Latin America’s longest civil war may finally be coming to an end

Congratulations to the people of Colombia and their military, which finally succeeded in killing FARC leader Alfonso Cano on Saturday. This could be the deathblow to the Marxist group, which has been waging a guerrilla war against the Colombian Government for nearly 50 years.

At the beginning of the year I spent some time in Colombia’s border regions where the military presence is heavy. My bus from Cucuta, near Venezuela, to Bogotá was left waiting at an Army checkpoint for an hour and a half, allowing the soldiers to question every passenger about who they are and where they were going. Such a strong commitment tells me that even with Cano’s death, the military will be focused on the guerillas for years to come.

Colombia may follow Sri Lanka’s path (hopefully without the threats to democracy, though) after the island-nation vanquished the Tamil Tigers in 2009 by killing it charismatic leader, Velupillai  Prabhakaran. Although the Tigers were gone, the authorities took no chances, continuing on with checkpoints and air security that makes even the US laws look mild. The leadership and the group may be gone, but the threat will not be forgotten.

Sri Lanka’s bitter civil war comes to a close

I felt a strong sense of emotion when I heard that Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was killed in a gunbattle with Sri Lankan soldiers along with his son, several of his top aides, and scores of his dedicated fighters. Its clear that Sri Lanka’s military conflict has drawn to a close, although I have doubts that the insurgency is over for good. Sri Lanka is full of lush jungles and the rebels are masters at guerrilla warfare. Nevertheless, the Sri Lankan Army deserves praise for being able to defeat such a vicious insurgency after so many years of warfare that have shaken the island.

Anyway, the reason I say I have such strong emotions is because, first off, I think that Prabhakaran is (was) a megalomaniac and a mass murderer. He perfected the use of suicide bombings–including the invention of the explosive-belt that has brought so much carnage to cities all over the world, whether it be Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, Middle Eastern cities like Tel Aviv and  Baghdad, or cities as far off as Moscow. This monster, Sri Lanka’s version of Osama Bin Laden, will not be missed by all those who condemn terrorism in all its brutal forms. Prabhakaran’s organization is going to be remembered as one of the most fearsome terrorist groups the world has ever seen and the only one that has succeeded in assassinating a sitting world leader, two in fact: Indian President Rajiv Gandhiin 1991 and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadassa in ’91.

At the same time, we cannot forget about what the Sri Lankan government did to achieve this…it seems it took a stunning scorched-earth policy to break through Tamil Eelam and get to rebel leader Prabhakaran. I can’t help but feel a sense of horror when I think about the hundreds of civilians who were killed in shelling last week, many of whom were injured and lying in hospital beds before mortar rounds and other artillery slammed into their place of refuge, according to doctors working on site. Some of the claims made by the LTTE about civilian casualties should be met with skepticism, much like the fabrications made by Hamas during the 22-day war in Gaza at the beginning of the year. There is no doubt that the rebels used civilians as human shields, but at the same time, the Sri Lankan government bars all journalists from the war zone.  It is not possible to confirm what actually happened the jungles of northern Sri Lanka in the last months of its bloody and violent civil war. Maybe the Sri Lankan government would prefer to keep it that way.

Aside from these criticisms, I wholeheartedly congragulate Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his victory over terrorism…I think that the United States could even learn a thing or two from Sri Lanka’s war. Judging by the jubilation in the streets, its very clear that the island has had enough of war and the Sri Lankan Army knew that a strong push was necessary.  Despite everything that has happened these last few weeks and months, I have no doubt that many more people would have died if Vellupillai Prabhkaran was still plotting acts of violence from the safety of the countryside.

Sri Lankans are celebrating and they deserve it. After so many years of bombings and shoot-outs, many Sri Lankans in Colombo and all across the country must feel a sense of hope that it is over for good. Unfortunately, the only way that this can be guaranteed is if the government can do something to help the Tamil people, many of whom are feeling angry, humiliated, and threatened in the war-ravaged northeast of the country. Tens of thousands are barely getting by in refugee camps. It seems to me that these are the perfect conditions to create another Prabhkaran who can could re-ignite more political and military tension somewhere down the road. After all, the LTTE has always viewed their leader almost as a God…now he has given his own life and will be seen as a martyr throughout the Tamil community.

Before President Rajapaksa declares the war over, his government should assure the Tamil people that it will commit to helping them build new homes and lives where they will be a represented part in a unified country diverse with many ethnicities and religions, but one that puts being a Sri Lankan citizen first.

The Iraqi Blogosphere + Israel and Palestine debates = Mayhem

While we have watched Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and the people of Iraq triumph in the face of terrorism, there is another struggle, maybe even a war, that is taking place, and it is happening in the Iraqi blogosphere.

First, my friends over at Iraqi Bloggers Central have announced they are closing their doors. While this is a bit depressing, I am very happy for them…they have run the blog for 5 successful years. I don’t always agree with them–particularly Mr. Ghost, but nonetheless they have all at one time or another done something to help Iraq and its people. Jeffrey, the most frequent poster, has noted there has been a decline in English-language Iraqi blogs…my link list has quite a few of them, I might add. But on the other hand, there is a growing number of inactive Iraqi bloggers, as evident by the growing list on IBC.

Speaking of which, those blogs that have been a good read are experiencing some trouble. Iraqi Mojo has always been one of my favorite Iraqi bloggers with his spot-on analysis of the situation in Iraq and willingness to stand up for what is right. Today though, the blog has been overrun with haters, many of which come Healing Iraq, a run-down, inactive site that was run by Zeyad Kasim, who also had some good thoughts to offer at one point. Anyway, Mojo’s blog has been the center of a debate that tends to invoke nothing but hate and anger for 60 years: Israel and Palestine.

A residential neighborhood in Ramallah, the capital of the West Bank. Anyone who knows about the debate knows that this is a frequent battleground between Israelis and Palestinians.

The lines have been drawn over at Mojo’s, and commentators who were once friendly with each other are know bashing each other, tossing insults around, and getting worked up over nothing because anti-American supporters of the Iraqi “Resistance” like Arab Advocate and his side-kick, Bruno, the Afrikaner, have figured out how to stir up trouble and get their sick kicks. In the year and a half I have been commenting at Mojo’s, I have been able to avoid the discussion…I always feared that because I vehemently stand beside Israel’s right to exist and believe that Israel offers light in a region overrun by darkness I would forever be labeled a “Zionist”, a “Zionut“, or as some haters will say, a “fascist”, or a “Nazi”, words which I believe are deliberately used to cause hurt the people of the Jewish Homeland, given their historical significance.

However, when Arab Advocate calls for Israel to be “dismantled”–a codeword for “destroyed”–I have no choice but to speak up. In the midst of my defense, I have been accused of supporting “the deportation of Palestinians to Jordan”, supporting Avigdor Lieberman and his policies, supporting the West Bank settlers, and worst of all, not caring about the right of Palestinians. This stuff is so out of proportion I don’t even know where to begin. For starters, I am strongly opposed to the settlements and their inhabitants who regularly attack both innocent Palestinians and Israelis who try to protect them. I think they, alongside terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, are one of the biggest obstacles to peace in the region. Not only that, they really aren’t any different from each other. Militant Zionists like those mentioned in the above link are just as bad as the Palestinians who fire rockets and mortars into Israel. At the same time, I don’t think it makes me “anti-Palestinian” to point out that Jordan, in addition to Israel, snatched up Palestinian land in the first partition. Am I anti-Palestinian when I express my sheer outrage over what Hamas does to its own people? I hope anyone who cares about Palestinians wouldn’t think this.

Israel has no doubt done bad things in its 60 years history, while at the same time attempting to offer things that no other country in the region will offer, like free press, democracy, women’s rights, and major technological advantages, things that I believe are necessary for any society to truly succeed. Perhaps its difficult for some Americans to focus on the bad things Israel has done because they blindly support Israel for religious reasons–a means to an end, if I may say so. Or maybe its because Israel is surrounded by regimes so evil and repressive, like gender-apartheid Saudi Arabia, Bashir’s blood-soaked Sudan, and Big Q’s Libya, that it makes the settler violence seem mild in the eyes of the world.

If a fair international forum could exist, Israel would have things to answer for. Unfortunately, its nearly impossible to take the UN “Human Rights” Commission seriously when they give their posts and chairmanships to countries like the 3 mentioned above (Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia) and expect the world to take action against Israel. While the Gaza War erupted backed in December, an even worse conflict raged on in the jungles of Sri Lanka…just recently, 60 civilians were blown up by mortar fire but no one cares because this debate does not invoke political passion like Israel and Palestine do. During the the Gaza war, pro-Hamas protests broke out here in San Francisco, believe it or not. I haven’t seen any protesters in San Francisco march through the streets waving Tamil Tiger flags and calling for the destruction of the Sri Lankan government, which could meet all the same criteria of being a “racist state” as Israel might. America has provided aid to Sri Lanka and has the Tamil Tigers on their list of terrorist organizations as well.

Recently, on Angry Arab’s Comment Section, a blog I often visit, one commentator made a joke about Israeli immigrants moving to India and stealing Indian land, completely oblivious to the fact that India is already being “occupied” by Pakistan and Bangladesh, but I guess maybe its okay for these people because the occupiers are Muslims, instead of Jews. I’ve seen many of the commentators go after the Hindus of India for being the oppressive ones while falling silent over what Pakistani and Bangladeshi militants have done to India’s civilian population. And no, I am not going on an anti-Muslim rant. Any regular reader of this blog would know that I have fiercely defended Pakistan in its fight against terrorism and that its harder to find a bigger defender of the Islamic religion than myself. I just don’t think that blatant hypocrisy is fair.

My point in going on about this is that I really wish that people would completely and totally avoid this debate UNLESS they are willing to hear the other side and listen to their concerns. At the beginning of the month, I attended a debate featuring As’ad Abukhalil, the “Angry Arab” and Israeli Consul General Akiva Tor. I was disgusted by the people who claimed to be “Pro-Palestinian”–they were extremely disrespectful to the Consul General by shouting insults and yelling at him when he was trying to speak. Somewhere in the crowd, conscientious supporters of the Palestinian people must have been very embarrassed by what was happening. The event was advertised as though it would be a forum to discuss the issue…it was anything but. While it was very exciting to meet the two speakers, the “forum” managed to attract the worst of American Society.

I have met Palestinians…and I have met Israelis. Sometimes it seems they are more willing to discuss the issues than their supporters in other countries, believe it or not. Unless you are willing to bring your opponent into a cafe, drink coffee, and talk things over, you should avoid talking about anything involving Israel and Palestine for your own well-being and the well-being of others. I’ve heard that this conflict has wrecked many political careers over its perplexity and inability to be solved…I would say that the debate has wrecked many good and decent friendships over the inability to find any common ground.

Where it all began

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam–one of the world’s most fearsome and aggressive (non-Muslim as well) terrorist organizations–proved its ability to continue its campaign of violence when a female suicide bomber blew herself up among Sri Lankan soldiers who were escorting civilians out of the war-ravaged north on Monday. The media has had a fascination with female suicide attackers in Iraq, but has put almost no emphasis on where the phenomenon originated: Sri Lanka.

Contrary to what may be a popular belief, the use of women as suicide bombers did not begin after the US invaded Iraq or during a stage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It originated in the dark jungles of a remote island in the Indian Ocean, and it continues to this day. The Sri Lankan military has made many strategic gains against LTTE rebels in the island’s civil war, but unfortunately, this type of violence may never go away.

Sri Lanka bomber ‘kills dozens’

From BBC:

A female Tamil Tiger rebel has blown herself up, killing 28 people and injuring dozens more in the north-east, the Sri Lankan military says.

A military spokesman told the BBC the woman blew herself up as she travelled with civilians fleeing fighting.

He said 20 of those killed in the attack in the Vishwamadu area of Mullaitivu district were soldiers. The rebels have made no comment yet.

Thousands of civilians have fled the fighting over the past few days.

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara told the BBC: “[The civilians] were coming to an area where there were security forces. A woman in that group blew herself up when she was being checked by female soldiers.”

Brig Nanayakkara said 20 soldiers, including three women, were killed along with eight civilians. About 50 troops and 40 civilians, mostly women and children, were hurt, he said.

The injured, Brig Nanayakkara said, were being evacuated to hospitals in the area.

State television showed footage of the bodies of civilians lying on bloodstained ground in Vishwamadu.

The United Nations said it deplored the attack. Resident coordinator Neil Buhne said: “It’s a blow for people who have suffered so much.”

The rest of the story can be read here

Aid workers under attack

People sometimes forget how anyone can be fair game in a violent conflict…and aid workers, the people who try to help and put a smile on the face of the innocent people they are protecting, are no exception. In the last week, there have been several attacks and assassinations carried out by various thugs and terrorist groups operating in countries ranging from Africa to south Asia.

The latest example is an attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam against two ships carrying aid supplies to war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka. LTTE “suicide squads” rammed two motor boats packed with explosives into the vessels, damaging one and nearly sinking the other. The ruthless Tamil fighters are growing more violent as the fighting intensifies with the Sri Lankan government.

A UNHCR convoy rumbles through the countryside in Uganda

Earlier this week, aid worker Gayle Williams, a native of London, was gunned down by Taliban militants in Kabul. She was heading off to work when two men on a motorbike opened fire…the Taliban later claimed responsibility and boasted about her killing, saying the aid worker was “spreading Christianity”, whatever that is supposed to mean. Williams’ charity organization is now considering withdrawing from the country amidst the deteriorating security situation. I hope the Taliban feel proud of what they have done to the Afghan people and those who are trying to help them.

Also earlier this week, suspected rebels from the Al-Shabab insurgency in Somalia shot dead Muktar Mohamed Mohamoud, an engineer working for the children’s organization, UNICEF, in front of a tea shop. The attack came after another worker from the world food program was killed as he stepped out of a Mosque in Mogadishu.

It is a tough, dangerous, and even life-threatening line of work, but someone needs to be there to make the world a better place…even when the rest of the civilized world is too afraid to do anything about it, or too ignorant to look past their own borders.

The children of Africa.

Fighting for peace…

Some good news to report out of Sri Lanka…the government forces have made headway into the rebel-held Tamil Eelam mini-state, although it has cost the lives of almost 700 soldiers. Because the fighting has gotten so intense, the government has ordered all Aid workers out of the country. While the LTTE may be in its last throws, in order to successfully win the peace, the government needs to make sure the thousands of Tamil civilians who have been injured and displaced are taken care of. Even with the loss of their state, the LTTE will manage to survive if it can still draw up support from the local community…

Tigers on defensive as Sri Lanka military closes in

COLOMBO (AFP) — Tamil Tigers were once regarded one of the world’s most ruthlessly efficient rebels, but they risk losing their mini-state as Sri Lankan forces make a determined push after decades of bloodshed.

After months of bitter fighting, security forces have reached the outskirts of the Tiger political capital — Kilinochchi — the six-kilometre (four-mile) long township along the main A-9 highway to the Jaffna peninsula.

Aid workers who evacuated Kilinochchi this week — in line with a government order to leave ahead of an expected military show down — said bombs and artillery shells were landing just within the political offices of the Tigers.

“The military advance is getting closer to Kilinochchi and the Tigers may simply melt away,” an aid official who declined to be named said soon after leaving the north.

Sri Lanka’s top brass had said they want to take Kilinochchi before the end of the year, but defence analysts argue that it must be done sooner as monsoon rains could intensify and render heavy armour ineffective from about October.

For the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Kilinochchi is the show piece town where they hosted visiting foreign dignitaries and peace brokers.

The Tigers also maintain their ‘police headquarters,’ their ‘high courts’ and their ‘Bank of Eelam’ which functions as the quasi monetary authority of the de facto separate state within Sri Lanka.

Sometimes it might take a perspective from the other side of the world…

The most obvious goal of a blogger should be to write posts that people will want to read. With that, it might seem difficult to convince Americans that their country can learn a lesson from a tiny island nation off the coast of India…a country that many Americans probably can’t even locate on a map, name its capital, or have a good understanding of what is happening on the ground over there.

The quote below might seem sound like it is coming from a center-right candidate running for president here in the United States, or they may sound like the work of a “neocon” strategist, or maybe even George W. Bush. But they are not, instead, they are the words of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona, a name which by all means would leave just about any voter casting a ballot this November scratching their head and wondering “who?”

“There is no room for terrorism in this modern world. Terrorism is an unacceptable means of political expression”

Take a minute to realize that Kohona is a foreign minister of a country that faces terrorism on a daily basis…Sri Lankans are reminded of the grim reality of fanaticism regularly, even when we Americans are most concerned Barack Obama or John McCain accepting endorsements from a controversial figure or making “gaffes” on non-isses. The stakes will be very high in the coming months as American voters chose the next leader of the free world…and the most important issue of all remains terrorism, and the threat it poses to people of all walks of life and from all over the world. There is no doubt the issue has been politicized by both sides–some on the right have used it as a “fear mongering tool”, while others on the left continue to deny terrorism is a real threat and beat the drum saying that America is the real villain in the world, and not the homicidal fanatics who blow up innocent people and burn cities. then of course, there are the Ron Paul types, who fear our “civil liberties are being violated” in the name of counter-terrorism.

But at the end of the day, it might not hurt to have a look at a country like Sri Lanka, which is engaged in a violent power struggle with terrorists who are determined to sabotage its democratic way of life. No matter what their political beliefs, Sri Lankans who are trying to make a living and go about their lives need to do so with an eye for danger, even with the simple things, like riding a bus or a train, which is something a disgruntled businessman dissatisfied with President Bush’s handling of our efforts in Iraq probably doesn’t contemplate much.

Imagine what it might be like for a second to live in Sri Lanka, perhaps in the northern Jaffna Peninsula where the Tamil Tiger rebels engage in fierce battles with government forces on a daily basis while targeting civilians, in addition to plotting the next deadly strike against public transportation.

By the way, here is part of the article in which Foreign Minister Kohona was quoted in, which I provided a link to above. What would things be like if America was faced with a domestic terror threat like this?

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels are becoming more violent as they suffer setbacks because of a new government offensive, a top official from the war-torn South Asian nation said Saturday.

Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said the Tigers have shown no interest in negotiating for permanent peace to end 25 years of separatist violence on the island nation off southern India.

On the contrary, there is a “continuing focus on their part to resort to violence and terrorism” — evident from recent deadly train and bus bombings — Kohona told reporters on the sidelines of a regional security conference in Singapore.

“It looks like they are absolutely committed to terrorism and nothing else. Maybe because in the battlefield they have been pushed back methodically by the government and their only response is to blow up civilians,” Kohona said.

Public affairs personnel for the Tamil Tigers were not immediately available for comment.

Definitely worth thinking about, isn’t it? At least the libertarians out there who fear for our civil liberties can do so in the safety and security of an American city.

One other thing I would like to say…when I mentioned fanaticism up above, notice I was not specifically referring to “Islamist” extremists. As I have noted many times here on this blog, the LTTE–the Tamil Tigers, a terrorist group which was the focus of this post, is a devout secularist group that embraces (and often sets the bar) the same destructive means of committing brutal acts of violence against the most innocent of all people as anyone from Al-Qaeda, Hamas, or the other “Islamic” groups. It is also worth noting that the threat we here in the west are primarily concerned with, so-called Islamic terrorism, is primarily setting its sights on Muslims who refuse to go along with their ideology, which I believe betrays everything the religion of Islam teaches in the first place. The true and good Muslims in this world are in this battle with us just as much as people in Sri Lanka or any other country in the world faced with the threat of terrorism.

This is a reality that cannot be stressed enough.

Terror in Sri Lanka

From the Press Association:

A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker bombed the opening ceremony of a marathon outside Sri Lanka’s capital, killing a powerful government minister, a former Olympian and 12 others, the military said. Nearly 100 were wounded.

The bombing, the second this year to kill a senior government official, showed while the rebels might be on the defensive against a military onslaught on their heartland in the north, they retained the ability to launch devastating attacks deep in government territory.

The rebels have fought since 1983 for an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils after decades of marginalisation by governments run by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed.

Scores of runners and onlookers gathered at the starting line of the marathon in Weliweriya, about 12 miles, from Colombo, part of the national celebration of the upcoming Sinhalese New Year.

Yet again, another reminder of how dangerous the world has become.

In order to achieve real peace, war may be necessary at times

I found a very interesting article on the “Daily Mirror“, a Sri Lankan media outlet. The article is about the escalation in fighting between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, an insurgent group that is seeking the creation of an independent state and has employed many tactics that have been copied by other extremist organizations around the world. Anyway, there is a big debate in Sri Lanka and among the international community over whether or not a full-scale offensive by government forces to crush the rebel movement is the best option, or if a true peace agreement combined with aggressive diplomacy would be a better road to take. Well, the government and the LTTE have already made up their minds, and have engaged in fierce fighting in the north in recent weeks, along with the LTTE’s continued use of bombings and ambushes. The thing is though, much of this was happening even when both sides had signed onto a peace treaty.

When I read it, I couldn’t help but think of the debate here in the United States over foreign policy. How often do politicians exchange views over whether or not we should engage Iran and Syria, or demand we withdraw from Iraq even before the insurgency has been defeated. Perhaps the USA has more in common with a tiny island-nation in the Indian Ocean than we might think. The big difference though, is that Sri Lanka’s leaders are debating the next step as the fighting rages in their own backyard. Imagine if our leaders were debating the war on terrorism while it was taking place on our homeland and American cities were under siege from mortar shelling, gunfire, and suicide bombers like Sri Lanka has been dealing with for decades.

In my opinion, war is sometimes necessary to succeed in making the world a safer place in the long run, although a complex war like the one in Sri Lanka might be more difficult to address. Decisions like removing Saddam Hussein and the Taliban from power and intervening in Bosnia are certainly critical to achieving peace. No matter how hot the debate gets, sitting back and allowing someone like Saddam Hussein to massacre his own people is far from achieving “peace”, and withdrawing from Iraq early would be the same.

Diplomacy is the best option available if the two sides actually want peace. For example, conflicts like the one in Northern Ireland have been resolved by doing so. Israelis and Palestinians seem to want peace, and have been holding talks even as terror groups like Hamas do everything possible to sabotage them. In the end, that conflict will have to be resolved through dialogue, and I believe that both sides understand that given the horrendous suffering the 60-year conflict has caused.

At the same time, we cannot be nieve and live in a fantasy world. Proposals like the one being suggested by Pakistan’s new Prime Minister to “engage” with the Taliban (yes, the same Taliban that has been gleefully massacring Pakistanis with nail bombs, assassinating the country’s leaders, and setting it on a path of death and destruction) will only lead to failure.

Peace is a difficult road and there is no single solution to acheiving it.

A glimpse of the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka

This is a video from Al-Jazeera English about the tactics used by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.

In recent days, the fighting in Sri Lanka has sharply escalated as government soldiers and Tamil rebels battle each other for control of the northern Jaffna Peninsula. Dozens of civilians have also died in addition to the many combatants.

Last week, some 27 Sinhalese civilians were killed when suspected Tamil rebels ambushed their bus in the central part of the country.