In Recognition Of “Cassandra”‘s Very Perceptive Recent Comments On Ret.Gen. Sarath Fonseka.
Posted on June 10th, 2010

In Retrospect By Sarath Kumara

June 10th,2010
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There has been a very appropriate response by the writer under pseudonym “Cassandra”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to the recent item ~ “Is Sarath Fonseka Touting Capital Punishment In Addition To The Court Martial…” which needs to be highlighted and acolladed as a brilliant analysis by a very perceptive observer under the pseudonym “Cassandra”.
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“Cassandra “wrote in response on June 19, 2010 that :
It is difficult to know what to make of Sarath Fonseka. Having noted his reported comments since he left the Army and went on to contest the Presidential elections, the best description I can find for him ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” and one that seems eminently apt, considering his service career ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” is that he is a loose cannon. He just seems to shoot off his mouth apparently without giving much thought to what he is saying. One recalls the inconsistencies between what he reportedly said in Ambalangoda and what Fredrica Jansz said, in the Sunday Leader, he told her. Then there was a clumsy denial of the Sunday Leader story and a feeble attempt to wriggle out of the situation. The man then went on to give interviews to the foreign media and say some silly things. He once said famously that other countries should INTERFERE in the situation in Sri Lanka, when what he clearly meant was they should INTERVENE. And now we understand he had a clandestine telephone conversation with someone from BBC Channel 4 during which he has again said some very unhelpful things.
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How a man who claims he was the principal architect of the victory against the Tigers, can conduct himself in this fashion defies logic.
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Incidentally, one must look rationally at the oft repeated claim that Sarath Fonseka was able to achieve what army commanders before him failed to do. That claim ignores that fact that previous commanders operated under different circumstances and under conditions that were not always so favourable. For instance, it can well be argued that General Kobbekaduwa may well have finished off the LTTE if not for IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s intervention, that the army was operating below optimum strength, that there was not the air cover that was recently available, that the international attitude had changed especially after 9/11, an so on.
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So, while Sarath Fonseka is due the credit for the role he played, he should not consider he was in fact superior to the commanders who preceded him. Part of the problem with the man seems to be that he has an inflated ego.
I always thought that among the outstanding characteristics of a good soldier were loyalty to his colleagues and loyalty to his country.
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Alas! for Sarath Fonseka, he seems to be singularly lacking in both. What a sad thing it is when a former commander of the army indicates a willingness to bear witness against his own men. You can hardly quarrel with Gotabhaya for describing it as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”treasonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢.
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I have no doubt that with each passing day and each new silly thing he does, Sarath Fonseka is progressively losing the respect of the nation he enjoyed a year ago. And public sympathy such as there was for him is similarly eroding fast.” ~ end ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  comments by “Casandra” with salutations to its insight!
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This thenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  is an opinion which is not only crystal clear for accuracy but also cuts to the bone towards exposing the once revered military leader who has not only fallen out of grace with his Administrative Superiors but also a fair proportion of the entireƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sinhala NationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ which views him as an untrustworthy conniving personƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who continuesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  his obtuseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ rhetoric despite the concessions he has been offfered in conciliatory gesture by the Administration.
Has anyone ever hear of a prisoner in remandƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  under Court Martial being offered a chair in Parliament which he is regularly ttransported to at the taxpayer’s expenseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ simply because he won a seat in his electorateƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  was entitled to free speech anywhere else in the world? Hardly likely!
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He must know better than anyone elseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  with his military acumen and knowhow the price paid in certain parts of the world for attempting to betray ones homeland and for him to speak up against calls for capital punishment despite its link to self preservation in view of his blatantly arrogant proclamations against the Sri Lanka Administration, its leadership and Armed Forces he was once part of, is not only puerile and iresponsibleƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ but to a great extent ignorant where he seems to be basking in the bliss of it all and would be better off even at this late stage to maintain a stiff upperlip in the best of military traditions while only taking a salute when deserving of it and his particular salutes deservingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ seem to be far removed from reality at the present time!

3 Responses to “In Recognition Of “Cassandra”‘s Very Perceptive Recent Comments On Ret.Gen. Sarath Fonseka.”

  1. Lorenzo Says:

    “Cassandra” has made many insightful comments over the years. Worthy of seperate articles!

  2. cassandra Says:

    Thank you both for those kind words

  3. De Costa Says:

    Yes. Cass worded it to perfection.
    I remember when the ITN man asked SF about Kobbekaduwa’s work, he kept quiet and nodded a bit. Thats all. This shows what a greedy man without any principles he was. He got ready to be the President big time. He couldn’t bear the loss, but he still thought he won a lot of votes- he self proclaimed “people’s president”, just to realise his status in the Gen Election.
    My question is why such a foolish man was asked to re-join army by MR ?

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