Sri Lankan troops battle rebels in jungle

[Adsos Letter]

Source: The Associated Press
Mon, Jan 26, 2009 (12:15 a.m.)

Sri Lankan troops fought heavy battles Monday with the Tamil Tigers in the small patch of jungle that remains under rebel control, a day after government forces drove the insurgents from their last major stronghold, the military said.

With troops sweeping across the north and forcing the rebels into a broad retreat from the wide swath of land they once controlled, the military says it is close to crushing the group and ending the 25-year-old civil war in this Indian Ocean island nation.

But analysts warn that it is simply shifting from a conventional fight between two armies to a guerrilla war likely to be fought amid the hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians reportedly trapped in the jungles with the rebels.

Government forces have squeezed the rebels into a 115-square-mile (300-square-kilometer) area in the jungle, the military said.

On Sunday, the army overran the coastal town of Mullaittivu _ the last major town under rebel control.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/26/sri-lankan-troops-battle-rebels-in-jungle/

[ConsAreLiars]

1. I've been watrching that on TV - no, not US TV, there is zero there.

Al Jazeera English via the net. It's one of those "no good guys" conflicts. The Tamils were (and are) an oppressed and exploited minority, but the Tamil Tigers launched an independence and terrorism campaign as an act of resistance. A look at the map should have been enough to make the separatist goal illusory, but the Sri Lankan government (despite the Buddhist population) has never been gentle. (Remember, Burma is also Buddhist, and the US claims to be ..., and so on) I was there when socialist student protest groups were countered by having the Ceylonese (then) military apparatus murder them and toss their corpses into the rivers so that others could see the consequences of being in any opposition as hey floated toward the sea.

[Adsos Letter]

2. I have followed it in the print news for some time, whenever stories were reported.

Looks like it is just about over for the Tamil Tigers.

I'm so tired of all the killing and suffering. I wish the world would put as much effort into healing and solution-finding as it does into the negative forms of action.

So much injustice, so much deep-seated anger, and long-held animosity. So little empathy for those who hurt, here and abroad.

You have been to Sri Lanka? I understand it is quite beautiful. Sounds like you have had the pleasure of seeing a good portion of the world. That, in itself, is a real treasure.

Good night, friend.

[ConsAreLiars]

3. I hope this one conflict is ending. So many more are only intensifying.

And a kick for those who have never heard of any of this. The vast bulk of the US population is denied any real knowledge of what is happening around the world, other than a few who have found some obscure window here or there.

And yes, Sri Lanka is absolutely beautiful. The people are kind, the mountain landscapes lush, the sunsets and coastal beaches just as purely pristine and welcoming as anything one can imagine. As close, landscape wise, to paradise as I could ever imagine.

An anecdote: When hiking up to the top of the mountain through the (popular as a summer resort) town of Kandy, after the bus ended its route, I was invited into a small house for a chat ny a Brit who ID'd himself as Arthur Clark. He asked about my reading preferences. I said SF, particularly the Ace doublebooks. He asked about authors. I said I couldn't name many, Asimov, maybe another or three. He asked about the film "2001 - A Space Odyssey" and I told him it was the first film I had ever walked out of after the first 10 minutes. Of course, years later I saw a dust jacket photo of Arthur C. Clarke, and had a good laugh about an encounter that I had just seen as a minor interruption on a hill climb.