US-trained- SLA's 53 Division bears brunt of war

[4dsc]

I see this civil war restarted again..

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=19302

Amid continuing heavy fighting in the northern Jaffna peninsula, hundreds of wounded Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been brought to hospitals in and around Colombo, with hundreds more awaiting transfer from Anuradhapura, medical sources in the capital said Saturday. While the government officially says 106 soldiers have been killed in a week of fighting, defence sources in Colombo said Friday the bodies of more than 400 soldiers had been brought to the south. They said the majority of the casualties have been borne by the SLA’s elite 53 Division.

[whistle]

1. I needed to get some background on this conflict which I got here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_conflict_in_Sri_Lanka

Why is the U.S. training the SLA?

<snip from this link>
Resumption of hostilities

A new crisis, and possibly the resumption of war, emerged in July 2006. The Sri Lankan government claimed the LTTE was blocking a sluice gate in the north-east that provided water to civilians. The Air Force attacked LTTE positions and ground troops began an operation to open the gate.

This prompted the Head of the SLMM to state: "It is definitely the wrong method. It is definitely overkill if you want the water. We sat talking and got clearance from the government and tried to convince the LTTE to have confidence in the government...They dropped a bomb in the vicinity. That's not the right signal."<28>

Following these moves, LTTE political leader S Elilan announced an end to the cease-fire of 2001. Palitha Kohona, a government spokesman, stated that the government is committed to the cease-fire. However, fierce fighting erupted in the vicinity of the gate as well as in Trincomalee. Fighting near the Muslim-majority town of Muttur in early August killed at least 30 civilians and displaced 22 000 residents of the area<29><30>.

The LTTE eventually withdrew from the town of Muttur and it seemed an end to the stalemate was in sight as Norwegian mediators persuaded the Tamil rebels to reopen the sluice gates. However as SLMM truce monitors and rebels approached the reservoir area, the Sri Lankan military recommenced artillery attacks thus forestalling the expected reopening of the gates <31>.

This attack on the rebels and SLMM officials prompted condemnation from SLMM Chief Tommy Lekenmyr, who stated "(The government) have the information that the LTTE has made this offer." "It is quite obvious they are not interested in water. They are interested in something else," "We will blame this on the government." <32>
<more at link>

[bemildred]

2. Doesn't look like the training has had the desired effect. nt

[sweetheart]

3. Symbianese Liberation Army

Gosh, for a minute there, patty hearst was still robbing banks...

[DavidDvorkin]

4. That's what I thought of first, too.

[sweetheart]

7. "Symbionese" - i spelt it wrong

Amongst anti-prison activists within the New Left it was a common belief that America's prisons were concentration camps designed to repress African Americans. This led some sections of the radical left to believe that all African Americans were political prisoners, and that Black power ideology would naturally appeal to all prisoners. Group member Willie Wolfe developed this ideology into a plan for action, linking student ideologists with prisoner militants (Stone 2004)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbionese_Liberation_Army

The statistical evidence i've seen supports the observation of the SLA, as for the militarncy part,
well we heard the pathetic drama, trivialized to be about a newspaper heress instead of anything
really, a seed sprouted of yellow journalism in to life, to read us all mislead...

[4dsc]

5. Sivamaharajah assassinated

This is a very dirty war with many assassinations on both sides..

Managing Director of Jaffna Tamil daily "Namathu Eelanadu" and the veteran chairman of Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society (MPCS) in Tellippalai, Jaffna, Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, 68, was shot and killed at his temporary residence inside the High Security Zone of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Tellippalai Sunday night around 7:20 p.m. Mr. Sivamaharajah is a former parliamentarian (TULF) and a senior member of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the main constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=19318

[bemildred]

6. You have to wonder what "low security" zones are like ... nt