MILITARY FORCE AS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION
by Dilrook Kannangara
Lankaweb, Sri Lanka
June 13 2007
In a hypocritical display of utter ignorance Kim Howells of Britain
has howled about the Sri Lankan conflict. All this nonsense is to grab
a few votes at the forthcoming election after blunders in the middle
east have tarnished the Labour government. He may have forgotten
the War on Terror. He has claimed that no conflict has been won by
force! What a big fat lie?
If force cannot resolve conflicts, what the love-making British
soldiers are doing in Afghanistan? What did they do in Iraq apart
from sexual abuses? In fact, most conflicts were resolved by force
and not by negotiations.
1. The symbol of rebellion is Che Guevara across the world. But when
he started his ‘rebellion’ with his ‘rebels’ against the Bolivian
government, the government forces used brutal power to crush the
struggle. It was put down with such ferocity that no one dared to
identify themselves with the ‘rebels’ and the conflict ended. What
more symbolic evidence is needed to prove the point?
2. Argentina claimed that Falkland Islands as its territory and
Britain knowing the worth of black gold treasures therein launched
a ruthless war and the conflict ended when the Brits substantially
beat the Argentines into submission.
3. Foreign imperial forces invaded Vietnam in the name of ‘democracy’;
naturally the North Vietnamese army fought back. What a war it was
which was won and peace dawned on not only North Vietnam but on the
whole nation.
4. That’s not all; they declared war on the Khmer regime of Cambodia
to stop the genocide and after a short battle won the freedom for
Cambodians.
5. For many years, terrorists in Malaysia fought and Dr Mahathir
Mohammad said enough is enough and defied all foreign advice and
threats to unleash a brutal campaign of war that brought peace and
prosperity to that country. Not even Gorge Soros could take it away
from them!
6. Israel was under siege from a large number of neighbouring states
and had to fight for its survival. And that’s exactly what they
did and built the fourth powerful nation on earth in terms of its
nuclear arsenal.
7. Rwanda was plagued by some of the minority Tutsis keeping the
majority Hutus under tyranny until the majority decided to fight
back. Within weeks, the oppressors were genocided and today Rwanda
is a peaceful and a fast developing country.
8. Turkey was under a similar tyranny from a few Armenians. In
a brutal assault not seen anywhere else since, the Turks put down
their oppressors. Since then Turkey has become a very prosperous and
a peace loving state that rejects Islamic fundamentalism on all counts.
9. In 2004, the most devastating tsunami hit Banda Acheh province in
Indonesia. Acheh rebels were devastated. The government immediately
spun into action by shrewdly clamping down on the terrorists and
selective aid distribution that lead the separatists to die a natural
death. Force of nature and military force did the needful. An Army
General at the helm also helped.
10. In 1988, LTTE terrorists ran havoc in Maldives islands causing
vandalism. Supported by the Indians forces, the Maldivian government
violently put down the attempted capture. Until this date, the
Maldivians enjoy their freedom from terrorism.
11. Chechnyan terrorists threatened Russia with utter destruction
for which the Russians responded in real grand style that crushed
the rebellion.
12. On July 7th 2005, London was bombed by educated and well off
youths in the name of Jihad. Swift action by the British police
clamped down heavily on troublesome elements. No negotiations were
held with the terrorists.
13. Same happened in the US in 2001, Spain in 2004 and India in 2006.
No negotiated settlements were attempted and sheer force was used to
crush the terror elements.
14. A megalomaniac (a more reasonable one than LTTE’s Parabakaran)
named Hitler was engaging in mass killing of civilians. No negotiations
were held to resolve the issue. Instead, brutal force from all sides
stopped the dictator in his tracks.
15. At the same time Japan was also engaged in violence and was halted
when utter destruction was caused on Japan by the US forces.
An undeniable piece of evidence of how sheer force can resolve
conflicts.
The list continues.
There are other instances where negotiations were used with the aim
of settling conflicts. They have a different outcome; in fact no
outcome at all and negotiations have prolonged those conflicts!!
Israel-Palestine – a conflict of no end in sight and every year there
are negotiations!
Internal conflicts in Palestine, Lebanon, Algeria, Nigeria, Sudan,
etc. where many foreign nations are involved in dialogue, negotiations,
peace talks, ceasefire agreements, peace roadmaps and other
nonsense. These conflicts continue and they provide enough business
for aid agencies, NGOs, religious missions and other interferers.
Repeated rounds of negotiations were held with North Korea and Iran;
they continue to pursue their nuclear dream. They even threaten to
wipe out other countries from the face of the world. Once developed,
their nuclear arsenal can surely do it.
Hopeless negotiations are held between the Sri Lankan government and
the LTTE terrorists; nobody believes in them as repeatedly it has been
proved by the LTTE that they want part of the nation and would not
settle for less. Periods of negotiations were used by the terrorists to
rearm themselves and during a round of peace talks the terrorists have
actually gone shopping for weapons! The conflict continues, naturally.
Negotiations regarding Northern Ireland has not achieved anything
for the ‘Real IRA’ that is still fighting and still is branded as a
terrorist organisation. Religious intolerance and killings continue
in Ireland.
This list also continues.
Negotiations have only prolonged conflicts and have given legitimacy
to terrorists, rebels, insurgents, imperialists, colonialists, human
rights missions, Christian missions, NGO businesses, mediators,
facilitators and other interferers.
Britain has no ‘loving’ right to tell Sri Lanka to solve the conflict
by means that the Brits see as appropriate. After all, they are
part of the problem. Had the 10% Tamil speaking upcountry Tamil
population were not brought to Sri Lanka, we would not have such a
complex problem today. Instead of Tamils, if it were Africans, still
we would not have any problem. The deliberate attempt to forcibly
balance the races by brining in slaves dumped on the island extremely
complex problems. In old days when no such population lived here,
similar problems were resolved with much ease.
Howells’ request is one sided as it only directed to Sri Lanka.
Obviously, there are two sides to any conflict and the LTTE was
conveniently forgotten. Ethnic cleansing and human rights violations
of the LTTE go unpunished. To make things worse, British residents
remain a major financier of bombs, guns, mortars and suicide kits
for the LTTE.
If Britains main concern is human rights violations, that doesn’t
give it any right to ask SL to scrap the war all together. Instead,
what it should do is to provide SL with advanced equipment capable
of detecting and defeating terror attacks.
However, the Sri Lankan government also needs to be blamed for its
lethargic and inefficient military campaign. Another three years of
warfare cannot be sustained by the fragile economy, dispirited people,
overstretched manpower requirements on the armed forces and by the
fighter jets that only have a remaining useful life of two years! At
this rate of war, it will continue for the foreseeable future.
What needs is to fight the war with the end in mind and sight. If
the LTTE has a manpower strength of 20,000 regular and ancillary
fighting cadre, this 20,000 should be killed at a faster rate than
they can recruit keeping in mind their recruitment age of four years
and above. As long as we fall short of this target, we are prolonging
the war and we can never enjoy what Malaysia, Rwanda, Bolivia or
Turkey enjoys. However, the worst thing is to get advice from the
perpetrators of the crime. We also need to team up with countries
that are willing to help us. It should be projected to any potential
invader that any undue interference with our affairs will lead to
Iraq type of violence in Sri Lanka.
In addition, the foreign governments should understand that the
war was not started by the government of Sri Lanka. Security forces
are merely taking the brunt of the terrorists lest the public would
get affected. They are fighting so that the general public need not
fight against each other and hence all help should be given to the
war on terror.
Before offering free advice, Britain should resolve its own conflicts
with insurgents, rebels, terrorists, prisoners and the people in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Humiliating defeats there and public anger
and curses of the Muslim world cannot be buried in shallow graves;
Britain has caused enough havoc in Sri Lanka and should at least now
mind its own bloody business in Afghanistan, Iraq and at home.
Disclaimer All views and opinions presented in this article are
solely those of the surfer and do not necessarily represent those
of LankaWeb.com.
7/130607-3.html