Unacceptable Methods Used By Sri Lanka to Subdue Tamil Tigers
by Robert.D.Kaplan
Though it was only a one-day news story in the United States, a momentous event occurred last spring, with worldwide military significance. After 26 years of heavy fighting, the Sri Lankan government decisively defeated an ethnic insurgency, killing all of its top leadership, whose bodies were displayed on national television. Massive victory parades followed.
The Tamil Tigers were no ordinary insurgency. Built on the ethnic hatred of the minority Hindu Tamils against the majority Sinhalese Buddhists, the movement was among the best organized and most ruthless to have emerged anywhere since the Second World War. The Tigers boasted their own air force and navy to go along with their unconventional ground troops. They helped pioneer the use of suicide bombers. (Recall that it was a female Tiger suicide bomber who killed Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.) They regularly embedded their fighters among noncombatants, using them as human sheilds. In other words, they were as organized and heartless as any insurgent group in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The Tamil Tigers, moreover, had a brilliant, charismatic leader by the name of Vellupilai Prabakharan, who was venerated by many ethnic Hindu Tamils to the same extent that radical Muslims have venerated Osama bin Laden. His following was cult-like and was largely responsible for the war that killed 70,000 people since 1983, in an island of only 22 million people. Compare that to the deaths of 3,000 in the World Trade Center out of a population of 300 million in the United States. So when the Sri Lankan government displayed Prabakharan's body on television last May, it represented the culmination of a counterinsurgency campaign that the U.S. could only dream about.
Clearly, then, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps should be studying the Sri Lankan civil war for valuable lessons about how to win a counterinsurgency, right? Actually—no. In fact, there are no useful pointers to be gleaned from the Sri Lankan government’s victory. The war was won using techniques like the following, which the United States could and should never employ.
The insurgents are using human shields? No problem. Just keep killing the innocent bystanders until you get to the fighters themselves. There is no comparison between the few civilians that have been killed by American Predator drones in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, and the many that were killed by the Sri Lankan government. The Americans have carefully targeted select al-Qaeda members and, in the process, killed a few—at the most, dozens—of civilians among whom the fighters were surrounded. By contrast, the Sri Lankan military indiscriminately killed large numbers of civilians—as many as 20,000 in the final months of fighting, according to the United Nations.
Bad media coverage is hurting morale and giving succor to the enemy? Just kill the journalists. That's what the Sri Lankan authorities did. Precisely because insurgencies are unconventional, there are no easy-to-follow infantry advances and retreats, so the media holds the power to shape a narrative for the public. Aware of the need for a compliant media to aid the war effort, the Sri Lankan government struck fear into the ranks of journalists. There were hundreds of disappearances of top opinion leaders.
“Murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty,” wrote journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga in a self-penned obituary that anticipated his own assassination in early 2009. Sources told me that he was killed by having iron rods with sharp points driven through his skull. “If Lasantha, with all of his connections, could be killed in broad daylight, then they could do this to anybody,” one journalist in the capital of Colombo told me. This journalist told me stories about reporters being beaten black and blue, leading to an atmosphere of extreme self-censorship—“the worst and most insidious kind.” Another journalist told me: “Lasantha’s fate really scared us. People like me decided it was more important to stay alive than to report the news.” No journalist I met in Colombo was willing to cross the line and publicly attack the government.
The international community disapproves of your methods and cuts off military aid because of the human rights violations you've committed? Again, no problem. Get aid from China, whose assistance comes without moral lectures. That’s just what the Sri Lankan Government did. In return, the Chinese got the right to help construct a deep water port in Sri Lanka, close to world shipping lanes.
So is there any lesson here? Only a chilling one. The ruthlessness and brutality to which the Sri Lankan government was reduced in order to defeat the Tigers points up just how nasty and intractable the problem of insurgency is. The Sri Lankan government made no progress against the insurgents for nearly a quarter century, until they turned to extreme and unsavory methods. Could they have won without terrorizing the media and killing large numbers of civilians? Perhaps, but probably not without help from the Chinese, who, in addition to their military aid, gave the Sri Lankan government diplomatic cover at the UN Security Council.
These are methods the U.S. should never use. But the fact that this is what it took for the Sri Lankan government to subdue the Tamil Tigers makes clear just what a hard grind lies ahead for the U.S. in Afghanistan. [courtesy: Atlantic online]
Robert D. Kaplan is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, in Washington, D.C.
17 Comments
A clear exposition of what went on in Sri Lanka.Good to know that there are still journalists, albeit western ones, who can tell the truth about Sri Lanka.
Dear Robert
You can be sarcastic as much as you wanted but please do not distort the facts. This war was started in 2006(mid) and until it reached early 2009, the civilian casualty was almost zero. When the civilians were concentrated to 200 odd square kilometres, of course the casualty figures arose but UN never ever said the figure was around 20,000(which was first quoted in daily telegraph-London) in fact they (UN) said there were not sure how this figure was quoted and they denied it as the official figure of UN.So Robert you are wilfully misleading reader by attaching UN's name to unverified source.
Now coming to combat of insurgents, even by the FBI ratings LTTE was far more sophisticated than all the combined insurgent groups, your forces are fighting. Even with most advance weaponry what has the US/UK forces have achieved?? After all insurgents you’ll are fighting is only retaliating with AK47 and RPMG'S- but how about the ltte- they had artillery (even 152m calibre), mortars (again 120 calibre), armoured vehicles, anti air craft guns and the list go's on.
So mate, for you to ridicule the achievement of SL forces and just say that it is nothing but a farce is just living in fool's paradise.
When this war stared LTTE control nearly 15,000 S.KM and had a fighting force about 18,000 carders and finally in early March 2009 when they were cornered to 200 odd S.KM they had only about 1000 odd carders left. More importantly at that stage (early March) even LTTE didn't say there were mass civilian casualties?? Even by the most exaggerated reports civilian casualties were less than three hundred.
Of course in the final few months from March to mid May civilian casualties arose considerably and according to UN'S unconfirmed figures it could be around 8,000 and I am sure you know why it happened -if LTTE was not hiding behind the civilian cover, total casualty of the entire operation could have been less than thousand but alas!! LTTE not only held the civilians but they shot at the ones who tried to escaped, placed all their heavy weapons among the civilians and used them against the advancing forces, and of course government forces tried to nullify these attacks by using heavy weapons(you cannot destroy an artillery piece with an AK 47,can you??)Even though the government denied/still denying this that is the truth. Only after nullifying the heavy guns forces were able breached the LTTE bunds and overpower the remaining insurgents and in the process civilian casualties arose dramatically.
Please do not try to link the short comings of Sri Lankan government’s commitment to democracy to armed forces victory. I am not sure how familiar you are with the past twenty years of our history, in mid 90’s there was a insurgency in the south by the Sinhala youths and in the process of suppressing it then government killed nearly 60,000 thousand youths (mostly by putting a burning tire around their necks) and not only youths but journalists, lawyers, civil activists were a target of the counter insurgency operations. Since then our democracy has always been flawed with little civil liberties for the public (whether you are Tamil or Sinhala). But for you to say it is because of this that the SL forces were able out smart LTTE is either wilful distortion or a genuine mistake. Call is yours???
Elite believe in power, all kinds of power economic, military, social and cultural, we live in a world where ordered society is preferable to just society. To have ordered society, Elites, in all walks of life would use military power to achieve their goals of ordered society regardless of what methods are used to achieve them. People who are at apex of world high order never think about consequences of brutal military tactics to attain preferred results by using unjust methods. In unjust world only powerless and poor are victims of the society. Elites have always immune from all hardships that brought by unjust world order. In anarchic world society elites and poor are losers but in unjust society only powerless and poor are losers and victims.
Robert has forgotton how the US conducted its wars in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
When Kaplan dissertates in similar vein on the actions of the US, NATO and all the Western powers, I will take him seriously.
For now, all he can do is praise the "carefully targeted" and incomparable actions by US troops
Presumably regularly blowing up wedding parties are "carefully-targeted" strikes in the Kaplan playbook
Until he takes off the blinkers, this is simply another feces-tosser.
UNACCEPTABLE to WHOM? The USA???? Please don't make me VOMIT.
THE USA DROPPED 2 NUCLEAR BOMBS ON 2 CIVILAIN CITIES IN JAPAN KILLING 220,000 CIVILIANS TO END THE 2ND WORLD WAR. How dare these HYPOCRITES tell Sri Lanka what is acceptable or Not in Warfare.
But wait... the list goes on...
TWO MILLION PEOPLE KILLED IN VIENTAM - mostly Civilians... AMERICAN CARPET BOMBING OF North Vietnamese Jungles with Napalm to Flush out the Insurgents who were in Tunnels! Was that Acceptable?
IRAQ: Conservatives put the Death toll at 100,000 DEAD... also mostly Civilians...WAS THAT ACCEPTABLE?
This Author is so GLIB about Afghanistan and the GOOD WORK the Americans are doing with their Predator Drone attacks on a people to whom have DONE NOTHING to the Americans... When will it end? There may be only a few Hundred or couple of thousand casualties in Afghanistan but the war is 7 years Old and has No VISIBLE END or ATTAINABLE OBJECTIVE in sight! How many more INNOCENT AFGHANIS are going to Get Slaughtered before the USA decides to Stop Chasing its Tail trying to Subdue that country of “Little Brown people”?
THE WHITE MAN'S CONQUEST OF THE GLOBE IS THE MOST BRUTAL AND BARBARIC AND ABOVE ALL HYPOCRITIC OF ALL RACES...
Mr. Robert,
The "accepatble" methods are the ones which killed 2 million Iraq children. Remember Madeleine Albright (Secretary of State) said each one of those deaths were justified? Your write up is not complete without the advice to the the civilized world to emulate them and shy away from the methods adopted by GOSL.
mani,
The SL Armed Forces are incompetent and mass killers. The glorious SL forces did not defeat the LTTE alone. It took a massive internal LTTE rebellion, international proscription, Indian intelligence, Chinese weapons, Russian weapons, casual human rights violations, and the murder of thousands of civilians. The pathetic SL forces couldn't defeat a vastly outnumbered and outgunned LTTE for over two decades and in the end only defeated the LTTE after extensive external assistance. The LTTE was no angel but they previously brought the SL forces to the knees despite their lack of man power and fire power. What are you proud of? Sri Lanka is a disgrace and so are the righteous Buddhist Sinhalese who have spite at Buddha's teachings with utter contempt. If Buddha was correct, the Sinhalese people will pay for their crimes, eventually.
I started reading this rubbish, and immediately suspected that the author was an ignorant American. I was proved right.
There were 18 journalists killed in Iraq during the last 2 years. The civilian deat toll in Iraq from the illegal invasion/occuption of Iraq this time round is in excess of 1.3 million according to some sources, with 2 million displaced internally and another 2 million, externally.
The US marines and the army should not learn any lessons from the Sri Lankans, but continue to behave as they have done, torturing their way through Iraq and Afghanistan.
This has got to be the funniest article I have read in a while,its right up there with the recent Times investigative journalism that determined (mainly through reading third hand reports on the terror website Tamilnet) that 20,000 Tamil people had been killed by the SL army.
Yeh right, American's telling other countries that they are dealing with militants to harshly, this from the country that carries out drone attacks on Afghan funeral's and weddings to kill one militant along with hundred children, the same country that lied in the UN invaded a foreign country based on those lies and then killed 100,000 Iraqis all just to set up pro US/Israeli goverment and secure stolen oil, is this also the same country that sprayed napalm on women and children ??
I think the old adage about glass houses is very apt here !
Apart from the war crimes USA has commited in history which many replies have highlighted here (Japan Atom Bomb ,Korea,Vietnam,Laos,Afgan ,Iraq , etc)which is world known & well documented ,it is even further confusing me why this Robert fella is crtisizing China for?.
It was just the other day the foriegn secretary of USA under Obama Administration visited China with a begging bowl !.Beged China to support its currency (US $) as its losing its status as well as begging china to buy more USA treasury bonds & IOUs .
Is this how a US citizen practically living on chinese handouts write about china? .
I guess this is only possible in US culture. A nation born out of brutaly eliminating the native inhabitants of the country,economicaly devoloped through black slavery,evaluated to centre stage of the world power through the Atom bomb...& now living on handouts from china .
Robert Kaplan should understand the old adage 'that people who live in a glass house should not throw stones'.When he pontificates and take a holier than thou attitude,he exposes himself sufficiently as the person who polluted the air because holds his nose and looks at others accusingly.
Devinda Fernando,
The US engages in murder, so Sinhalese can kill tamils?
If Robert Kaplan's advice had been applied by the allies during WW2, Europe would now be living under Nazism & East and South East Asia would be part of a Japanese military empire. Worth thinking about, isn't it.
*** The US engages in murder, so Sinhalese can kill tamils? **
Oh Please spare me your Crocodile Tears for Tamils... you people didn't speak a word against the LTTE for putting your own Kith and Kin in HARM's WAY. What did you think was going to happen in this war? That the SL Armed forced would stop their assault on the Tigers? The war had reached the point of no return. Civilian casualties were inevitable and that is what happened. SL government went out of its way to avoid Civilian Casualties and this was the result.
What crap is this. Who is this guy Robert Kaplan. His story ' Unacceptable methods .......'. We didnt have the atom bomb - so we couldnt drop on unarmed civilians. - by the way did any american get fried for war crime on dropping the atom bomb on japanese civilians?. We didnt look for chemical weapons when we hunted Prabakaran - Did you Mr Kaplan write about the fictional chemical weopons that destroyed Iraq? the rest has been dealt with by the readers as above. Yes there was civilian casualties during the last few months and no one is denying that. By why not talk about how many Civilians died due to LTTE bombs for the last 30 years. No dont give me that crap that just because LTTE killed civilians here that gives the Govt the license to kill civilians there!. Face it - it was unfortunate that Civilians were used as a shield and that the LTTE used the no fire zone to hide. Do you deny that they had the last stand in the No fire zone?
This is Sri Lankans' quality of thought? Using past monstrosities to justify the continuation of evil in the present? Why keep hating the US and then citing it as a model to justify SL's behaviour?
How about the moral obligation for everyone to progress into the new millenia with a new ethics? Must this be aborted so that we can all continue to cry over the past and beat each other's head with it instead of starting something new?
Yes, so Robert Kaplan is a shameless hypocrite. Does that turn the rest of you into angels with your pathetic excuses for state genocide?