There was an article in your newspaper by Mr. Jehan Perera, who had returned from the US, about an incident at the Airport in Sri Lanka. The way I understood it, he was sponsored by the US on this trip.

 I hope that when he was in the US he raised concerns about how the US routinely used the arbitrary powers it assumed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism attacks to hold without charge journalists in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. A lot of these journalists were never convicted of any charge. On the pretext of fighting its enemies or actually to fight its enemies the U.S. has had a record of holding journalists for long periods of time without due process.

 I hope he and his friends asked tough questions from their US sponsors and US diplomats about torture, errr, I mean "enhanced interrogation techniques", Abu Graib, CIA Secret Camps, Guantanamo, Renditions, Torture camps in Romania, Egypt etc. that the US deemed necessary to keep it safe from evil terrorists.

 It begs the question how come the United States can pretend that its reputation is lily white when it comes to criticizing other countries on issues of press freedom. I am sure the erudite scholars challenged their sponsors on these issues.