{"id":159140,"date":"2016-03-13T01:54:04","date_gmt":"2016-03-12T20:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=159140"},"modified":"2016-03-13T14:29:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T08:59:03","slug":"gotabaya-couldnt-protect-a-bike-from-thieves-how-could-he-win-a-war-asks-fonseka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotabaya-couldnt-protect-a-bike-from-thieves-how-could-he-win-a-war-asks-fonseka\/","title":{"rendered":"Gotabaya Couldn\u2019t Protect A Bike From Thieves, How Could He Win A War Asks Fonseka"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an open attack against former secretary to the ministry of defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a>, Field Marshall and Parliamentarian Sarath Fonseka<\/span><\/a> declared that when Rajapaksa did not have the capability to protect a bike from thieves, how can he command a 200,000 strong military force to win a war.<\/p>\n

\"Fonseka\"<\/a>

Fonseka<\/p><\/div>\n

Delivering his inaugural speech in Parliament on mid week, Fonseka went on to claim that at the time Rajapaksa left the army the LTTE was only using \u2018galkatas<\/em>\u2019. \u201cSo on what basis did he have the experience to strategize the war to win against the LTTE?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cGotabaya ran away from the army, he begged Ranjan Wijeratne<\/span><\/a> to relieve him from his military duties, and then went to the United States. I met him there, he was doing tinkering work and told me life was very tough. He didn\u2019t even have a vehicle, and so one of my friends lent him a bicycle,\u201d Fonseka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut one day Gotabaya came and told my friend that the bicycle was stolen, so my friend asked why he didn\u2019t chain it, then Gotabaya said he had chained it to a ladder, but the robbers had taken the ladder and bicycle with them. This is the sort of people who say they were the ones who won the war,\u201d Fonseka, the Former Army Commander claimed.<\/p>\n

Fonseka, who is also a also a cabinet minister in the current government, said that even though Gotabaya Rajapaksa had written a book on how he won the war, Fonseka claimed that a person who left the army way back in the 90s, and had absolutely no experience in the field where modern warfare was used, had no capability to strategize the win against the terrorist group. The book was documented by journalist C.A. Chandraprema<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in the war front every day for 35 years, we served at various levels, and we were even shot at, that is how we gained experience, and we didn\u2019t run away from fighting in the war like Gotabaya did,\u201d Fonseka charged.<\/p>\n

The Field Marshal also claimed that a person who didn\u2019t possess the sufficient ground experience did not have the ability to strategize and win a war and give leadership to a 200,000 military force.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst he did tinkering work in the US, then he was a computer operator for 14 years also in the US, and then suddenly he came to Sri Lanka and taught the military how to fight the war and win it. Then I too should be able to go and order engineers around and teach them how to do their job. But, you can\u2019t do that, because you need experience and without experience you cannot carry out any task successfully,\u201d Fonseka added. (\u00a0By Munza Mushtaq\u00a0\u00a9 Colombo Telegraph )<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n