Military Force as an Effective
Means of Conflict Resolution
Dilrook Kannangara
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.
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