Michael Ondaatje Quotes
That's Anil's path. She grows up in Sri Lanka, goes and gets educated abroad, and through fate or chance gets brought back by the Human Rights Commission to investigate war crimes.
Ondaatje, Michael. "The Art of Fiction No. 165." The Paris Review, no. 157, Winter 2000-2001.
Turkey, under the control of the triumvirate of the 3 Young Turks had massacred almost all of the Armenian population in the area claimed by Turkey. At the end of WWI, there were many demands that those who ordered the policy of a Turkish genocide and those who carried it out by brought to justice—tried and punished. The Sultan had done little if anything to stop the slaughters although he was very weak, Turkey under the Young Turks had also picked the wrong side and allied with the Germans. The Sultan and his Grand Vizier were trying to pick up the pieces and maintain the Ottoman Empire as best they could despite they the fact that they lost control of much of their vast territory. At the Paris Peace Conference, the Grand Vizier virtually admitted the crimes and committed the Turkish government to determining the guilty and bringing them to justice. He actually had 50 of the worst offenders arrested (See {620595}.). However, there were a few tried and one governor of a province was hanged and a few others received short jail sentences. Talaat, the worst of The Young Turks regarding the genocide, escaped to Germany. But he was tracked by a surviving Armenian who assassinated Talaat. The assassin was acquitted by a sympathetic German court which ruled that the extermination of the assassin’s family had been so traumatic that temporary insanity relieved the assassin of criminal responsibility.
He was a brutal, sadistic war criminal who was assassinated by one of his many enemies in 2000 before he could be brought to trial.
This manual was still in force during the Iraq war 50 years later.
Assad and the Syrian rulers not only committed international crimes against the Lebanese, but in 2012 started murdering thousands of their own Syrian people who lived in areas which had people critical of the regime.
Adolf Eichmann was a German Nazi war criminal who had been responsible for the murder of millions of people. At the end of WWII, he had escaped Germany and was living in South America. Israeli agents found him, kidnapped him, and brought him to Israel. There he received a very public trial, was found guilt, and executed. In the War on Terror at the beginning of the 21st century, the key terrorists that were captured in Afghanistan were sent to a special prison base in the American part of Cuba. They were held there but at first received no trials or hearings. They were not prisoners of war, and not criminals where there were legal procedures for handling them. This was a new area. Some argued that they should all get trials. The Supreme court ruled that they at least had to get hearings. The correct handling was a major debate.
Hissine Habre was the President and Dictator of Chad. He was one of the worst war criminal and murderer in the world. He and the other DDS policemen and agents were trained by the United States.
Regarding the expose that UN peacekeeping troops were committing sexual atrocities in the Congo. No one was brought to justice or punished.
Philip Michael Ondaatje CC FRSL, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller Prize, the Booker Prize, and the Prix Médicis étranger. Ondaatje is also an Officer of the Order of Canada, recognizing him as one of Canada's most renowned living authors.
