Rohan Gunaratna is masterminding a ‘cover-up’ for Sri Lanka and its president, and it’s already under-way. He reveals his strategy sitting in Singapore where he is an Associate Professor at The Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS). His first point of attack is to dismantle the Global Tamil Forum (GTF).
Gunaratna is a self-proclaimed “terrorism expert”, who has built his career on lies, who is a genius at false propaganda and known for his unsubstantiated and exaggerated opinions including inflating his CV with positions that have been found to be non-existent, has come up with a three point master plan to salvage the rapidly eroding fortunes of Rajapakse, to help him escape possible charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity amounting to Genocide; the allegations are that crimes were committed with his full knowledge and orders. Rajapakse who as the President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces along with his brother Gotabaya Rajapakse, Secretary of Defense led the offensive against Tamil civilians who had taken refuge in the ‘no fire zone’ and is responsible for the ‘slaughter’ of more than 20,000 and more likely close upon 40,000 people.
In all probability Gunaratna must have given Rajapakse a call soon after the Oxford Union debacle on strategies that Sri Lanka needs to follow; Rajapakse was earlier reportedly in despair telling James Harding and Ben Macintyre of The Times that his government’s propaganda machinery is “weak”. The cancellation of Rajapakse’s Oxford Union speech is a “wake-up call” for the Sri Lankan foreign office according to Gunaratna. This means Sri Lanka has got to spread more lies and the ‘expert on lies’ is on hand master-minding the cover-up. Rajapakse told The Times that “Sri Lanka never killed any civilians as such.” The word ‘such’ is ominous and revealing; it came out of Rajapakse’s mouth without his knowing.
“The Sri Lankan government needs a proper communication strategy and plan, to bring out the reality of what happened in Sri Lanka. They can point out that the civilian deaths in Sri Lanka is much lower as a percentage compared to the civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan by US and British troops,” says Gunaratna revealing his scheme of approach.
The noose is tightening on Rajapakse, as strong and compelling evidence has emerged that Rajapakse “bears much of the responsibility, along with his government, generals and some of his family for the mass killings that marked the end of the war with the Tamil Tigers…” These words coming from US ambassador to Sri Lanka PATRICIA A. BUTENIS no less, as revealed by the cables she sent to the US government now in the public domain due to ‘Wiki Leaks’, reiterating what others have said including the British media and many International NGOs with gruesome video footage authenticated by the UN showing Sri Lankan troops killing Tamils.
Further, Channel 4 News has revealed that Sri Lankan army personnel have confessed that the Tamil killings were ordered from the top and that many were executed in the battlefield even as they surrendered: “Kill everybody and finish them off that’s what Sri Lankan soldiers say they were told in the final stages of their battle with the Tamil Tigers. A year after the conflict a senior army commander and a front line soldier have both spoken to Channel 4 news about the ruthless nature of their task. They told both Tamil fighters and civilians were executed after surrendering and that their orders came from the top,” Channel 4 News reported earlier.
Talking to Tharindu Prematillake in Singapore for The Nation, Gunaratna stipulates the steps required for his plan, essentially elaborating on the kind of work he has always been doing for a living all along, engaging in anti-Tamil propaganda aimed at demonizing the Tamil freedom struggle while masquerading as an international terrorism expert: He shares step number two of the plot he’s been hatching – that is to disable Nediyavan’s organisation, which he says is operating in Norway with considerable strength and expanding influence and thirdly he wants the Sri Lankan Government to engage the NGOs. “I think this is a good reminder to the Sri Lankan Government that the country needs to develop proper counter propaganda strategies,” he says in typical fashion, ready to put his plan into action.
In addition to the three steps, Gunaratna points out that Sri Lanka should handle international relations very delicately. Recalling those British leaders who were made unwelcome in Sri Lanka (it included the former British Foreign Minister David Miliband) and recounting Sri Lanka’s blunder: “When those politicians returned to their home country the Tamil Tigers very cunningly adopted them as friends, and it is those British leaders who were humiliated in Sri Lanka earlier, who are now playing an active role against Sri Lanka,”
Gunaratna’s calculative and seasoned mind explains why the Sri Lankan government must woo the NGOs. He believes “with the demise of the LTTE’s military wing, the ‘public face’ of the terrorist group had become quite active in propagating their ideology in western countries, and they were mainly doing it through NGOs.” “Up till this day, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry does not have an NGO division. You must create a specialist NGO division because today NGOs are very powerful in the international system. And if the government continues to resist the NGOs, the LTTE and its fronts like the Global Tamil Forum will keep engaging these NGOs, and getting what they want,” he tells Prematilleke.
It’s noteworthy that Gunaratna has devised this approach as some of the leading international NGOs like International Crisis Group, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all called for an independent international inquiry, refusing to appear in front of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and while Amnesty International announced, when Rajapakse was in the UK, it is handing the latest longer video to the UK police, which suggests Tamil women were bound, undressed and sexually assaulted before they were shot dead, to see if any members of the Sri Lankan government including President Rajapakse “have run foul of any laws that can trigger UK jurisdiction.” Gunaratna knowing fully well by hook or by crook Sri Lanka needs to get the NGO’s on its side.
It seems Gunaratna’s instructions are carried out very meticulously by the Sri Lankan government. In a previous interview to The Nation, published on May 24th 2009, when asked if he foresees the possibility of LTTE re-grouping Gunaratna has said “No, absolutely not, if the government of Sri Lanka does things: one is to extradite Kumaran Pathmananthan, his real name is Dharmalingam Shanmugam Kumaran who is now in Thailand, and is travelling back and forth to Malaysia,” adding “if he is arrested and brought back to Sri Lanka, the LTTE cannot regroup.” Now it’s a known fact that Kumaran Pathmananthan (KP) was abducted by Sri-Lankan authorities from a hotel in KL, Malaysia and brought to Sri Lanka. KP is reported to be doing his own propaganda work for the government after a ‘purge’ on the understanding that he would recruit more Diaspora Tamils to sing the Sri Lankan government’s tune.
Gunaratna’s finger-prints are everywhere when it comes to anti- Tamil propaganda,
in most cases Gunaratne successfully making a case for Tamil terrorism – from recruitment of child soldiers to suicide bombing in the most outlandish manner, authoring about four books on the subject and two other books including a best seller ‘Inside Al Qaeda’ comparing LTTE to Al-Quada. If there is one man who demonized the LTTE and the whole Tamil struggle in the eyes of the international community it has to be Gunaratna. Even in such matters as immigration and asylum cases, he is the man who countries such as Canada and Australia have consulted although he was born in Sri Lanka, a Sinhalese who was linked to Sri Lankan intelligence from 1984 – 1994 and was employed to write for the purpose of disseminating anti-LTTE propaganda. They do despite the obvious bias he brings to all of his work.
When the first boat ‘Ocean Lady’ carrying 76 Tamil migrants came to Canada, the Globe and Mail quoting Gunaratne, had a headline: “Tamil migrant has been held over possible ties to terror group”. The migrant’s vessel may have been used for gun running by the Tigers, Gunaratna is supposed to have said. Gunaratna further sensationalizing his case reportedly told the CBC “I cannot think of any other country that is more important for the Tamil Tigers as Canada, to regroup and continue their campaign against Sri Lanka,” the CBC reporting “Tamil Tigers look to regroup in Canada: expert”.
Lorne Waldman a well known Canadian immigration lawyer specializing on refugee matters has been critical of the Canadian government using Gunaratna: He’s very controversial,” Mr. Waldman said. “He often relies on unverifiable sources as the basis for the assertions that he makes. In the context of the Tamil Tigers, he’s basically biased. He’s clearly been associated with the Sri Lankan government and independent observers are convinced that he’s not objective, especially in relation to the Tamil issue.”
Former Australian Diplomat Bruch Haigh in an interview with ATBC Radio speaking on the issue of Tamil asylum seekers, calls Gunaratna “a Sri Lankan Operative and a fraud who makes outrageous statements, does very little research and has been able to get into the ear of the US Administration and the people in Australia.” adding “It’s only a matter of time that he gets undone, because he is such a fraud.”
The lengths Gunaratna would go to make his case is explained by Britain’s The Observer newspaper’s home affairs editor and long-time writer on Islamic terrorist groups, Martin Bright: “He is the least reliable of the experts on Bin Laden,” Bright said adding “Gunaratna is often used by the British authorities as an expert witness in the prosecution of Islamist terror suspects because they can rely on him to be apocalyptic,
Gunaratna has lied in his CV and was found out: In his book Inside Al Qaeda, Gunaratna described himself as having been, “principal investigator of the United Nations’ Terrorism Prevention Branch”. But when later questioned, Mr. Gunaratna admitted that there was no such position as principal investigator at the UN’s Terrorism Prevention Branch and that he had worked there in 2001-02 as a research consultant. Gunaratna also retracted his claim that he “was called to address the United Nations, the US Congress and the Australian Parliament in the wake of September 11, 2001”, confirming that in fact he had spoken at a seminar organised by the parliamentary library, given evidence to a congressional hearing on terrorism and delivered a research paper to a conference on terrorism organised by the UN’s Department for Disarmament Affairs.
Peter Cronau a Sydney journalist, who has worked with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s investigative television programme, Four Corners, since 1998 previews Rohan Gunaratna’s book: Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror, in which he states: “Of greatest concern is Gunaratna’s apparent support for the very techniques used by terrorists themselves being adopted by the West. He says the CIA’s assassination by guided missile inside Yemen of suspected members of Al Qaeda exemplifies the approach needed. This assassination technique has been used spectacularly and often indiscriminately with civilian casualties resulting, in Israel, where Gunaratna holds the position of Honorary Fellow at Israel’s International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism. Finally Gunaratna’s reveals his belief in discarding international law in the pursuit of terrorists: ‘As Al Qaeda is a learning organisation, the law-enforcement, security and intelligence agencies fighting it must be goal-oriented and not rule-oriented’ (p. xxv).”
Peter Cronau compares Gunaratna’s “aggressive extra-legal approach which stands in harsh contrast to what his former colleague from the Center for International and Security Studies in the US argues. ‘Economic sanctions should be used against state sponsors of terrorism, even if they take a long time to be effective,’ wrote former head of the CIA Stansfield Turner just one week after the terror attacks on New York and Washington.”
“Legal recourse is the option most compatible with American values. Legal recourse against terrorists falls into two categories: apprehending terrorists, and isolating states that support terrorism. Apprehending the terrorists themselves serves as a warning to would-be terrorists that they are likely to be caught. Bringing culprits to justice is an important step in curtailing terrorist acts (2001). In the confusion and fear that followed September 11 and the Bali bombing, people looked to make some sense from what may have appeared a senseless act. In his best-selling book, Inside Al-Qaeda, Rohan Gunaratna offers his simple solution — be alert and alarmed, a pretext welcomed by those who wish to exploit our fears,” says Peter Cronau concluding his preview on Gunaratna’s book: ‘Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror’.
Rohan Gunaratna will waste no time in proceeding with his master plan. He’ll start spreading lies, engaging in fear mongering and creating a culture of paranoia where there should be none – labeling all separatist and Tamil nationalist organizations that do not curry favour with Sri Lanka as terrorists or terrorists fronts. In a world that doesn’t look favourably towards anyone who may be remotely identified with terrorism he would continue to try to damage the Tamil freedom struggle by maligning its institutions as he master minds a cover-up to save Rajapakse – only if Tamils and the international community would let him.
Sources from which the above article – ‘Rohan Gunaratne is masterminding a ‘cover-up’ for Sri Lanka and its president’ – was written are given below including more notes on Rohan Gunaratna:
Sri Lanka: The Hidden Massacre
http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/29498116
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6383449.ece
Slaughter in Sri Lanka:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6382706.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6276147.ece
Sri Lanka never killed any civilians as such
http://www.tamildaily.net/2010/12/02/sri-lanka-never-killed-any-civilians-as-such-rajapaksa-tells-the-times/
About GTF
http://www.globaltamilforum.org/gtf/content/about-gtf
Actual short video footage showing Killings by Sri Lanka Army of unidentified Tamils – by courtesy of TamilNet
http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2009/08/killings_by_SLA.3gp
“Kill everybody and finish them off”: Orders came from the top
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdFKlQT_Ta8&feature=related
Miliband in stand-up row with Sri Lanka defence minister over civilian deaths
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6197466.ece
Sri Lanka execution video: new war crimes claims – Channel 4 News exposes longer video which suggests Tamil women were bound, undressed and sexually assaulted before they were shot dead:
http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-execution-video-new-war-crimes-claims
Actual unedited version of long video: viewer’s discretion advised
www.lobbyforpeace.com
(With my apologies to Isaippriya for including this gruesome un-edited video – Isaippriya a television reporter, a non- combatant, who has been identified as one of the Tamil women in the video who was allegedly gang raped and killed by Sri Lankan troops)
Getting away with Genocide: Headlines Today – in association with India Today: “In Isaippriya the clamor for justice found a definitive face, a Tamil Television Journalist, an unarmed non combatant, stripped and in all probability gang raped and shot with her hands tied at the back.”
headlinestoday.intoday.in
Terrorist Expert Discusses the Tamil Tigers The most lethal terrorist organization: On Current
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRsKWoiT_do&feature=player_embedded
Terrorism Expertise of Rohan Gunaratna Questioned Opinion: David Small
Tuesday, 24 August 2004, 10:32 am
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0408/S00236.htm
Gunaratne “a Sri Lankan Operative and a fraud:
Listen to former Australian Diplomat Bruch Haigh
http://www.tamilsydney.com/content/view/2548/37/
The Age: Analyse This
Gary Hughes, 20 July 2003
Whenever a comment has been needed about al-Qaeda or terrorism, Rohan Gunaratna has been there to supply it. Who is he? Gary Hughes reports.
In scoop, Dr. David Small in an article entitled: ‘Terrorism Expertise of Rohan Gunaratna Questioned’, says “Gunaratna tends to rely on what he claims are inside contacts within intelligence networks. By their very nature, however, no claims based of these sorts of sources can be independently tested.”
“To the extent that they can be investigated, there are many instances where they have been found to be questionable. For example:
Gunaratna’s claim that Hambali, said to be the commander of Jemaah Islamiah the group behind the Bali bombings, had visited Australia a dozen times was refuted by Australian Attorney-General DarylWilliams who said there was no evidence of him ever visiting Australia,” Dr. Small points out.
Dr. Small reveals in March 2003, Gunaratna claimed (without producing evidence) that Australian Gunantanamo Bay prisoner, David Hicks, was “not a member of al-Quaeda” and “never intended to attack a civilian target”. In July, after the US announced Hicks would be tried as a terrorist, again without evidence, Gunaratna alleged that Hicks had undergone “more advanced and more specialised training” with al-Quaeda. “A person does not receive that level of training unless both he and his trainers had some special plans for him”.
“The British publisher of Gunaratna’s book, Inside al-Quaeda, took the extraordinary step of issuing a disclaimer as a “Publisher’s note” advising the reader to treat the book’s contents as mere “suggestions” states Dr. Small.
According to Dr Small, in January 2003, Gunaratna told the New Zealand Herald (again without evidence) that “there are a few sympathisers and supporters of various terrorist groups in New Zealand” and claimed to have seen their fundraising leaflets. Now he alleges that there are about a dozen groups linked to terrorist support networks operated in New Zealand, fundraising, recruiting and distributing propaganda. Although this would be against New Zealand law, the latest (April 04) government report about the unit responsible for dealing with such matters, New Zealand’s Financial Intelligence Unit, reveals that they have not identified or had suspicions about any terrorist-related assets in New Zealand, and have not frozen any assets with suspected connections to the financing of terrorism.”
Dr. Small in his commentary said “Before he was exposed, Gunaratna’s impact in Australia was to heighten people’s sense of fear and suspicion, particularly in relation to Islamic groups and migrant communities. He was also assisting the justifications for laws that undermined hard-won human rights and civil liberties. Now he is bringing this message to New Zealand with claims that “the terrorist threat to New Zealand is not very different to the threat to Australia.”
“Gunaratna is cloaking his own personal views in a veneer of objective academic expertise in order to push New Zealand further into the War on Terrorism.”
“New Zealanders should treat his views with scepticism, continue to be welcoming and trusting of migrant communities, and rely on our common sense about the right balance between actual risk and the value we have long placed place on human rights and civil liberties.”
“At the very least, Gunaratna should be asked to hand over to the Police all the evidence that he claims to have about terrorist support networks operating in New Zealand,” Dr. Small concludes.
Whenever a comment has been needed about al-Qaeda or terrorism, Rohan Gunaratna has been there to supply it. Who is he? Gary Hughes reports: “Rohan Gunaratna describes as a spiritually defining moment the day in March 2001 when he learned that the Taliban regime in Kabul had ordered the demolition of the ancient, giant statues of Buddha at Bamiyan in Afghanistan.”
“But it was the destruction six months later of an icon of the modern world – New York’s World Trade Towers – that changed his life in a more practical way, launching a stellar new career as a global authority on international terrorism.”
“Gunaratna was the right person in the right place at the right time.”
“The world’s media outlets were looking for experts to interpret how and why the world had changed and the Sri Lanka-born academic was great “talent”, providing dire warnings about the threat of Osama bin Laden’s shadowy al-Qaeda network,.” Hughes pointing out that “Gunaratna, 42, had ridden a wave of success driven by the basic laws of supply and demand – there were not enough experts to meet the demand from the media and publishers for intelligence analysts able to provide a catchy quote or headline. And Gunaratna appeared happy to break the mould of the public’s traditional idea of an academic analyst, making at times startling claims based on what he said were his own intelligence “sources” and criticising governments – including Canberra – for not doing enough and being too concerned about civil liberties.”
Hughes goes on to say “But Gunaratna and others who belong to this new breed of media-friendly commentators, who blur the distinction between academic analysis and politics and base research on information from anonymous intelligence sources, are causing concern in some circles.”
Hughes quotes David Wright-Neville a senior research fellow at the Centre for Global Terrorism at Monash University and until 2002 a senior terrorism analyst in the Office of National Assessment: problems arise when analysts don’t make it clear when they leave the secure ground of known facts and enter into their own extrapolation when commenting to the media. The results can been headlines based on conjecture rather than reality.
Sourcewatch: Guide to the names behind the news says of Rohan Gunaratne: “….He is the former principal investigator of the UN’s Terrorism Prevention Branch, Gunaratna has been called the world’s top expert on Al Qaeda. As a Sri Lankan, his area of expertise is in the Tamil Tigers, a militant Tamil separatist group. Of the publications listed at the CSTPV, Gunaratna has authored four – all of which relate specifically to Sri Lanka’s Tamil insurrection. However, since September 11, he has been a prolific commentator on global terrorism and often appearing as a terrorologist pundit. He recently visited Australia, where he made a number of widely reported, ill-substantiated, and unchallenged, claims that there were several “child-killing terrorist groups” operating in Australia, hiding behind community and humanitarian fronts, whilst manipulating the Australian government through powerful lobbying of politicians.”
Sourcewatch: Rohan Gunaratna
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rohan_Gunaratna
Peter Cronau a Sydney journalist, who has worked with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s investigative television programme, Four Corners, since 1998 previews Rohan Gunaratna’s book: Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror, in which he states:
…..The deaths of thousands of civilians in Indonesia occurred from the birth of the Suharto dictatorship right up to his fall. Remember the hundreds killed in the anti-Chinese riots in 1997 and 1998; and since the fall of the dictator Suharto, further thousands have died in places like Kalimantan, East Timor, West Papua, Maluku, Aceh — many the victims of state terrorism. These deaths barely rate in the minds of ‘the international community’. And they barely figure in the writings of the acclaimed terrorologist, Dr Rohan Gunaratna. Gunaratna has written the widely accepted Inside Al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror, published first in 2002 following the attacks on New York and Washington, and since reprinted with a Preface written post the Bali bombing.
About the Tamils, Gunaratna has written, ‘What is required is not grand plans but immediate measures to alleviate the suffering of the people of the north-east,’ as a way of undermining support for separatism. At the same time he has encouraged (1998) better counter-insurgency training for the Sri Lankan military and ‘a more coherent national psy ops programme’ aimed at civilians to build political support for the anti-rebel campaign.
He has also made some pointers directed at the media in Sri Lanka: ‘They have to move beyond reporting to analysis and advocacy. Although, media is not expected to take a rigid position and only report events as they occur, the media in a developing country has a more responsible role to play. The Sri Lankan media barons must reflect on this need’. He argues that the Sri Lankan media should educate the public about the dangers of terrorism and the role of negotiations. ‘The media, at the turn of the twentieth century, has a role to guide leaders and lobby the public’.
Gunaratna thanks the subsequent two years that he spent in the US, where he worked with South Asia specialist Stephen Cohen, and Stansfield Turner, a former CIA chief, for focusing his attention on international aspects of terrorism. He was also assisted in his international terrorism writings by a massive data-base of information on terrorism to which he had access during his time in Scotland at the University of St Andrews’ Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence.
Gunaratna’s CV contains an impressive list of governments, corporations and institutions with which he has worked and studied. Recently a controversy has arisen following the publishing of a critique of Gunaratna in The Age (20 July 2003; News, p. 13) which suggested some massaging of the CV. Gunaratna has never held the position of ‘principal investigator’ with the UN’s Terrorism Prevention Branch as he claims — though he was a consultant there. And he has never addressed the Australian Parliament, nor the US Congress, nor the United Nations as his CV claims — though he has addressedcommittees of those bodies.
Inside the book
Gunaratna’s book is on the surface a very impressive collection of much of the data about Al Qaeda. It contains a description of the origins and goals of Al Qaeda, a profile of its main members, a country-by-country description of the ‘global network’ said to have been developed by Al Qaeda, and a review of the prospects of the international responses to it. Praise for the book has been effusive from some sources: ‘The most comprehensive study ever done on Al Qaeda.’ — CBSNews; ‘An alarming, but important book on Al Qaeda.’ — CNN; ‘Excellent.’ — Washington Post. The Times (of London) stated: ‘No one reading Gunaratna’s book could be in any doubt that Al Qaeda is an awesome force.’ Except perhaps the publisher, that is.
So wary is Gunaratna’s own publisher about the often flimsily corroborated statements in the book, that he warns ominously that references to organisations as having had contact with Al Qaeda ‘should be treated as nothing more than a suggestion’ that they ‘were the unwitting tools’ of terrorists.
The media, hungry for help in analysing Al Qaeda, has leapt upon Gunaratna’s origins with zeal, magically providing him with some kind of ‘objectivity’, without critically examining or verifying the sources for his information. Gunaratna has developed his book with the considerable help of a number of intelligence agencies who have given him access to alleged terrorists in custody, transcripts of intercepts, interrogation notes, as well as briefings by their intelligence agents. Gunaratna does not ponder on the intent of those whose views he repeats.
London’s Sunday Times says Gunaratna is ‘one of the few qualified to talk with authority about Al-Qaeda’. The strength of his book, says the Sunday Times, is that he ‘has interviewed
more than 200 terrorists, including Al-Qaeda members, in dozens of countries, and read countless transcripts of intercepted communications, including calls made by Bin Laden himself’. Of greatest strategic concern to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region is the development of Al Qaeda in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation on earth. Unfortunately Gunaratna devotes just five pages specifically to this country in his 300 page book — surprising even taking into account it was written prior to the Bali bombing.
In the section on Indonesia, Gunaratna sets about building his case against Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) as the Al Qaeda protege in Indonesia. He does this through citing a number of links between Al Qaeda associates and Jemaah Islamiyah and hence to violence in Indonesia. Gunaratna refers to the ‘Indonesian Mujahidin Council’, a group set up by accused JI leader Abu Bakar Bashiyar, as being involved in conflict in Maluku and Sulawesi (p 198). Gunaratna quotes from an Indonesian intelligence document to link the group’s members to the violence that has claimed thousands of lives over the past five years. Those links may exist but to use filtered information prepared by a questionable source without presenting any further corroboration or qualifying information on the actions of the source of the document is regrettable.
His trust in Indonesian intelligence officers and an intelligence report prepared by the very security forces who have been themselves implicated in incitement and even direct involvement in the violent conflicts in the eastern islands is nothing short of astounding.
Later, Gunaratna makes a bold assertion when he states: Of the many operations conducted by Al Qaeda in Indonesia, the millennium bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 are very instructive of their tactics (p.199). Unfortunately he cites no source for this allegation, and makes no qualification about others who may have been involved in the coordinated blasts across 30 cities in Indonesia which killed 19 people and injured dozens. Far more considered on this point is the work of Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group (ICJ), who has written more detailed and balanced accounts of the rise of Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia. Jones has written a report entitled Indonesia’s Terrorist Network (2002), in which she questions whether members of the Armed Forces may have had prior knowledge of the church bombings of 2000, at least in the city of Medan. Jones is not directly accusing the military of the bombings but argues that ‘a curious link’ between Acehnese figures close to Jemaah Islamiyah and Indonesian military intelligence should be investigated.
Indeed there are many ‘curious links’ between the Indonesian military and intelligence services, and radical Muslim groups such as Laskar Jihad which have been involved in politically-motivated terrorism, that should be investigated another time. The footnotes to Gunaratna’s section on Indonesia are revealing — 10 of the 25 footnotes state the source as Indonesian intelligence officers or the intelligence report (another eight cite press articles) (p 261). His writing here on Indonesia reveals a remarkably narrow selection of sources, a profound lack of knowledge, and a flawed understanding, of the history of the Indonesian armed forces and of their intelligence operations.
The bombing at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta is seen too readily as new evidence of Jemaah Islamiyah/Al Qaeda activity in Indonesia. After the August bombing of the hotel, Gunaratna went to press. ‘This week’s mass casualty bombing in Jakarta demonstrates that Jemaah Islamiah continues to pose a significant threat to South-East Asia and to Australia’ (Too close to al-Qa’ida, The Australian, 8 August, 2003). Gunaratna relies on the media’s forgetfulness. It is worth remembering though, that the previous largest bombing in Jakarta was in September 2000 when a huge car-bomb blast in the underground car park of the Jakarta Stock Exchange killed 17 people and injured 20. It would have been even more devastating if the bomb had managed to bring down the multistory building. This terror bombing was solved — two of the bombers were captured and tried, another escaped. After their trial they were found guilty and jailed for life. They were both members of Kopassus, the Indonesian army’s special forces.
There are dangers in becoming too close to your sources. Gunaratna is rarely critical of intelligence services, unless it is of the West’s. ‘Largely due to the tireless efforts of the intelligence community, especially of the Singaporean service, the region is aware of the existence of a resilient terrorist network’ (2002). Now head of terrorism research at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, Gunaratna has worked with the Singapore Government he praises in developing their strong anti-terrorism stance. He co-authored the Singapore Government’s White Paper on terrorism, published in January 2003. In a new preface to the post-Bali edition of Inside Al Qaeda, Gunaratna slams the Australian Government’s anti-terrorism efforts, in part blaming Australia for the rise of militant Islam: The Australian Government should have invested sufficient resources in its immediate neighbourhood to help dampen Islamism (p xxii). And he makes extravagant claims about Australia without offering any evidence. ‘.. JI’s operational leader, Hambali, visited Australia a dozen times’ (p xxiii). This statement, denied immediately by Australian intelligence authorities, may indicate that, if Gunaratna’s source was a South- East Asian intelligence agency, its information may be dangerously flawed, and could have had lethal consequences on the innocent if acted upon. Nonetheless Gunaratna says that Australian universities and the media have been infiltrated by Al Qaeda and he argues for a massive domestic security crackdown in Australia: ‘ASIO and ASIS need to double their strength. They also need to acquire greater powers to operate effectively and efficiently’ (p xxiv).
And he seeks military and intelligence support to countries in the region to crackdown on their citizens too: ‘Australia could assist countries in South-East Asia, especially Indonesia, to improve their capability to fight terrorism’ (p xxiv). This is of particular concern when Gunaratna has demonstrated he is so blind to State-sponsored terrorism in Indonesia.
Of greatest concern is Gunaratna’s apparent support for the very techniques used by terrorists themselves being adopted by the West. He says the CIA’s assassination by guided missile inside Yemen of suspected members of Al Qaeda exemplifies the approach needed. This assassination technique has been used spectacularly and often indiscriminately with civilian casualties resulting, in Israel, where Gunaratna holds the position of Honorary Fellow at Israel’s International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism. Finally Gunaratna’s reveals his belief in discarding international law IRAQ AND THE MEDIA WAR in the pursuit of terrorists: ‘As Al Qaeda is a learning organisation, the
law-enforcement, security and intelligence agencies fighting it must be goal-oriented and not rule-oriented’ (p. xxv). Gunaratna’s aggressive extra-legal approach stands in harsh contrast to what his former colleague from the Center for International and Security Studies in the US argues. ‘Economic sanctions should be used against state sponsors of terrorism, even if they take a long time to be effective,’ wrote former head of the CIA Stansfield Turner just one week after the terror attacks on New York and Washington. Legal recourse is the option most compatible with American values. Legal recourse against terrorists falls into two categories: apprehending terrorists, and isolating states that support terrorism. Apprehending the terrorists themselves serves as a warning to would-be terrorists that they are likely to be caught. Bringing culprits to justice is an important step in curtailing terrorist acts (2001). In the confusion and fear that followed September 11 and the Bali bombing, people looked to make some sense from what may have appeared a senseless act. In his best-selling book, Inside Al-Qaeda, Rohan Gunaratna offers his simple solution — be alert and
alarmed, a pretext welcomed by those who wish to exploit our fears.
References
Gunaratna, Rohan (1998). International
and Regional Implications of the Sri
Lankan Tamil Insurgency. Israel: International
Policy Institute for Counter
Terrorism, Israel.
Gunaratna, Rohan (2002). The Second
Front: The al-Qaeda threat in Southeast
Asia, The Review, Australia/Israel
& Jewish Affairs Council, November.
Jones, Sidney (2002). Indonesia’s Terrorist
Network: How Jemaah Islamiyah
Works. Brussels: international Crisis
Group.
Turner, Stansfield (2001). Terrorism and
Democracy: Ten Steps to Fight Terrorism
Without Endangering Democracy.
University of Maryland: Center
for International and Security Studies,
September 30.
Note: The views expressed in this review
are the writer’s and do not represent the
views of the ABC or the Four Corners
programme.
pcronau@hotmail.com
The legitimising of terror fears: Research or Psy Ops?
http://www.pjreview.info/issues/docs/09_1/09_03cronau.pdf
http://www.tamildaily.netBy Usha S Sri -Skanda- Rajah.