High-ranking US government officials and Pentagon military observers
High-ranking US government officials and Pentagon military observers
High-ranking US government officials and Pentagon military observers – including special forces trainers – frequently travel to Colombo and the battlefields.
Trainers from the US Army’s Green Parade, a special forces unit, have been providing combat training to Sinhalese troops for a long time. Now, trainers from the US Navy’s “SEAL” commando unit – to improve the combat skills of the Sinhalese navy – have come to Colombo.
Meanwhile, US officials who visit the northern and eastern fronts in person are staying at Sinhalese army bases and holding meetings and consultations with Sinhalese army commanders.
Meanwhile, US officials are providing high-tech military equipment to the Sinhalese army. It is sending modern spy equipment and trainers to Sri Lanka to try to identify the launch sites of the LTTE to destroy their motorized artillery, which has become a nightmare for the Sinhalese troops.
Overall, the US government is paying serious attention to strengthening the Sri Lankan government’s military strength and increasing its military intervention in Sri Lanka’s ethnic war.
The US government, which provides military assistance in the form of training and equipment and provides military support to the Sinhalese government, is also taking steps to bring Sri Lanka into its sphere of influence through political and diplomatic channels.
In the past few years, key officials appointed by the US government to protect its “national” interests in the South Asian region, where Sri Lanka is located, have been visiting Colombo frequently and holding secret talks with the Sinhalese rulers.
Most recently, Karl Inderfuth, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, and Bruce Rivell, the US National Security Council’s Deputy Director for South Asian Affairs, along with US Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson, visited Colombo and met with Chandrika and her representatives.
The US administration, which had been providing various political support to Chandrika’s government, has included the LTTE in its list of terrorist organizations, thereby providing political and moral support to the Sinhalese government’s war effort and has also brought the Sinhalese government under its control.
Meanwhile, the US is also dominating the economy of Sri Lanka in terms of material aid and investments. It is well known that the US is trying to take control of a large area of land to extract mineral resources and for radio and telecommunications. By providing economic assistance to the Sinhalese government, which is struggling with the cost of the war, the United States is leading it to a situation where it is inciting war and holding the wealth of Sri Lanka on its shoulders.
Meanwhile, the United States is also interested in setting up a large radio science station in the Chilaw region. Some suspect that the United States is trying to create a telecommunications hub in Sri Lanka through the broadcasting station. They also fear that this could act as an operational center for American intelligence in the region.
In this way, the United States is making military, political, economic and intelligence interventions on Sri Lanka. It is making a concerted effort to bring the island within its sphere of influence. This American invasion began to gain momentum after the Chandrika government took office.
The United States has accelerated its intervention in Sri Lanka under the guise of helping the Sri Lankan government eliminate terrorism by declaring the LTTE a terrorist organization and using it as an excuse.
The most important factor in America’s efforts to bring Sri Lanka into its sphere of influence is its superpower interests in the region.
It considers Sinhala as a state with favorable features that can establish its dominant influence in the South Asian region consisting of India-Sri Lanka – Pakistan-Bangladesh-Nepal-Bhutan and Maldives.
In addition, Sri Lanka is a maritime military center in the Indian Ocean region. Although the US government has sent its naval commando team, the ‘SEAL’ division, to assist the Sinhalese army in the ethnic war in Sri Lanka, beyond that assistance, it is certain that the ‘SEAL’ commandos will also secretly conduct some military surveys in the Indo-Sri Lankan sea area in the future, considering the future needs.
Meanwhile, the distrust that the Sri Lankan government has with India, the largest country in this region, has strengthened the choice of the United States.
The Sri Lankan government is fundamentally anti-Indian in nature. From time to time, it has openly expressed its anti-Indian stance. The Sinhalese government adopted a pro-Chinese stance during the Indo-China war, which threatened India’s national security. During the Bangladesh Liberation War, which was supported by India, the Indian government banned Pakistani fighter jets from flying over its territory (Indian territory separates Pakistan and Bangladesh). In this situation, the Sinhalese government acted against India by allowing Pakistani fighter jets to fly over the island of Sri Lanka – and to go around India to Bangladesh.
India has been blind to the recent expansion of American influence over the island of Sri Lanka. The main reason for this is India’s domestic political crisis. Due to the lack of stable governance, the Indian government has been stagnant for the past few years. Since the Indian government has been spending a lot of time unraveling the knots of domestic political problems, it has been blind to the American intervention that is spreading like a cancer in its backyard.
If it wants to firmly protect its dominant interests in the South Asian region, the United States wants the entire island of Sri Lanka to be under the iron grip of the Sinhala government’s unitary rule. That is why it is militarily suppressing the Tamil liberation war and providing all kinds of assistance to the Sinhala government to protect the unitary system of Sri Lanka. This stance of the United States encourages the Sinhala government to intensify its war with the Tamils.
– Viduthulai Puligal Magazine.
– April 1998.
– Edited by: Tamilarasan Abdulkadhar
(Translation by Tamilpriya)
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