Victory in a war is determined by the political leadership – Minister Sarath Weerasekera

by Saman Indrajith

The then corporal of the school cadet platoon is today a cabinet minister, while the sergeant of the same platoon now is an opposition MP, Public Security Minister Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera told Parliament on Thursday.

Participating in the budget debate under the expenditure heads of the Ministries of Defence and Public Security, the Minister said that Gampaha District SJB MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, in his speech said that he (Fonseka) gave leadership to the army to win the war and the corporal, while he was the sergeant of the school cadet platoon has now become a cabinet minister.

“It is true. I was the corporal in the cadet platoon when Fonseka was the sergeant. Today I am a cabinet minister,” Weerasekera said.

Field Marshal Fonseka: I said so without any ill-will. I wish you all the luck with your appointment. I am only asking you to take care and be vigilant of those on your side today.

Minister Weerasekera: I don’t think that our past would hinder any of us doing our duties and our present positions will harm our friendship.

Minister Weerasekara however said that he disagreed with Field Marshal Fonseka’s view that political leadership should be deprived of the credit of victory for the war. “I was one of the five top military personnel honoured at the end of the war. I admit that the army went from strength to strength under Field Marshal Fonseka, but I have to say that the victory of a war is determined by the political leadership. War is an extension of politics. There can be politics without war but there cannot be war without politics”.

He said that World War II was won by Winston Churchill. It was lost by Adolph Hitler. The names of generals and admirals come only after those names. Today, thousands of people in Vietnam are walking thousands of miles braving the sun and rain to come and respect Ho Chi Min, the political leader of the Vietnam war. They don’t come to respect the war winning general Vo Nguyen Giap.

There is a museum in honour of Ho Chi Min and no museum in the name of General Giap. Similarly, when General MacArthur tried to extend the Korean war up to China, the then US President Harry Truman removed him and appointed General Matthew Ridgeway in his place. That is how the politicians decide the outcome of a war. So it is always the political leadership that determines the victory of war, the Minister further said.

“We know that in 1987, we were very close to ending the war with the Vadamarachchi operation. The then political leadership got cold feet when India dropped lentils from the air and stopped the operation. We still remember the tears in the eyes of General Denzil Kobbekaduwa for depriving him of victory. Similarly, on May 19, 2009, we saw the end of Prabhakaran. Several days prior to that David Miliband from England and Bernard Kuchner from France came to pressure the then president and defence secretary to stop the war. If the then political leadership decided to stop the war, you would not become a hero today”, he added.

Field Marshal Fonseka: I spoke about soldiers. You speak about politicians.