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Sri Lanka
How US 'war on terror' emboldened Sri Lanka
2009-03-06
The Army appears on verge of crushing Tiger rebels.
By Simon Montlake

Colombo, Sri Lanka - In 1992, Lt. Col. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa retired from the Army after two decades in uniform. A year later, he moved to Los Angeles and began working in IT. In 2001, he heard President Bush declare that "you're either with us or against us" in the global war on terror.

"The lesson that I have learned is that peace talks will never go anywhere.... Tell me a place where this has worked."
Mr. Rajapaksa didn't need convincing. The decorated officer -- today Sri Lanka's defense secretary -- had long ago concluded that his own country's fight against extremism, which broke into civil war in 1983, required a military solution by a united front. "The lesson that I have learned is that peace talks will never go anywhere.... Tell me a place where this has worked," he says.
Every place you find a working government of national unity you can find productive peace talks with formerly murderous enemies.
After a massive buildup of troops and equipment, Sri Lanka appears on the verge of victory against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. If successful, It will have succeeded where others in the region, such as India and Pakistan, have failed in putting down an armed rebellion by force.

Behind Sri Lanka's war machine is Chinese military hardware, foreign intelligence sharing, and a focus on military professionalism. "They've insulated the way the Army operates. It's purely military logic," says a Western diplomat in Colombo.

The government has also tried to clamp down on LTTE overseas funding, with limited success. While the United States has frozen two Tamil charities as terrorist fronts, European countries have dragged their feet, say Sri Lankan officials.
Posted by:Steve White

#1  Peace Talks apear as the guerrilla is on the verge of winning or at least cannot be defeated and, in a kind of war where the morale and politic aspect is everything, greatly strengthens it. Also you can bet the guerrilla will use the time for reinforcing itself.
Posted by: JFM   2009-03-06 02:35  

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