Sri Lanka stands on the edge of a massacre. After 26 years of civil war, the Sri Lankan army has ousted ethnic Tamil separatists from vast territories they once controlled and trapped the remaining fighters on a 6-square mile strip of beach. With the fighters are an estimated 60,000 human hostages.

LTTE-controlled territory
Before the offensive	Today

While the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam claim that the civilians have remained voluntarily, it seems inconceivable that people would choose to stay with their families in such conditions of deprivation under constant shelling and threat of attack. When the army recently breached an earthen defense wall built by the LTTE, 30,000 refugees streamed out. The government has also released videos which appear to show armed men herding a mass of people at gunpoint.

Refugees fleeing LTTE after the Sri Lankan army breached the defenses

Sri Lanka government videos of hostages

The LTTE stands out even among terrorist organizations for ruthlessness. They are known for forcibly recruiting child soldiers and having pioneered suicide bombing as a terror tactic. The leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, is a charismatic psychopath who is willing "to take any method, however repulsive, as long as it furthered his struggle," according to a biography, Inside an Elusive Mind: Prabhakaran, by M. R. Narayan Swamy.

Yesterday morning, the Sri Lankan government issued a demand for the LTTE to surrender within 24 hours or face attack. The Tigers did not respond. The Sri Lankan government is also known for ruthlessness. Sooner or later, they will mount an assault that could result in the deaths of thousands.

To Velupillai Prabhakaran and lieutenants: You are doomed. You have lost your war. Whether on the beach or in a prison, you will be die. The people you hold against their will are Tamils. Men, women, and children, they are the ones for whom you claim to have fought for 26 years. While you still live, show one act of mercy. You cannot redeem your violent lives, but you can choose to die as human beings instead of monsters. Let your people go.