A Rumor of Peace

What will it take to bring peace to tiny, tortured Sri Lanka, now in the 19th year of a conflict that has taken 65,000 lives? More than anything, the cooperation of one man, Velupillai Prabhakaran, supremo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), one of the most enduring and deadly rebel groups in the world. Prabhakaran emerged from the jungles of northern Sri Lanka last week to hold his first press conference in 12 years and talk some very uncharacteristic talk: of peace. If the right deal is offered, he announced, he will call off the rebellion, collect the cyanide...