“They Come at Night and Murder the Monks” (UPDATE: Enter Lieberman!)
It was around midnight when the long convoy of military vehicles drove into the district. They contained police officers from the anti-insurgency unit and the so-called “Lome-Ten,” a unit of gangsters and ex-convicts, who do the regime’s dirty work.
They surrounded a monastery on Weiza Yandar Street. All the roughly 200 monks living there were forced to stand in a row and the security forces beat their heads against a brick wall. When they were all covered in blood and lay moaning on the ground, they were thrown into a truck and taken away. “We are crying for our monks,” said the man, and then he was gone.
The time for harsh words is long past. We are the strongest most influential country in the world. If saving the monks of Burma isn’t an appropriate task for our strength, then nothing is.
China and India must cut off Burma immediately or we will cut them off for as long as it takes. Will it cost us a few bucks? Yep. Will it make our lives a little less full of convenience? No doubt.
But at least we aren’t getting our heads bashed aginst a wall until we lie nearly insensate.
(via Instapundit)
Update after the jump.
UPDATE: Finally! Joseph Lieberman enters the fray. Say what you want about his social politics but there isn’t a more stalwart champion of human rights on the left. He’s also calling for China and India to use their considerable influence to stop the brutality. He is also going much farther than that.
But we must do much more. To begin with, the United States must turn the full spectrum of its intelligence-gathering capabilities on Burma to monitor, document and publicize what is happening on the ground.
The soldiers who are being ordered to carry out and enforce this bloody crackdown must know that they are being watched and listened to, and their names are being recorded. The men who wear the uniform of this regime must be made to understand that the day will come when they may be judged before a court of their victims, and when that day arrives, there will be ample evidence of the crimes they commit.
The Bush administration should also actively investigate how else our military and intelligence capabilities can be used to put additional stress on the regime. The junta has tried to cut off the ability of peaceful demonstrators to communicate to the outside world through the Internet and cell phone networks; we should be examining how the junta’s ability to command and control its forces throughout the country might itself be disrupted.
Good on him. Now let’s see what sort of pressure he can bring to bear from within the Senate.
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Category: No More Tyrants
Thank you Joe!
Jimmie, I have to respect the fact that you actually care about this issue. We may disagree on how to stop the junta, but at least we’re on the same side. Saving the monks is a good idea, but you must understand that they know what they face, and they do not fear death. It is the rest of the Burmese people that we must save. They are the true victims. The good news is that (from what I can find) the “turning of the alms bowl” protest continues. This may seem strange from a western point of view, but this is the most important aspect of the protest. What it means is that Burmese soldiers must face the bad Karma of not being able to give alms to the Sangha. This is a crucial part of the Theraveda Bhuddhist practice, and its absence will cause great consternation among the troops. You must understand that Buddhist fear being unprepared for death far more they they fear death itself. And having a Karmic unbalance is the very definition of being unprepared for death. The goal of the the monks is to give the lower soldiers a good reason to fear the monks more than their superiors. As strange as it may seem to us Westerners, this strategy may succeed. If they keep up the alms-denial, I think they will succeed in three years.