mendaka Abeysekera in New York
Despite his pledge to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorism in Berlin last week, White House hopeful Senator Barack Obama continues to remain mum on the LTTE, defined as the world’s most ruthless terrorist organisation by the FBI.
Last January, Senator Obama characterised the conflict in Sri Lanka as a “vicious civil war” at the ‘Candidates@Google’ meeting.

He described the Sri Lankan crisis as the inability of people to accommodate others “who are not like us,” and mentioned Sri Lanka as an example, pointing out that war rages even when “everybody there looks exactly the same.”

After his comment, the Consortium of Sri Lankan Expatriates, in a letter addressed to Senator Obama, urged him to review his stand on Sri Lankan conflict in the name of democracy and fair play.
They pointed out that following the Senator’s comments, it appeared that Senator Obama had been misled either by the Tamil Tiger terrorist lobby or misguided by the media.

However, Senator Obama or his office is yet to respond to the letter sent to him by the Sri Lankan consortium.
The Nation learnt that the Obama camp has been continuously lobbied by the US-based pro-LTTE supporters during the last few months.

As a result of this claimed bond between two groups, prominent LTTE supporter and Leader of India’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) Party, Vaiko also briefly met Senator Obama at a function in Chicago on July 11.

Meanwhile, Senator Obama’s supporter, Democratic Congressman Danny Davis from Illinois, sent a letter of support which was read on July 25 on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka at a rally in the US capital, organised to commemorate the 25th anniversary of ‘Black July.’ The rally was organised by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and US Campaign for Burma (USCB).