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The Truth and Other Casualties of War-
and Sonali Samarasinghe.
(American Army Manual paints
American reporters as a National Security threat.)
by Charles.S.Perera
It is strange that Sonali Samarasinghe wrote to Sri Lanka Guardian
on the 24 September,2008 on Truth and lies, in her article "The
truth and other Casualties of war ".
There are many types of lies. Sonali Samarasinghe had been subject
to one, but denied by the other as the truth. Therefore, we can assume
that, lies and truths are like the two sides of the same coin. The media
is not an example of the purity of truth. News is often exaggerated
or twisted in favour of one or another. BBC is one such institution,
and truth is not the hall mark of the Sunday Leader.
Some times it has its benefits, being a journalist or even a not much
known politician in small developing countries like Sri Lanka. Specially
when the country has a Socialist President with a Socialist Government.
In such a place bashing the President and his Government, accusing them
of human rights violation is a sure means to be recognised by the International
Community and Institutions, to offer a Global Shining Light Award, or
US Freedom Defenders Award. I bet that next in line for an award is
Thisaranee Gunasekara, who does President bashing, in style.
Now to come to Sonali Samarasinghe's article about the journalists
and the Army, it is said that the new American Army Manual paints American
reporters as a national Security threat.
However, lies and war seem to be interconnected. One keeps the other
going. After all war is not the best thing that could happen, and lies
are not the best to be expected. The American war in Iraq began with
a lie, with false documents, supposed to have been prepared by Tony
Blair, to support the lie that Iraq had an arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction.
There are some lies which could be tolerated, there are other lies
which are as intolerable as the war itself. Lies are diffused through
various means to mislead the enemy. And the truth is kept away from
the public , to avoid an uprising of the people against the war which
may result in mass desertion of the soldiers from the army, or their
disappointment, which would result in the enemy taking the upper hand.
Samarasinghe refers to a report in the Sunday leader, that contested
statistics cited by the Army Commander LT.General Sarath Fonseka. I
am not surprised, because that is the stuff of which the Sunday Leader
is made of, from what I have heard. It has no iota of patriotism. The
two journals the Sunday Leader, and the Mawbima fall into the same category.
Putting into question the statements issued by the Commander of the
army is the last thing a patriotic citizen should do. The war though
it is evil, becomes a necessity for the country that defends itself
against an aggressor. Hence, it is all important that the Armed Forces
are left to do their duty without unnecessary probing in search of truth.
In military parlance , a lie could be a strategy, to help the army
to gain ground over enemy. A Commander is not happy either when he kills
the enemies, or when he has to sacrifice his own soldiers. Nobody would
envy the position of a Commander in the midst of a war. He has to take
decision, which would to a non combatant be unconventional or cruel.
He has not got to explain to every prying Dick, Tom, and Harry, why,
how or what, of his actions.
Our Armed Forces are carrying on a difficult war with dedication The
death is a factor that an Army Commander has to take account of, and
at the same time keep up the moral of the other soldiers to continue
the battle despite the soldier next to him had fallen dead. So leave
the war to the Commanders, and his soldiers, and let us prey that it
would soon be over.
The Commander of the Army at war is not seeking popularity or credibility.
He is there to win the war. He has to take the most difficult decisions,
planning strategies to win the war with the least damage to its own
army. He is not bound to make any statements to the media, because the
media falls into the hands of the enemies, who scan them sentence by
sentence to detect weaknesses and loop holes of the enemy to plan their
attacks, and arouse the feelings of the public against the army . These
are the psychological weapons used by the enemy to discourage the soldiers,
who would finish by not giving of their best and thus losing the battle.
Questions asked and answers in the Parliament are different from those
asked by curious journalists, not always to help but more often to damage.
An army discouraged by the media reports which often exaggerate the
information they get, or run down the army to make the public become
critical, is not what a Commander wants to happen in the army under
his command.
Questioning the conduct of a war by legislators, and journalists is
a right enjoyed in democracy, says the Global Shining Light Award winner
Sonali Samarasinghe, referring as an example the Chief Commander of
the United States Forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus who was intensively
questioned by the US Congressmen…., But being questioned by the
American Congress is all together a different affair, and there are
closed session of interrogations, when more important matters are questioned.
The Sunday Leader after having made accusations, and vilifying the
President and the Government, has now sent his emissaries to begin their
bashing of the Government Armed Forces and its Commander General Sarath
Fonseka. That by all means is not being democratic or patriotic. The
Army should be kept out of their unworthy interference.
Sonali Samarisinghe does not seem to be as well informed as I presumed
her to be about the subject she had ventured to write about in keeping
with her newly earned decorations. She does not seem to have read much
about the American Army, and its opinion of the interfering journalists.
In order to update her knowledge, I refer her to Columbia Journalism
Review which says:
"…There are certain information considered sensitive by the
American Army, which are not imparted to the journalists. Steven Aftergood,
senior research analyst at the Federation of American Scientists and
director of the federation's Project on Government Secrecy, raises some
red flags about the new regulations, writing that the "sensitive"
information as defined in the manual includes "not just vital details
of military operations and technologies but also documents marked "For
Official Use Only" (FOUO) that may be exempt from disclosure under
the Freedom of Information Act." In other words, as he says, "it
follows that inquisitive members of the press or the public who actively
pursue such FOUO records may be deemed enemies of the United States."
That is for Sonali Samarasinghe's assertion that, "..Questioning
the conduct of a war by legislators and journalists is a right enjoyed
in democracies…."
American Army's Operational Guide Lines adds that, "A person doesn't
have to be in the military or government to support OPSEC…As a
Nation, we are in this fight together, and all Americans are encouraged
to practice OPSEC."
( OPSEC stands for Operation Security Guidelines)
The Army commanders being questioned by the Congressmen is different
from the commanders questioned by the journalists. Interrogators are
not traitors, but they are thinking is different, therefore there would
be a clash of right or wrong which reported in favour of the interrogators
point of view, would affect the army point of view. The army should
maintain an image that attracts future recruits to the army. If that
image is smeared by over zealous interrogators it would affect the army
recruitment prospects. Young men do not necessarily join the army for
the salary, but there is for some an attraction for the uniform, bravery
and hard challenging life. Therefore, the good image of the army has
to be preserved.
Making all sorts of accusations and criticism against the President
Mahinda Rajapakse and his government is bad enough, but when she begins
to turn her guns of vilification on to the Army Commander Lt.General
Sarath Fonseka, she begins to walks on unknown territory. The Army Commander
Sarath Fonseka is a person held in great esteem by the people of the
country, though not by the Sunday Leader. He is a great hero of the
Nation, who walks heedless of death threats, to visit the combat zones,
to be with the soldiers and encourage them, in their dangerous mission
of saving the motherland from the terrorists.
Sonali Samarasinghe says, "We are not aware whether Gen. Fonseka
contributes to the thinking of the famed German war strategist Karl
Von Clausewitz: 'War is a continuation of politics by other means'.".
This statement of hers goes to shows, that she does not know to evaluate
a person, or try to understand that the origin of the unfolding events,
is the result of the effort of a man of unblemished character, who is
dedicated to the very hilt of the commitment of the task he has taken
on himself to accomplish.
The success story of the Government Forces in bringing the LTTE terrorists,
whose "military force" was spoken in highly exaggerated terms
as an invincible army, to the present ignominious position, is due to
the wisdom of the President who allowed the army to plan and carry out
the military campaign against the terrorists without any political interference.
Sonali Samarasinghe goes beyond her journalist ethics –if there
is such a thing, in casting aspersions at the esteemed Commander of
the Army Sarath Fonseka, as having to look over his shoulders to make
statements of a political nature to get an extension of service. In
any civilized country, the Army carries out its duty of defending the
country giving the credit of military successes to the Government. It
was so when there were Kings, the wars were won in the name of the King.
Therefore Sonali Samarasinghe you should turn to another subject to
pour your venom.
Sonally Samarasinghes article trying to attack the army, without facts
shows the extent to which she lacks the ability to produce an article
of quality.
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