President Obama's recent speech at the National Defense University in Washington takes a retrospective look at the "War against Terrorism" launched more than a decade ago by USA against Al Qaeda.
Read the full speech here
It's a really interesting speech. Apart from exhibiting masterful oratory skills and being an inspiration to Americans, it has a special significance to all Sri Lankans as well. This is because the parallels drawn from it are applicable to the humanitarian operation conducted by the government of Sri Lanka against LTTE.
Why the war was started..........
Obama reflects back on the 9/11 attacks which was the catalyst saying
'.......And then, on September 11, 2001, we were shaken out of complacency. Thousands were taken from us, as clouds of fire and metal and ash descended upon a sun-filled morning. This was a different kind of war. No armies came to our shores, and our military was not the principal target. Instead, a group of terrorists came to kill as many civilians as they could. And so our nation went to war. We have now been at war for well over a decade........'
The situation was no different in Sri Lanka back in 2006. Whatever the higher level ideologies that fathered LTTE in to existence, by 2006 it had become a ruthless terrorist organization. Many national leaders including an Executive President had then been brutally assassinated by the tigers. This also included Tamil national leaders as well. All attempted peace talks had been unsuccessful. For the LTTE, peace talks just provided breathing space and allowed them to re-group just so that they could emerge more ruthlessly again. Furthermore, LTTE had conducted countless attacks against innocent civilians. BOC Bomb, Bomb in the Dehiwala train, Bomb blast of the worlds' sacred 'Dalada Maligawa', massacre of Buddhist monks in Aranthalawa, massacre of Muslim devotees in Kattankudy … the list can go on and on. By 2006 claymore bomb explosions in public transportation systems like busses and trains had become a weekly ritual of LTTE. The kebithigollewa bus bomb and the young father holding his murdered infant son and looking helplessly at President Mahinda Rajapakse will forever haunt patriotic Sri Lankan minds. Such events question the very foundation of democracy in a country. People were scared to travel in busses and often family members never travelled together in a single bus. Father and mother travelled to their working places in separate busses whilst the child went to school in a third. On top of this, the two decade long war meant somebody you knew was either killed or injured due to the ware. LTTE's thirst for blood shed had grown out of proportion. Being black listed as a ruthless terrorist organization by 30 or more countries stands as evidence for this. The closing down of the Mavilaru anklet was the decisive moment where the government was forced to answer terrorism in its own language simply because there was no other option. The entire nation had to be freed from this menace.
President Obama reflects back on using drones to defuse terrorism saying
‘…….To do nothing in the face of terrorist networks would invite far more civilian casualties -- not just in our cities at home and our facilities abroad…..’
Nothing would more clearly justify the stance taken by the SL government back in 2006.
Civilian Casualties......
It's no secret that US had resorted to drone attacks and was taking criticism for the civilian casualties it had caused. Commenting on this President Obama states
'.....Now, this last point is critical, because much of the criticism about drone strikes -- both here at home and abroad -- understandably centers on reports of civilian casualties. There’s a wide gap between U.S. assessments of such casualties and nongovernmental reports. Nevertheless, it is a hard fact that U.S. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, a risk that exists in every war. And for the families of those civilians, no words or legal construct can justify their loss.....'
and goes on to compare such casualties against the same in a conventional style warfare saying
'....Our efforts must be measured against the history of putting American troops in distant lands among hostile populations. In Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of civilians died in a war where the boundaries of battle were blurred. In Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the extraordinary courage and discipline of our troops, thousands of civilians have been killed. So neither conventional military action nor waiting for attacks to occur offers moral safe harbor, and neither does a sole reliance on law enforcement in territories that have no functioning police or security services -- and indeed, have no functioning law....'
"Civilian casualties, a risk that exists in every war..." claims the US president. The Sri Lankan government had no option but to launch a humanitarian operation against LTTE. There were some civilian casualties as acknowledged by the SL government. This was unavoidable as correctly pointed out by the US President and would have been the case in any other war, anywhere else. However the government had taken the utmost care on minimizing the civilian casualties. Such casualties are definitely much, much smaller than those in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan caused by the US troops. It's also worth noting that out of the three year long war the international community has raised concerns over civilian casualties only during the very last stage of the war. International community and NGO's have been content with how the security forces have conducted themselves leading up to the last battle.
With regards to civilian casualties by US drone attacks, whilst acknowledging such casualties president Obama does highlight that there is a 'wide gap between U.S. assessment of such casualties and nongovernmental reports'. This implies that reports of nongovernmental organizations tend to be exaggerated and skewed to highlight their own viewpoints. This is no different in the case of Sri Lanka. NGO's have put the number of civilian deaths around 40,000 during the last battle. SL government has done its own independent investigation and puts the figure around 8000-10000, which is only 25% of the figure international community hangs on. The truth is, there was no census done in the northern region for more than three decades. One reason why the LTTE prevented people in the north from voting during presidential election was to hide the real number of people living in those areas being revealed. They wanted to hide this fact so desperately that during 2005 presidential elections they prevented people from voting for Ranil Wickramasinghe, election of whom as the president would have created tigers a far more lucrative environment. LTTE wanted to boost its image by pretending to have a large Tamil population backing them up in the north. However the real numbers were far less. NGO's hang on to the figures provided to them by the LTTE which was obviously wrong.
So on one-hand U.S president Obama acknowledges that civilian casualties during a war is inevitable and suggests that NGO's reports on US caused civilian casualties are much higher than the actual figure. But on the other hand U.S is bringing resolutions against Sri Lanka on civilian casualties to the UN Security Council, based on reports of the same NGO's. What justifies such actions are beyond reason or logic. It's perfectly fine for U.S to fight terrorism outside their own country but it's not OK for countries like Sri Lanka to fight terrorism inside their own country seems to be the message as far as anybody could see.
Last part of the war against LTTE has caused much controversy. With tales of LTTE leaders coming to surrender waving white flags being killed to civilians being massacred by security forces amounting to war crimes. But the reality was, LTTE had taken the remaining civilians as a human shield. It was hiding behind the civilians and attacking security forces. During this last stage the government had declared no fire zones, abandoned usage of heavy weapons and taken all possible steps to secure civilian lives. Although some countries strived to make arrangements so that LTTE leaders can walk out scot free out of the last battle field the truth remains that they got killed by the security forces during heated fire exchanges. Although this might be hard for some western countries to digest that is the truth… the whole truth… and nothing but the truth. LTTE leaders got killed in the battle field during confrontations against security forces. Period!!!
It is however interesting to compare why these western countries or NGO's doesn't take any action against US which kills people using drones as a precautionary measure as evident by the following statement made by President Obama.
'...........But when a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against America and is actively plotting to kill U.S. citizens, and when neither the United States, nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot, his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a SWAT team.
That’s who Anwar Awlaki was -- he was continuously trying to kill people. He helped oversee the 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices on two U.S.-bound cargo planes. He was involved in planning to blow up an airliner in 2009. When Farouk Abdulmutallab -- the Christmas Day bomber -- went to Yemen in 2009, Awlaki hosted him, approved his suicide operation, helped him tape a martyrdom video to be shown after the attack, and his last instructions were to blow up the airplane when it was over American soil. I would have detained and prosecuted Awlaki if we captured him before he carried out a plot, but we couldn’t. And as President, I would have been derelict in my duty had I not authorized the strike that took him out......'
Addressing the root cause........
President Obama describes the extremist ideologies fueling terrorism the following way
'............Moreover, we have to recognize that these threats don’t arise in a vacuum. Most, though not all, of the terrorism we faced is fueled by a common ideology -- a belief by some extremists that Islam is in conflict with the United States and the West, and that violence against Western targets, including civilians, is justified in pursuit of a larger cause. Of course, this ideology is based on a lie, for the United States is not at war with Islam. And this ideology is rejected by the vast majority of Muslims, who are the most frequent victims of terrorist attacks.
Nevertheless, this ideology persists, and in an age when ideas and images can travel the globe in an instant, our response to terrorism can’t depend on military or law enforcement alone. We need all elements of national power to win a battle of wills, a battle of ideas. So what I want to discuss here today is the components of such a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy........'
The false ideology of 'United States is at war with Islam' is the crux of the issue as identified by President Obama. In Sri Lanka the issue is Sinhalese people being perceived as eternal enemies by the Tamil people. This is more prevalent in the northern areas. For decades Tamil people in these areas have not socialized with Sinhalese people. For generations they have been bought up on stories of Sinhalese people harassing Tamils, Sinhalese soldiers raping and murdering Tamil girls. These stories do have an element of truth, springing to life from the 1983 Black July incidents and other isolated incidents reported during 1990's. However it should be noted that most of the crimes done against Tamil people during 1983 Black July was undertaken by organized criminals (may be acting under the guidance of the then government) and not by the common man. In one sense, the three decade long war has made everyone more matured. People have come to show immense self-discipline and compassion. Incidents like bombing of the sacred 'Dalaga Maligawa' which is the most holist place for any Buddhist did not see a single Tamil person being harassed in any way. (Imagine Jerusalem being hit by a missile sent from Palestine...?) Tamil people in the north have to realize that they are no different to a Sinhalese living in Hambantota or for that matter a Tamil person living in the heart of Colombo. Tamil people live among others in Colombo without any issue. Tamils in Colombo have been living peaceful lives even before the war officially ended in 2009. However the Tamil people who spent their whole life in LTTE controlled areas are not aware of this. They have been brain washed by LTTE propaganda which depicts Sinhalese people as carnivorous devils. Although peace has come for Northern Sri Lanka, for it to take effect in people’s minds these kinds of false ideologies have to be dissolved. Such false ideas would get dissolve slowly with time. As these people interact more with others they will come to realize the truth.
President Obama touches on how extremist ideologies can be addressed.
'............So the next element of our strategy involves addressing the underlying grievances and conflicts that feed extremism -- from North Africa to South Asia.......And we must help countries modernize economies, upgrade education, and encourage entrepreneurship -- because American leadership has always been elevated by our ability to connect with people’s hopes, and not simply their fears.........'
To get rid of the extremists you need to create an environment where everybody is treated equally. Where everybody has access to basic necessities of life such as education, food, health care. The reason why Tamils, Muslims, Sinhalese live in harmony in other places of Sri Lanka is due to this reason. They are not discriminated based on race or religion when it comes to the basic necessities of life. Everybody is treated equally in Schools, Hospitals, or in any place for that matter. Northern Sri Lanka needs to experience this. It will take time. But it will ultimately happen. Government is trying to speed up the infrastructure development in this area. Once basic facilities like water, electricity, health care are in place and people's mind are free from false propaganda things will become clearer to them. They will release that they are no different people living elsewhere in Sri Lanka.
Although President Obama correctly identifies the core issues that cause extremist ideologies and what steps are required to address these, U.S has been trying to force the SL government to dissolute power to the Northern Province. They are too eager to see a political solution for a problem that will completely disappear in the future. While striving to protect the freedom of their own country U.S is trying to make a divided Sri Lanka.
War against terrorism is seen by President Obama as a way of upholding those values considered sacred by the Americans and protecting the freedom which was won hard fought.
'....So, America, we’ve faced down dangers far greater than al Qaeda. By staying true to the values of our founding, and by using our constitutional compass, we have overcome slavery and Civil War and fascism and communism. In just these last few years as President, I’ve watched the American people bounce back from painful recession, mass shootings, natural disasters like the recent tornados that devastated Oklahoma. These events were heartbreaking; they shook our communities to the core. But because of the resilience of the American people, these events could not come close to breaking us.........The quiet determination; that strength of character and bond of fellowship; that refutation of fear -- that is both our sword and our shield. And long after the current messengers of hate have faded from the world’s memory, alongside the brutal despots, and deranged madmen, and ruthless demagogues who litter history -- the flag of the United States will still wave from small-town cemeteries to national monuments, to distant outposts abroad. And that flag will still stand for freedom....'
Likewise, from King Dutugamunu to present day soldiers, Sri Lankans have toiled hard to preserve the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. We are a country of more than 2500 years of written history and the one thing that stands out through out that illustrious passage of time is, again and again we have fought for a united Sri Lanka under a single flag. Whatever the challenge and wherever the challenge came from Sri Lankans have always fought hard and long to protect what we believe is sacred to us. As a nation we will continue to do so in the future. We will strive to protect the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. U.S should also respect this since it’s upholding of such values that it’s also striving to achieve.
