Now that the civil war in Sri Lanka is apparently over, the battle for public opinion is raging between the Sri Lankan government, human rights organizations, ethnic Tamils and other stakeholders. The main subject: the number of civilian casualties during the government’s last push to destroy the Tamil Tiger resistance and which side was responsible for those casualties.
We realize we are wading into muddy waters here, but we’re wading into those waters because a Washington, D.C., powerhouse of The Am Law 100, Patton Boggs, has been swimming in them for nearly a year, according to lobbying records, Harper’s magazine and the firm. Earlier this year, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington, D.C., retained Patton Boggs to serve as a middleman between the embassy and the executive branch of the U.S. government and Congress, according to Harper’s and federal lobbying records. The firm has been receiving $35,000 per month from the embassy.
