Mahinda gets candid

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a candid interview given to The Hindu has recorded remarkable insights to the military campaign as well as his personal opinions on the LTTE and its leader.
Rajapaksa recalled how he at one point warned the LTTE not to “push me against the wall.” The President insisted that he had faith in the armed forces and knew that if they got the necessary arms and support the war could be won. He also speculated that during the last phase of the military offensive the LTTE leadership was plotting to escape before the military overran them, adding that he could not understand why Prabakaran had not simply gone underground and conducted a guerilla operation from the jungles.
During the interview he also recalls how he sent Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunge to meet with the LTTE without notifying the army and then castigated them for the lapse in security.

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