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America and Sri Lanka: Terrorism Ignored? _________________________________________________________________________Swansea University E-Theses America and Sri Lanka: Terrorism ignored? Watson, Elliott L How to cite: _________________________________________________________________________ Watson, Elliott L (2010) America and Sri Lanka: Terrorism ignored?. thesis, Swansea University. http://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43109 Use policy: _________________________________________________________________________ This item is brought to you by Swansea University. Any person downloading material is agreeing to abide by the terms of the repository licence: copies of full text items may be used or reproduced in any format or medium, without prior permission for personal research or study, educational or non-commercial purposes only. The copyright for any work remains with the original author unless otherwise specified. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder. Permission for multiple reproductions should be obtained from the original author. Authors are personally responsible for adhering to copyright and publisher restrictions when uploading content to the repository. Please link to the metadata record in the Swansea University repository, Cronfa (link given in the citation reference above.) http://www.swansea.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/ris-support/ America and Sri Lanka: Terrorism Ignored? Elliott L. Watson Submitted to the University of Wales in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Swansea University 2010 ProQuest Number: 10821501 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10821501 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 UflSRW SUMMARY (Abstract) The central investigation of the thesis is an exploration of why the US has, historically, done very little in terms of assisting the various Sri Lankan governments in their fight against, what the US Department of State determined as, one of the most deadly terrorist organisations on the planet. The thesis traces the development of the US-Sri Lanka relationship from independence (1948) to present day, identifying trends and motifs in the bi-lateral connection. Once identified, these trends and motifs are used to place the American response to the emerging conflict in a clear historical context. The work makes it clear that there are unambiguous historical indicators in the US-Sri Lanka relationship that help determine the nature of it, and that these indicators become ever more apparent, even dominant, as the war between the Tamil insurgents and the Sri Lankan state intensifies. These historical indicators are then used to frame the impact of the War on Terror on America’s orientation towards the conflict. The investigation draws together the historical dynamics that have shaped, and continue to impact upon, the US-Sri Lanka relationship, giving a very definite set of parameters within which the US is prepared to accommodate the Sri Lankan state. Ultimately, the question of whether the War on Terror, prosecuted by the administration of President George W. Bush, marked a ‘turning point’ in the relationship between America and Sri Lanka is answered. The judgment, clearly supported by a broad range of original and, at times peerless, primary sources, is that the US operates a very restrictive foreign policy with Sri Lanka, and that this policy has done very little in material terms, to assist against the LTTE - despite the Bush administration’s War on Terror. CONTENTS Acknowledgements i List of Illustrations, Tables, and Graphs ii Abbreviations iii 1) Chapter 1 1 Overview of the Thesis 1 Literature Review 2 Academic Enquiry, South and South East Asia: An Introductory Comparison 2 US Interest in South Asia: An Overview 9 US-Sri Lanka Relations: An Overview 11 Academic Coverage 13 US-Sri Lanka Relations, 1948 - 1983 15 America and the Ethnic Crisis, 1983 - 2001 17 US-Lanka Relations and the War on Terror, 2001 - present 20 Chapters 24 Primary Sources: The Basis for Study 26 2) Chapter 2 32 The Origins of the Conflict and the Growth of the LTTE 32 Origins of the Conflict: Politics, Religion and Language 34 Democratic Decay 42 The Growth of the LTTE 46 3) Chapter 3 51 The Origins and Evolution of US-Sri Lanka Relations (1948 - 1983) 51 Overview 51 The Origins of the Relationship: American ‘Friendship’, Decolonisation, And Ceylon’s Cold War Dilemma 52 America and Ceylon: An Unsure Friendship, 1948 - 1983 63 The Party Perspective 65 Charting a Course 67 Indicators of Friendship 69 Attraction and Repulsion: the Duality of the US-Lanka Relationship 71 4) Chapter 4 93 American Orientation 93 America Responds to the Emerging Tension: Assigning Blame 96 A Descent into Violence: Communal Bloodshed, State Activity, and the Erosion of Civil Liberties 105 Condemnation or Sympathy? America Positions Itself Towards the Emerging Conflict 115 5) Chapter 5 124 1983: Formalising the Conflict 124 Setting the Scene 124 The Dashing of Promise and the Language of Separatism and Terrorism 129 1983: The Explosion of Terror and American Hesitancy 131 The Legacy of 1983: American Observations and Economic Imperatives 141 6) Chapter 6 150 America Proscribes the LTTE: Bombs and Bandaranaikes 150 President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the Americans: Parti 151 Chandrika and the LTTE 159 ii The International Dimension: American Re-Orientation? 164 Personality and Policy 179 The US Proscribes the LTTE: Little of Substance 182 7) Chapter 7 198 Overview 198 Sri Lanka’s War on Terror: America’s War on Terror? 199 President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the Americans: Part II 204 Twin Hopes: The Return of the UNP and the War on Terror 211 The War on Terror Years” Progress, Regress, and the Rise of Mahinda 215 8) Chapter 8 230 Aid, Assistance, and the New Millennium 230 Military Assistance: Mixed Messages? 239 Conclusion: An Island of No Importance 245 Bibliography 256 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has taken a long time to complete and, consequently, has gone through a great number of revisions. I would like to thank Professor Jon Roper, firstly for allowing me to undertake this research degree under the umbrella of the American Studies Department at Swansea and, secondly, for his tireless efforts in guiding me through the rudiments of academic research and writing. I have received encouragement in this endeavour from a variety of sources, particularly Dr. David Bewley-Taylor and Professor Phil Melling - to them I must also say thank you. Acknowledgement must be made of those people who selflessly offered their time so that I could exploit their experience and knowledge of the subjects held herein. To Barbara Crossette, Ambassador E. Ashley Wills, Ambassador Shaun E. Donnelly, Ambassador John H. Reed and, of course, Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, I owe a deep debt of gratitude. To my wife, Lalantha, I owe most of all. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, TABLES, AND GRAPHS Chapter 1 I) Fig. 1, Total US exports and imports to/from the countries of 11 South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka). Chapter 3 1) Fig. 1, Total US Economic Assistance to Ceylon in the years 70 1955-2006 2) Fig. 2, Total US Aid and Assistance to Ceylon in the years 82 1956-1965 Chapter 8 1) Fig. 1, Total USAID Assistance to Sri Lanka in the years 232 1998-2007 2) Fig. 2, Total Millennium Challenge Account Assistance to Sri Lanka,234 2004-2009 3) Fig. 3, P.L. 480 Title II Non - Emergency Assistance, to Sri Lanka 237 1998-2008 4) Fig. 4, US Development Assistance to Sri Lanka, 1998 - 2008 239 5) Fig. 5, Total US Military Assistance to Sri Lanka, 1998 - 2007 240 6) Fig. 6, International Miltary Education and Training, US to Sri Lanka,242 1999-2008 7) Fig. 7, Total US Military Assistance to Bahrain, 1998 - 2007 244 v ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank CBK Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga CID Criminal Investigation Department DCS Direct Commercial Sales DS Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake ESF Economic Support Fund FMF Foreign Military Financing FMS Foreign Military Sales FTO Foreign Terrorist Organisation HRW Human Rights Watch IMET International Military Education Training IPKF Indian Peace-Keeping Force JVP Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front) LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam MCA Millennium Challenge Account MCC Millennium Challenge Corporation MEP Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (People’s United Front) MoU Memorandum of Understanding NAM Non-Aligned Movement OEF Operation Enduring Freedom P-TOMS Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure RAW Research and Analysis Wing SLFP Sri Lanka Freedom Party SLMC Sri Lanka Muslim Congress SLMP Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (Sri Lanka’s People’s Party) STF Special Task Force SWRD Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike TUF Tamil United Front TULF Tamil United Liberation Front UN United Nations UNP United National Party USAID United States Agency for International Development CHAPTER 1 Overview of the Thesis This
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