As someone from India, I'll readily concur that LTTE pioneered despicable acts like the "suicide bomb"(they assassinated our prime minister in 1991 for sending a peacekeeping force to Sri Lanka!), use of child soldiers in their eventually futile guerilla war & perhaps even training/inspiring Al Qaeda. They certainly took the wrong approach to achieving representation. MIA though, like most artists fighting for the "right" cause, sorely lacks (or is deliberately insensitive to) a sense of history about the LTTE's wrongs - as was evident to me from her appearance on Bill Maher's HBO Real Time. She couldn't even sensibly articulate the basis of her opinions, but she cunningly uses "Tiger" imagery in her videos and attire. And the liberal "hip" Westerners are dazzled by her reputation, her connections in the music biz (Jay-Z no less!) and their short-sightedness in seeing past the thin line (is there one?) between freedom-fighters and terrorists.
On the other hand, one nation's terrorism is a whole people's freedom struggle. Among the countless such confrontations across history, the current situations in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and Sri Lanka are ready examples. Though ineloquent, MIA remains provocative in bringing injustices to light, be it the avoidable mess in Iraq, or social issues in the developed world (like the Arizona Immigration law which harks back to the pre-civil war restrictions on free slaves) or excesses of those in power around the world. If nothing else, we can recognize artists like her and RATM for their efforts in giving voice to the misunderstood and appreciate their music, which can be appealing to some.
