Stallone Witnesses "Hellhole" in Burma

The hope that technology and international pressure could have prevented a large-scale massacre in Burma seems to have been wishful thinking as reports of mass-murder have starting to become more frequent. In the six months while filming John Rambo along the Thailand-Burma border, Sylvester Stallone said he saw "...a hellhole beyond your wildest dreams:"

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sylvester Stallone says he and his "Rambo" sequel movie crew recently witnessed the human toll of unspeakable atrocities while filming along the Myanmar border.

"I witnessed the aftermath - survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off," Stallone told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday. "We hear about Vietnam and Cambodia and this was more horrific."

The film deals with John Rambo of “First Blood” fame and his trip to Burma to take on soldiers who have kidnapped human rights workers. Stallone returned from the region a week ago, before the large-scale crackdown that has occurred during the past few days. Today, reports from a Burmese intelligence officer put the toll in the thousands:

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."

In addition to the rising death toll, empty monasteries have led many to infer that thousands more monks have been imprisoned:

"We do believe the death toll is higher than acknowledged by the government," Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, told The Associated Press Monday. "We are doing our best to get more precise, more detailed information, not only in terms of deaths but also arrests."

Villarosa said her staff had visited up to 15 monasteries around Yangon and every single one was empty. She put the number of arrested demonstrators — monks and civilians — in the thousands.

"I know the monks are not in their monasteries," she said. "Where are they? How many are dead? How many are arrested?"

There are reports that an accurate number may never be attainable because of the strict security within the country and the practice of cremation in which the Buddhist monks engage.

The United Nations was scheduled to meet with Burmese leaders today, but the trip was rescheduled when UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari was sent on a scenic tour:

Gambari made his second trip in two days to the country's new and remote capital Naypyidaw, hoping to see the reclusive general.

But officials said he was instead taken to another distant corner of the country for a helicopter tour, in a move that puzzled analysts and highlighted the unpredictable nature of the regime.

The UN is supposed to “express outrage” and “urge calm” to the Burmese junta over the crackdowns, but it seems just a little more might needed to prevent further violence.