Comments Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed. Posted on 09/30/2007 5:24:00 PM PDT by Stoat
Comments Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.
The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: 'Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand.'
Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He has now reached the border with Thailand.
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hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle and been beaten
Reports from other exiles along the frontier confirmed that hundreds of monks had simply ' disappeared' as 20,000 troops swarmed around Rangoon yesterday to prevent further demonstrations by religious groups and civilians.
Word reaching dissidents hiding out on the border suggested that as well as executions, some 2,000 monks are being held in the notorious Insein Prison or in university rooms which have been turned into cells.
There were reports that many were savagely beaten at a sports ground on the outskirts of Rangoon, where they were heard crying for help.
Others who had failed to escape disguised as civilians were locked in their bloodstained temples.
There, troops abandoned religious beliefs, propped their rifles against statues of Buddha and began cooking meals on stoves set up in shrines.
In stark contrast, the streets of Rangoon and Mandalay - centres of the attempted saffron revolution last week - were virtually deserted yesterday.
A Swedish diplomat who visited Burma during the protests said last night that in her opinion the revolution has failed.
Liselotte Agerlid, who is now in Thailand, said that the Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression. 'The Burma revolt is over,' she added.
'The military regime won and a new generation has been violently repressed and violently denied democracy. The people in the street were young people, monks and civilians who were not participating during the 1988 revolt.
'Now the military has cracked down the revolt, and the result may very well be that the regime will enjoy another 20 years of silence, ruling by fear.'
Mrs Agerlid said Rangoon is heavily guarded by soldiers.
'There are extremely high numbers of soldiers in Rangoon's streets,' she added. 'Anyone can see it is absolutely impossible for any demonstration to gather, or for anyone to do anything.
'People are scared and the general assessment is that the fight is over. We were informed from one of the largest embassies in Burma that 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death today and subsequently burned.'
The diplomat also said that three monasteries were raided yesterday afternoon and are now totally abandoned. At his border hideout last night, 42-year-old Mr Win said he hopes to cross into Thailand and seek asylum at the Norwegian Embassy.
The 42-year-old chief of military intelligence in Rangoon's northern region, added: 'I decided to desert when I was ordered to raid two monasteries and force several hundred monks onto trucks.
'They were to be killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle. I refused to participate in this.'
With his teenage son, he made his escape from Rangoon, leaving behind his wife and two other sons.
He had no fears for their safety because his brother is a powerful general who, he believes, will defend the family.
Mr Win's defection will raise a faint hope among tens of thousands of Burmese who have fled to villages along the Thai border.
They will feel others in the army may follow him and turn on their ageing leaders, Senior General Than Shwe and his deputy, Vice Senior General Maung Aye.
UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is still trying to set up a meeting with General Shwe.
this may be helpful in understanding the mindset of the
military in Burma/Myanmar:
http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2007/09/starry-eyed-generals-of-burma.html
Here ya go
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070929/ap_on_bi_ge/myanmar_fueling_the_junta
There are currently economic sanctions in place that prevent U.S. and E.U. companies from establishing new investments, but it doesn’t prevent the existing companies from continuing operations.
The U.N. will have some “stern words” or something equally useless, I’m sure.
This is a consequence of not having a united voice. It is sad that in these days of instant world communication, a good number of leaders in the world's democracies have decided to ignore the old rule of "politics stopping at the water's edge"
There is blood on the hands of all of them.
here’s a more complete “dirty list”
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/dirty_list/dirty_list_details.html
Source:
“...all that is left is Thailand, which seems to have held off chinese style communism, but is being threatened with islam while otherwise surrounded with the former.”
—
There is a Thai statement which sums up their political philosophy in a betel nut shell.
Mai bien lai.
Translation: the reeds bend with the wind. Whichever country is the stronger influence, give them some recognition, but don’t break.
The Thais have survived with this philosophy for a long time; hopefully they will continue to thrive. Once you get away from Bangkok, it’s a great country.
Re “Dont worry, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton and the rest of the DC morons (Osama, Kucinich, Waters, Edwards, Dean, Biden, Kerry), will fix this too.
Yes, they are already setting up a commission to investigate setting up a newer commission to investigate this article as to whether it is true or not. They they will send a letter to the UN to set up another commission to check into the accuracy of their commissions.
Meanwhile freedom dies, while Democrats cry (crocodile tears).
I’ll be holding my breath waiting for the the Pinkos to demonstrate!
And how will God repay those who stood by and allowed this to happen?
I think I'm going to vomit.
Yes please don't say anything that can possibly be considered hateful or bigoted of Hitler.
Good question. Not too kindly, I would guess. Sins of omission are still sins.
“I know FR will give it many, many bumps.”
I hope so, cause the regime there has done a decent job of cutting off standard communications.
Global firms provide lifeline to Myanmar’s junta
http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070930033631.v3843she.html
I recognize a few of those names...
“Or how about our good trading partner, China?”
The soldiers who murdered the monks are 100% backed by china.
We are unlikely to do anything about this....it would have detrimental effects on Walmart.
If there is no oil involved in the equation...the US doesn’t give a damn about democracy.
What sort of dictatorship is this stemming from? I can’t imagine monks being killed and in large numbers and without assistance to help from some group inside.
China.
Most favored nation trading status partner.
FOX News was too busy reporting on Pamela Anderson’s engagement to report this.
My understanding is that the Buddhists believe in karma - the influence of past lives. You behave well now in order to either insure a good rebirth or to become enlightened. Becoming enlightened is a very difficult task probably involving decades of meditation practice. There’s no way that those involved in the government crack down are good observant Buddhists.
“I’m surprised by the silence from Hollywood about this.
Well, maybe not.”
For what this is worth, Martin Sheen was on “Prairie Home Companion” this past weekend. One of the things he did on the show was to sing a hymn in order to protest what was happening in Burma.
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