Sri Lanka declares war over, Tamil Tiger leader dead

AFP ^ | 05/18/09

[TigerLikesRooster]

Sri Lanka declares war over, Tamil Tiger leader dead

by Amal Jayasinghe Mon May 18, 4:09 pm ET

COLOMBO (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government on Monday declared an end to its decades-old conflict with the Tamil Tigers, after routing the remnants of the rebel army and killing its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The army said its commandos overran the last sliver of Tiger territory, killing the last 300 fighters and decimating the rebel leadership. It said Prabhakaran and two deputies were shot dead trying to flee in a van and ambulance.

"We have successfully ended the war," the island's powerful defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, told the president Monday in a nationally televised ceremony.

Army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka also declared an end to all combat operations.

[omega4179]

The Limbaugh doctrine-Victory is peace.

[vladimir998]

I think this is great...and long overdue. God bless the people of Sri Lanka for defeating the people who invented suicide bombing!

[Niuhuru]

Ah yes, and now we get to enjoy it. I’m glad they were shot dead instead of being taken to a posh jail to be ‘tried’ in the useless Hague.

[Prodigal Son]

Wow. After so long...

[fish hawk]

You don't need an exit strategy if you go in and kill them all. Way to go! That is how a war is supposed to be fought.

[denydenydeny]

But...but...The New York Times told me that fighting terrorists only makes more terrorists, and that you can only end terror by addressing the “root causes.”

They couldn’t be wrong, could they?

[null and void]

I was going to ping you...

[supremedoctrine]

Hey, I got news for you , deny.....
The New York Times COULD be wrong.
They could. But not very often.
And besides , sometimes wrong is right.

[Cicero]

Great news. The Tamil Tigers were about the stupidest “revolutionaries” there ever were. Constant violence for decades, turmoil and suffering, and all for what? It was never even clear what the hell they wanted, other than sheer cussedness.

[GAB-1955]

Tom Kratman, in “A Desert Called Peace,” noted Patton was to have said any army that does not surrender when the enemy has closed to 300 meters forfeits the right to do so under the real customs of war.

[river rat]

I am most impressed with the wisdom that prevented the taking of prisoners...
These folks needed to be destroyed - to the last one.

We could learn a LOT from them.

[myknowledge]

No more LTTE. No more Velupillai Prabhakaran. It’s history now.