International Relations
in a Multi Lateral World

United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Jeffrey Lunstead:
The Return of the Ugly American?
- the arrogance & mostly, the incompetence -

10 January 2006

"...In the case of individuals, we do not conclude that wealth brings with it, wisdom. It is the same with countries. Wisdom is not always a function of gross national product... Ambassador Lunstead and the Bush Administration that he represents may want to pay attention to the words of  Marcus Aurelius "Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too."

TamilNet Report of US Ambassador's Speech to American Chamber of Commerce in Colombo,9 January 2006 together with comments by tamilnation.org
An Open Letter to Jeffrey Lunstead, US Ambassador for Sri Lanka  from V.Thangavelu, Canada, 10 January 2006
An Open Letter to the US Ambassador from Professor Aaron Rajah, San Diego, California, USA, 12 January 2006
Group Response by US Ambasssador, 17 January 2006
Response by Ilankai Thamil Sangam, USA, 20 January 2006
US Tamils question timing of Ambassador Lunstead's speech, 22 January 2006
 

Excerpts from the US Ambassador's address:

"Through our USAID program, we are helping to increase the competitiveness of Sri Lankan industries, we are helping Sri Lanka rebuild after the tsunami, and we are supporting efforts to help people realize the benefits of peace."

comment by tamilnation.org:

Ambassador Lunstead  did not find it necessary to explain how US aid will reach those affected by the Tsunami in the NorthEast now that  Sri Lanka had reneged on the P-TOMS agreement - an agreement which it had solemnly signed, and which agreement had the support of the US.

"Through our military training and assistance programs, including efforts to help with counterterrorism initiatives and block illegal financial transactions, we are helping to shape the ability of the Sri Lankan Government to protect its people and defend its interests."

comment by tamilnation.org: 

Shaping the ability of the Sri Lankan government to protect the Tamil people may appear to many like shaping the ability of the fox to guard the chickens. Sri Lanka's record of torture, rape, extra judicial killings and mass graves, speaks for itself . So does the strident voice of  Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalism. But then, it may be that ambassador Lunstead did not have the Tamil people in mind.  As for 'military training and assistance programs', some in  Ambassador Lunstead's audience may have concluded that this was yet another  instance of the application of the well worn doctrine "we supply  training and arms, you supply the lives". 

"Let me be clear, our military assistance is not given because we anticipate or hope for a return to hostilities. We want peace. We support peace. And we will stand with the people of Sri Lanka who desire peace."

comment by tamilnation.org:  

It would have been helpful if Ambassador Lunstead had proclaimed his desire for justice in equally ringing tones. After all 'peace' comes in many forms. There is for instance, the peace of the grave yard. Justice is the goal. Peace is a result. And it is not the other way round.

"The would be conqueror is always a lover of peace, for he would like to enter and occupy our country unopposed. It is in order to prevent him from doing this that we must be willing to engage in war and be prepared for it." -  Clausewitz quoted in Philosophers of Peace and War, edited by Professor Gallie

"If the LTTE chooses to abandon peace, however, we want it to be clear, they will face a stronger, more capable and more determined Sri Lankan military. We want the cost of a return to war to be high."

comment by tamilnation.org:

Ambassador Lunstead showed his care for the Tamil people by his silence on  Sri Lanka reneging on the Oslo declaration and rejecting an exploration of the federal model. And he extended  his silence to some other matters as well....

(1) The rape and murder of 19 years old Tamil girl Eliyathamby Tharshini on December 16, 2005 by Sri Lanka naval personnel at Pungudutivu.

(2) The  murder of Joseph Pararajasingham, M.P. on December 25, 2005  in Batticaloa

(3) The shooting of 5 Tamil students on  2 January 2006 at Trincomalee by the Sri Lanka Military

(4) The daily arrests, cordon and search operations, extra-judicial killings, assaults, sexual harassment and abductions of Tamils by the Sinhala security forces.

Ambassador Lunstead made no call to the Sri Lanka government to abandon its continuing racist attacks on the people of Tamil Eelam in the shadow of the ceasefire. Hopefully, he may come to recognise the wisdom in the words of  David Edwards - "...It is not virtuous, or even amoral, to remain silent while terrible crimes are perpetrated.. – sometimes to be silent is to lie."

"Now you may be asking, why is the American Ambassador using such blunt language at a gathering of the business elite? What has this got to do with our businesses or our interests?"

comment by tamilnation.org:

Actually, the audience may not have been asking these questions. It is unlikely that they were unaware that ' imperialism is an institution under which one nation asserts the right to ... control the government or resources of another people.' (John T. Flynn ) And some of them may have even  read  something which George Kennan, Director of Policy Planning of the U.S. Dept. of State said as long ago as 1948 in a State Department Briefing  about being blunt -

"...We should dispense with the aspiration to “be liked” or to be regarded as the repository of a high-minded international altruism...We should cease to talk about vague and - for the Far East - unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better..."

"As I said in the beginning, it is imperative that the business community become seized with the peace process. For the peace and prosperity message to take hold, people need to understand better the prosperity element.

Mahinda Chintana raises the issue of promoting rural-growth, something that is needed if the country as a whole is going to prosper in the years ahead. You can’t allow growth to leave huge segments of the population behind.

Nonetheless, a focus on 'home grown' solutions, that ignores the lessons learned of the global community and that fails to take advantage of what we in the US call OPM – 'other people’s money' – will only lead to further stagnation and continued growth far below its potential.

Let me read some recent newspaper headlines, some which actually appeared and some which might have been.

Here is one from last week's Wall Street Journal: 'Intel explores Sri Lanka as site for chip plant.'

No that is not the real headline, the real one is: 'Intel explores Vietnam as site for chip plant.'

Here is another one from the Wall Street Journal:  'Microsoft targets India and Sri Lanka in $1.7 billion expansion.' 

Well, no, 'Sri Lanka' was not in that headline. The article continues that in addition to Microsoft's investment, Intel would invest over $1 billion in India, and that SemIndia would invest $3 billion to use AMD technology to produce microprocessor chips."

comment by tamilnation.org: 

"As the country that benefits most from global economic integration, we have the responsibility of making sure that this new system is sustainable.. The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist - McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell-Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps....The global system cannot hold together without an activist and generous American foreign and defense policy. Without America on duty, there will be no America Online... There is a saying in Silicon Valley that "loyalty is just one mouse-click away." But you can take that too far. Execs there make boasts like: "We are not an American company. We are I.B.M. U.S., I.B.M. Canada, I.B.M. Australia, I.B.M. China." Oh, yeah? Then, the next time I.B.M. China gets in trouble in China, call Jiang Zemin for help. And the next time Congress closes another military base in Asia, call Microsoft's navy to secure the sea lanes of the Pacific. And the next time Congress wants to close more consulates and embassies, call Amazon.com to order a new passport..."  Thomas Friedman, "A Manifesto for the Fast World", New York Times Magazine, March 28, 1999

"And there are many other similar stories. Now I am not suggesting that Sri Lanka could or should compete with India. What I am suggesting is that there is an enormous amount of foreign investment going on, and Sri Lanka is not getting its share."

comment by tamilnation.org:

In the case of individuals, we do not conclude that wealth brings with it, wisdom . The same is true of countries. Wisdom is not always a function of gross national product. Ambassador Lunstead and the Bush Administration that he represents may want to pay attention to the words of  Marcus Aurelius: "Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too."

Additionally,  Ambassador Lunstead and his  Sinhala audience in Colombo may want to pay heed to the words of  K.M.Pannikar, Indian Ambassador to China from 1948 to 1952, and later Vice Chancellor, Mysore University in Principles and Practice of Diplomacy1956 -

"..Foreign Ministers and diplomats presumably understand the permanent interests of their country.. But no one can foresee clearly the effects of even very simple facts as they pertain to the future. The Rajah of Cochin who in his resentment against the Zamorin permitted the Portuguese to establish a trading station in his territories could not foresee that thereby he had introduced into India something which was to alter the course of history. Nor could the German authorities, who, in their anxiety to create confusion and chaos in Russia, permitted a sealed train to take Lenin and his associates across German territory, have foreseen what forces they were unleashing. To them the necessity of the moment was an utter breakdown of Russian resistance and to send Lenin there seemed a superior act of wisdom..."

And, finally, we would like to leave Ambassador Lunstead with the words of a fellow American, Howard Zinn -

"..the struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the apparent overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem invincible in their determination to hold on to it. That apparent power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to human qualities less measurable than bombs and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, patience - whether by blacks in Alabama and South Africa, peasants in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Vietnam, or workers and intellectuals in Poland, Hungary and the Soviet Union itself. No cold calculation of the balance of power need deter people who are persuaded that their cause is just...".The Optimism of Uncertainty - Howard Zinn, November 2004

It is reassuring for the United States as well as for the rest of us,  that not all Americans are ugly Americans.
 

His Excellency Jeffrey Lunstead
US Ambassador for Sri Lanka
Colombo.

Your Excellency

Your outburst against the LTTE is unwarranted, uncalled for and totally biased. You seem to be oblivious by design or through inadvertence to the ground situation in the Northeast.

You have held out a threat that “if the Tigers chose to "abandon peace," they will face a "stronger, more capable and more determined" Sri Lankan military.” No doubt this will be sweet music and will certainly embolden the racist Sinhala government...

Thamil Nation is a small Nation, but a proud Nation. We are proud of our 2,500 years history, language and civilization. The language we speak is 2500 years old and our Thamil grammar treatise is 2,300 years old...

You seem to feign ignorance of the fact that President Mahinda Rajapakse came to power promising to jettison the federal model, concept of Homeland, self-determination, expel or curtail Norway’s role as the facilitator. In other words Mahinda Rajapakse showed his back to the Oslo Declaration and put the clock 50 years back to the Bandaranaike era.

You claim “"Through our military training and assistance programs, including efforts to help with counterterrorism initiatives and block illegal financial transactions, we are helping to shape the ability of the Sri Lankan Government to protect its people and defend its interests" but Your Excellency which people you are referring to? It cannot be Thamil people since more than 1,000 families have bolted from Sinhala army controlled Jaffna to LTTE controlled Vanni during the last one week.

Your Excellency either you are suffering from selected amnesia or feigning ignorance of the following killings, rape etc committed by the Sinhala occupation army since Mahinda Rajapakse came to power.

(1) The rape and murder of 19 years old Thamil girl Eliyathamby Tharshini on December 16, 2005 by Sri Lanka naval personnel at Pungudutivu which has deeply wounded the psyche of the Thamil women.

(2) The dastardly murder of Joseph Pararajasingham, M.P. on December 25, 2005 at St. Mary’s Church while attending midnight mass by Sri Lankan army intelligence and/or para-military groups.

(3) The shooting of 5 innocent Thamil students on January 02, 2006 at Trincomalee by a Special Task Force dispatched by defence advisor H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya, a notorious racist and stalwart of the Jathika Hela Urumaya.

(4) The daily arrests, cordon and search operations, extra-judicial killings, assaults, sexual harassment and disappearances by the Sinhala army.

As I said at the beginning Thamil Nation is a small Nation but a proud Nation. If a super power wants to exterminate us so be it. But our people will not die kneeling, they shall die standing...
Yours sincerely

V.Thangavelu

"...I am assuming you still believe in a united Sri Lanka framework and still consider the north-east Tamils as Sri Lankan. As such, can you list your engagement of opposition in the continuous rape, murder and missing persons in north-east Sri Lanka? Your lack of condemnations on the recent Tamil student killings in Tricomalee is simply a litmus test upholding your continuous belief that Sri Lanka is a homogeneous society that only consists of a Singhalese majority..."

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

I had an opportunity to read the entire transcript of your speech on “Peace and Prosperity: US Policy Goals in Sri Lanka 2006” addressed to the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka on January 9th, 2006. In your speech, you mentioned some core issues regarding the current peace process in Sri Lanka. Forgive me for cherry picking some issues, which I would like for you to clarify regarding some unanswered questions in your speech.

1. “the LTTE’s current actions call into question it’s leadership of the Tamil people. What kinds of leaders block their people from realizing their most fundamental democratic aspirations?”

I am assuming that you are commenting on the recently concluded Sri Lankan presidential election and your own view of the Tamil people in the north-east LTTE controlled area which was not allowed to participate in the election process. On the contrary, Mr. Ambassador, Tamil people have always believed in a democratic movement to relieve their pain and suffering from the Singhalese majority. In fact, if you look at the democratic process for the last sixty years, the Tamils have elected leaders to deliver their message of “self determination” to the Singhalese majority politicians, only to be ridiculed by the Sinhalese politicians and thru thuggery of state paramilitary. In the recent brutal murder of democratically elected Tamil law maker, Mr. Joseph Parajasingaham, on Christmas mass day in a Christian church, your silence in not condemning such a brutal attack on Tamil elected leaders only concreted the Tamil’s despise of the electoral process.

2. “What kind of leaders allow their people to continue to suffer from a lack of investment and industry?”

What types of industry are available in north-east Sri Lanka? Is investment possible in north-east Sri Lanka without the approval of the Sinhalese government? In addition, P-TOMS that were approved by the co-chairs of the peace committee have been blocked by the hard-line Singhalese; your reluctance to even comment about such paramount events that hallmark wealth sharing have caused the situation to be quite conveniently ignored. As the saying goes, “a family that shares together stays together. Without the P-TOMS, how do you expect poor Tamil people to have investments and industries?

3. “…….in helping the legitimate governing bodies of Sri Lanka to prepare for their roles in developing and protecting their citizens.”

I am assuming you still believe in a united Sri Lanka framework and still consider the north-east Tamils as Sri Lankan. As such, can you list your engagement of opposition in the continuous rape, murder and missing persons in north-east Sri Lanka? Your lack of condemnations on the recent Tamil student killings in Tricomalee is simply a litmus test upholding your continuous belief that Sri Lanka is a homogeneous society that only consists of a Singhalese majority.

4. “Through our USAID program, we are helping to increase the competitiveness of Sri Lankan industries, we are helping Sri Lanka rebuild after the tsunami…..”

Again, I am assuming that you are a strong subscriber of a united Sri Lanka, thus what are the USAID programs that you have initiated in north-east Sri Lanka? Please be specific on these issues.

5. “Home grown solutions, that ignore the lessons learned of the global community and that lessons learned of the global community that fails to take advantage of what we in the US…..”

In this particular part of your speech, you are referring to the “Mahida-Chinthanaya” of home grown products to enhance and empower the local people while other countries are working towards technology and export. You have made a good observation of pit falls on such economical policies; and just like the flawed economical policies, you could have noted the failed policies on the ethnic issue. While the rest of the world has evolved with globalization, pluralism, and federalism, Sri Lankan Sinhalese leaders are going backwards in terms of a unitary state which has failed to deliver peace for the last sixty years for its own people. You have sadly decided to ignore the jump on the bandwagon of federalism; this explicates to me very little encouragement towards real peace in Sri Lanka.

6. “Let me be clear, our military assistance is not given because we anticipate or hope for a return to hostilities”.

If the military assistance is not provided to encourage the Sri Lankan government to return to war, can you be specific as to why the military assistance is given during a time of peace talks? In similarity, one would compare this puzzling plight to visiting a candy store and stating “I came to see your candies, but not because I wish to buy them.” Military assistance is provided for a specific reason and one must be upfront about that reason; failure can only influence a continuous mistrust that the Tamil minority people have in American foreign policies in Sri Lanka. I look forward to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Professor Aaron Rajah, San Diego, California
The United States of America.
 

I have received many communications regarding the speech I gave at the American Chamber of Commerce last week - so many that I do not have any time to respond individually to each one. So I hope you will forgive this group response.

Let me first make several points about US policy towards Sri Lanka:

· The US believes there is no military solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic problem -only a political solution.

· Sri Lankan Tamils have legitimate grievances which must be addressed in any solution.

· The only practical way to address them is through some type of devolution of power.

The political process which began with the ceasefire in 2002 offered great hope to settle this issue. Unfortunately that process foundered, for a number of reasons. Some blame lies with successive governments in Colombo and with other political forces in the South; some blame also lies with the LTTE.

Some have complained about my comments regarding the LTTE. However, I do not see how the factual nature of these comments can be denied.

· The LTTE prevented Tamils in the North and East from voting in the November 2005 Presidential election. This was not a spontaneous decision by Tamils. Rather, it was enforced by the LTTE, a fact observed by election monitors from our own Mission and from the EU. This deprived Tamils of their political rights.

· The LTTE, beginning in the period before the elections, and in an enhanced mode since the election, has flagrantly violated the ceasefire. LTTE actions include: the assassination of Foreign Minister Kadirgamar, numerous claymore mine attacks, and the recent suicide attack against a Sri Lankan Navy vessel.

The Government of Sri Lanka also has obligations, of course. As the US and the other Co-Chairs have noted several times, most recently in Brussels in December, the Government must act to prevent paramilitary groups from carrying out violent acts. The Government must also ensure that its forces act properly at all times. We have made these points both publicly and privately.

In my speech I mentioned the modest US government military assistance program in Sri Lanka. As I said, the purpose of this program is not to encourage a return to war, but to make a return to peace more likely, by making it clear that a war will be more costly and unsuccessful.

One writer asked me why there were no USAID programs in the North and East. This is untrue. Since shortly after the ceasefire, USAID has been running numerous programs throughout the North and East, through USAID offices in Trincomalee and Ampara. These programs are a direct result of the peace process and are intended to show the benefits of that process. If war breaks out again, they will have to end. This is part of a larger pattern. Since the ceasefire, multilateral agencies--like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank--and bilateral donors have initiated a number of programs in the North and East. If there is progress onpeace, these programs can continue and expand. If there is a return to war, they will end.

As I said in my speech, this is a crucial time for Sri Lanka. If the LTTE continues its provocative actions, we may see a return to outright war -- in which everyone will suffer.

There is always a chance for a change for the better, however. As the US has made clear many times, if the LTTE renounces terrorism in word and deed, US policy towards the LTTE can change. The Government of Sri Lanka also must take serious steps to make peace possible.

Many people saw only the press reports of my speech, and not the entire text. If you have not read the entire text, I have attached a copy. The theme of the speech is in its title: "Peace and Prosperity." We continue to believe that these two goals are achievable in Sri Lanka, and that they will benefit all Sri Lankans. The Tamils of Sri Lanka, who have suffered the most, will benefit the most.

As I said earlier, both parties--the Government and the LTTE--share the blame for the lack of progress in the peace process and the slide towards renewed fighting, and both must take positive steps to reverse that trend.

With hopes for an end to the fighting and for a better future for all Sri Lankans, I am

Sincerely yours,
Jeff Lunstead

"Whatever his intention or the limits of his authority, Mr. Lunstead has helped harden the respective positions of the LTTE and of the strong Sinhala chauvinist elements in the Government, and especially the military (which is virtually all Sinhala). He has seriously complicated the difficult and delicate task of Mr. Solheim in getting the two sides to resume political contact, and also raised serious questions about the US role in the peace process.The clarification of his speech, which he issued on January 17, does little by way of repairing the damage. He was disingenuous in explaining his clear threat to the LTTE as just a statement of the obvious – that “ war will be more costly and unsuccessful”."

---

We have been very concerned about the speech delivered by Ambassador Lunstead to the American Chamber of Commerce in Colombo on January 9, which was not only heavily partisan in favor of the Government, but also contained an overt US threat directed at only the LTTE if war were to resume.

He singled out the LTTE for the warning “we want the cost of a return to war to be high”. He said “We want it to be clear they (the LTTE) will face a more capable and more determined Sri Lankan military”.

Regrettably, these remarks, which are seen by Tamil people as directed equally against them, are typical of Mr. Lunstead, who has long shown utter and even dismissive insensitivity to even existential Tamil concerns. Nothing symbolizes his disdain more than his refusal to express sympathy about, let alone condemn the murder of senior Tamil Parliamentarian Pararajasingham, committed by the Sri Lankan security forces (as admitted by President Rajapakse to the Tamil Parliamentarians on 18 January 2006, reported in Sunday Leader of 22 January 2006) or about Tamil civilian victims of continuing serious human rights violations by the military.

In the Tamil view, Mr.Lunstead has consistently followed a course which has set back the peace process, and thereby has also not served US interests well.

The partisan content of his speech, its deliberately provocative message to the LTTE, as well as its timing, raise many serious questions about US role in the peace process.

One central question is why did Mr. Lunstead engage in such a reckless exercise at a time of great risk to the peace process, and just a few days before Mr. Erik Solheim’s visit, which everyone was looking to as the only way of defusing an extremely dangerous situation. As Mr. Lunstead himself admitted in his speech, an address to the business elite was not a natural venue for such “ blunt language”

It is also a mystery why he made this speech only a few days before the arrival of Under Secretary Burns to make a first hand assessment of the situation.

Whatever his intention or the limits of his authority, Mr. Lunstead has helped harden the respective positions of the LTTE and of the strong Sinhala chauvinist elements in the Government, and especially the military (which is virtually all Sinhala). He has seriously complicated the difficult and delicate task of Mr. Solheim in getting the two sides to resume political contact, and also raised serious questions about the US role in the peace process.

The clarification of his speech, which he issued on January 17, does little by way of repairing the damage. He was disingenuous in explaining his clear threat to the LTTE as just a statement of the obvious – that “ war will be more costly and unsuccessful”.

We are confident that Mr. Lunstead has not correctly represented US policy on the peace process. We sincerely hope that Mr. Burns, who fortunately will be in Sri Lanka during Mr. Solheim’s visit, will clarify to everyone what US policy is at this critical time, and help revive the peace track.

Association of Tamil Americans
Center for Women’s Development and Rehabilitation –
USA Tamil Heritage International – USA
Federation of Tamil Association of North America (FeTNA)– USA
Illankai Tamil Sangam – California, USA
Illankai Tamil Sangam – Florida, USA
Illankai Tamil Sangam – USA
Illankai Tamil Sangam - Vancouver-Portland – Washington
Midwest Tamil Sangam - Illinois
Ohio Tamil Association - Ohio
Tamil Refugees Rehabilitation Organization - California
World Tamil Organization - Illinois
World Tamil Women Organization – USA