MILITARY BLUNDERS IN POLITICAL SPEECH MAKING

FOR decades Sri Lanka bled as politicians blundered trying to make military decisions. As a result Sri Lanka failed to fight its racist tamil terrorist problem the way it should have been.

Fast forward to the present, and we have a government which has figured it all out. The politicians make the political decisions and the present outfit has enough common sense to leave military decisions to its Defence Forces. The results are obvious and until now things have worked out quite well.

To throw a wrench into this nice scenario, the SLA's chief General Fonseka has started making political speeches to the media. His most recent comments to the media about Sri Lanka belonging to the majority Sinhalese is nothing short of incendiary and would be viewd by the minorities with distate. It is actually distasteful for the majority of us, who have always wanted a pluralistic nation within which everyone feels the same sense of belonging. Comments such as Gen. Fonseka's are not only unnecessary, they also are poorly timed and cause damage to a nation that has already suffered enough.

There is no doubt that the military is capable of the task entrusted to them. Politics is not a part of their job; theirs is not to question why, but is only to do and die. Gen Fonseka is an excellent soldier and must keep his interviews to military matters where his expertise lies.

TAKING KILLINOCHCHI

THERE'S great significance in taking Killinochchi.

The media focusses generally on the fact that it would literally dismantle any pretexes to a seperate state by the LTTE, which is only a part of the larger totality. A more stark and brutal reality is about to dawn on the entire tamil extremist horde when this historic event happens; there will never be a seperate state, and all and every sacrifice made for over two decades has been for nothing, Zip, zilch, a big fat zero.

The LTTE leadership would be hard pressed to show what they've accomplished, besides a rapidly increasing number of cemeteries. Media coverage from the liberated areas show economic depriviation and a primitive lifestyle for a people who've been forced to live under bestiality of a magnitude unknown elsewhere. The only construction visible in the liberated areas, besides the plush residences of the LTTE top rungers, are the elaborate cemeteries, in which the more recently dead have been buried en masse.

Thirty years ago those who joined the movement would have done so out of a sense of youthful and ideological enthusiasm. Passage of time generally brings people into contact with realities of life and those who survived so far and even the thousands who joined more recently did seriously believe in the prospect of being able to live a normal civillian life at some point.

The fall of Killinochchi would re-define their realities. Until now the average LTTE cadre who never recieved pay, but did recieve only food that was supplied by the Sri Lankan government, could look forward to at least a pompous funreal with a polished grave stone. Under the new realities, even that could not be expected. For thirty years of fighting, the average LTTE cadre gets nothing, but a failed dream fast disappearing in a new dawn...

The possibilities of internal rebellion by disillusioned rank and file just increased a thousand fold for the already paranoid LTTE leadership.

Sri Lankan Defence planners would do well to consider these factors and look for opportunities in this evolving scenario.

OUR OPTIONS ON THE A9

SO far the SLA has kept its operations out of the lower end of the A9 highway and the Omanthai entry/exit point is where civillians from the LTTE controlled areas cross over into govt controlled areas. There are SLDF and LTTE controlled check points within a short distance of each other and civillians undergo considerable difficulty at each.

If the objective of keeping the A9 out of battle plans is to facilitate free civillian movement, in particular an escape route for the civillians, allowing an LTTE check point defeats that purpose and only serves the enemy, who manipulates civillians and uses the road for war logistical purposes. The SLA should re-think this situation and liquidate any LTTE presence expeditiously.

Taking out any LTTE presence would make it a more attractive escape route for the civillians and force the LTTE heirarchy to continue to commit manpower to try and control civillian movement. Each of the escaping civillians make it one less human shield for the terrorist group, now facing annihilation by the determined Sri Lankan forces.

As this point provides a low-cost pressure tactic for the SLDF, military strategists should consider assaults on any LTTE presence on the A9 at least from now on.

In yet another interesting reporting, our one and only Iqbal Athas of the Sunday Times (08092008) says "...This week troops broke through a bund that the guerrillas had constructed at two different points. The locations cannot be disclosed for obvious reasons.."

Since it is very likely that the LTTE already knows of the SLDF getting thru its defences, the presumed enemy in this case would be the general public and the readership. The Sunday Times seriously needs to consider implementing a sanity check on what he writes. To assume intellecual inferiority of an audience is a fatal mistake for anyone to make and Athas has already made too many.

SMALL BOAT OPS BY NAVY COMMANDOS

AS the SL Defence Forces closed in on Killinochchi, the SBS [Special Boat Squadron] and RABS [Rapid Action Boat Squadron] commandos intercepted a fleet of sea-tiger boats off the coast of Nachchikudah.

In the ensuing fight, at least 10 LTTE boats were reported to have been sunk, with 25-30 Tamil Tiger terrorists killed.

The SLNs attacks have led to a decimation of sea-tiger capacity, leading to serious logistics problems to the terror outfit. Interestingly, increasing numbers of combat craft used by the SLN are now domestically produced and match or surpass performace standards of equipment imported earlier.

TAMIL TIGERS USE INGO EQUIPMENT FOR WAR PREPARATIONS

The heavy equipment in use in this video were apparently taken into the LTTE areas by the International non-governmental organizations interfereing in SL.

SLAF should be tasked with taking these out.

LTTE TINCAN SHOT DOWN?

At last there is a breathless announcement of an LTTE tincan being shot down by one of the newly acquired F7G's, following the combined air-ground-artillery attack by them on the main Vavunia Special Forces camp.

What's disappointing is that the LTTE has already shot down scores of SLAF aircraft including high speed jets as well, with less sophisticated systems over the years. Over the past few months when the LTTE decided to carry out an air-strike, they've been able to execute them with no credible opposition other than a spectacular fire works display by the SLDF.

The SL Forces possesses much greater capabilities when compared to the LTTE, and yet have been unable to shoot down a couple of crop dusters. That is until now, provided the news about shooting one down is accurate. The desperate need to even cook up a success story at this point is understandable. Whether deliberate lying is excusable or acceptable, will be a matter of individual choice.

The issue here is not about weapons. It is definitely about training and deployment of assets to deal with each threat. It is true that the LTTE had the advantage of being able to watch and identify each flight before determining how to strike. And yet, the SL Forces who possess similar or even superior intelligence gathering capabilities are still falling by the way side.

I am reluctant to accept the zlin shoot down story without some concrete proof. If it was a missile strike, at least we'd have some assurance that once fired, there would be little or no escape for a prop-kite.

Speeches about what little harm the tiger tincan airforce did each time doesn't cut it. Neither is it ok to be talking about their inaccuracy or the non-exploding bombs. The SL forces need to have counter-measures that work and people who know how to make them work.

This is an issue of training and management capability and people must be held accountable for the failures so far.

UN SAYS IT CAN'T ADVICE LTTE ON HUMAN SHIELDS

THE govt is on the ball this time.

They've asked the UN to get involved in moving the trapped civillians to safety, discharging part of the responsibility of a legitimate government concerned about its citizens.

The UN says they cannot direct either the LTTE or civillians who choose to stay behind, but will continue to provide humanitarian assistance where and when necessary.

Nevertheless this is a dialogue the SLG needs to have on a continuing basis with all humanitarian aid agencies to ensure this resource is utlized to the maximum.

"..Last week the Government called on the INGOs based in the Wanni to persuade the LTTE to allow civilians to leave for Government-controlled areas without imposing restrictions on them, following reports that the separatists were holding on to the people and using them as human shields....

...United Nations agencies in Sri Lanka have said they are unable to advise civilians to vacate LTTE-controlled areas despite a government request to this effect. Heavy fighting in the Wanni has forced thousands of civilians to move deeper into guerrilla-dominated areas..."

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080907/News/sundaytimesnews_01.html

PUNITIVE WAR AND IMMUNITY FROM LAW

SL Defence Forces took a beating when the Tamil Tigers launched multiple counter-strikes a few days ago and lost between 50-100 soldiers. At least 100-200 have been injured during the same time. The particluar military contingent that was targetted had been on continuous deplyment over the past 2 years and fatigue may have played a role in it taking high casualties in this event.

The military seems to take it all in the stride, and everything appears to be business as usual. Follow on attacks by the SLDF killed at least 30 Tigers within the next 24 hrs and the relentless pressure is continued. However, it needs to understand and address the needs of its combat forces for rest and replenishment and address those needs as the intensity of operations continue to grow.

For a change the pro-LTTE media has something to crow about and the howling is on. The focus is on the numbers of SLA killed, which is only slightly higher than the LTTE's own killed, anywhere between 30-75 for the same period. Some people count the numbers, while conveniently ignoring the facts of where all the action is leading to.

For the average Sri Lankan there appears a light on the distant horizon, and a hope that our future generations would be able to live without fear, while for others the writing is on the wall; for their wet-dream of an ethnic pure landscape built upon murder of thousands of defenceless innocents is dying just as day-break kills all dreams.

In the meanwhile, petty criminality and the numbers of those who challenge the law with apparent impunity and recieving political immunity appear to stay unchanged, if not increasing daily. Though a notorious supporter of Merv the Perv stands accused of molesting an under-age girl the police appear to be either helpless or dis-interested in dealing with this issue. A social situation which is a nurturing ground for vigilanteism already exists and the day when wide-spread lawlessness breaks out agianst those who practise violence against the helpless, defenceless and the innocent is about to dawn.

A light on the horizon was the recent denial of bail for the buddhist monk who violated noise pollution laws and challenged a court order, by the higher courts of Sri Lanka. A politico-religious circus is likely be the outcome, which the courts should stoically refuse to budge to.

MALLAVI TAKEN

Independent sources put the possible LTTE dead at abt 80+ in Mallavi.

There is a YouTube vid on a mass funeral for LTTE cadres. Look this up, if you have a moment, without gloating. These are also young men and women of our land, dead for a mis-timed, mis-understood and mis-bogotten conflict destined to end in failure.

There will be many more of these scenes before it all ends, unknown and quickly forgotten. The surviving families will soon want to avoid the fact that their family members died for a cause the victorious majority hates. They will be left with only memories and a gradually subsiding sense of loss.

The dead will be soon forgotten, as Sri Lanka hopefully moves fast to leave it all behind and create a new reality for her people.It will be necessary to erase all evidence of this struggle, bulldoze the cemetaries and wipe out all places and entities that can provide a hook to re-latch on to racist terrorism.

The victorious need to write history on their own, in their own words. Bravery of the enemy may be known, even admired, but necessity demands erasure of their existance and glory permanently from record.

Twenty years from now, it would be largely forgotten. A generation from now, none of it would even matter.