Main Stream responds to the President’s statement on not receiving help from any country to win the war

Tuesday, 27 March 2012 

A member of the Main Stream Force that was formed by former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka during the final stages of the told Lanka News Web how the US security units helped the President who has claimed that the ending of the war in 2009 was achieved without any outside help.

The US had established a task force to prevent all LTTE activities in America following a request made by former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera from then US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in 2006.

The under cover agents had arrested LTTE members who had entered the US through the Canadian border to purchase anti aircraft missiles. They were arrested in January 2007 and their assets were taken over by the state, thereby crippling the LTTE’s arms procurement network.

The US government had taken these measures due to the good relation built with the country by the former Foreign Minister Samaraweera.

Also, on a request made by the Sri Lankan government, the US government the 7th Fleet USS Blue Ridge under the purview of the US-Hawai Pacific Fleet that was stationed in the Indian Ocean had continuously provided satellite images of the activities of the ships belonging to the LTTE, especially in the transportation of arms. The satellite images were provided to the Sri Lankan military through the US embassy in Colombo.

Since the Sri Lanka Army did not have a qualified officer to read these satellite images, the US embassy in Colombo made arrangements to grant a scholarship to Major Kelum Maddumage to follow an intense course at the Colorado Military Academy.

Afterwards, then Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda was taken to the famous Pearl Harbor in Honolulu to give him a special training on preventing activities of the LTTE that take place in 700 nautical miles off the shore in the deep seas and to pursue and attack.

Following the special training, the 7th Fleet USS Blue Ridge has provided technical assistance and supervision for the Sri Lanka Navy to carry out operations to destroy the LTTE’s activities in the deep seas based on the satellite images received by the military.

The Sri Lanka Navy managed to destroy all LTTE vessels that were transporting hi-tech military weapons and equipment in the deep seas due to the assistance received by the US military. The senior member from Main Stream said that had the 7-8 ships that contained weapons for the LTTE managed to reach the North, the final outcome of the war would have been different.

He added that more details would be revealed in future on how Israel and Britain helped to contain the LTTE. He said that Fonseka is always grateful to the assistance provided by these countries during the war since it played a key role in the final outcome.