Hope in the Ruins?

Is it possible that the death and destruction in post-tsunami Sri Lanka also contains a glimmer of hope for resolving the country's 21-year civil war? Three days after the tsunami, Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E.), pronounced sympathy for the forces on the other side. "My condolences ... go out to our Muslim and [Sinhalese] brethren in the southern coastal areas, who have lost their kith and kin ..." he said in a statement. The following day, another L.T.T.E. bigwig, S.P. Thamilselvan, announced that the group would accept the Sri Lankan government's offer of aid...