Do you know how many foreigners and Sri Lankans with foreign passports holders among the people hired to run the regaining Sri Lanka project of Ranil Wickramasinghe?

Do you know during the same period there was a high level team of US military men in Sri Lanka assessing the structural, material and training requirements of Sri Lankan security forces and they were given the access to very sensitive information related to national security, allowed to visit all key defense establishments all over the island and interview all military commanders?

Do you know those foreign experts attended the national defense council meetings?
Most of all, can you explain if “the peace process” can be outsourced to foreigners why can’t we get a few Sri Lankan green card holders to manage the war for us?

You served Ranil Wickramasinghe during the 2005 election, hoping for a change (for the country as well as for yourself/your family) but things didn’t work out the way you and 4.5 million Sri Lankans expected. So please stop complaining because you are going to get another chance again in 4 years to serve your bellowed leader if you are still interested in.

You are an educated person with some potential and I don’t think you should lower yourself to the level of taking over the job of people like Lasantha Wickramathunge or Sonali Samarasinghe.

Since I do live in Hong Kong., accourding to teh Immigration dept., 20% of the local ppl have some sort of a Dual citizenship like US, Canada, Aus, UK and so on.

Who ever in the Govt., Civil Service., Police etc., do have their foreign passport and their children do study in those countries and there is a lot of harmony in between.

If one has to be patriot a piece of paper (Green Card of a Yankee passport) have nothing to do !

Do not make us divided on Green cards and Dual citizenshp again Indy., we already have all sorts of divisions like ethnicity, race, religion, upcountry/low country, caste, rich/poor.

Just think as Sri Lankans irrespective of those narrow lines and we can make this country a paradise again !!!!!

David Blacker, well said.

Bottom line, every leader in every country on the planet has an exit strategy for himself and his family if the shit hits the fan.

“some are not even complete citizens of our country!”

How do you figure that?

we are lowering down the standards of our leaders…
every new generation of leaders are more corrupt and stupid than the previous ones…
heck… some are not even complete citizens of our country!

one leadership trait is about setting a standard and asking your followers to keep up with that or better that… isnt it?
i’m sorry but i dont see that in gota

In the case of security cleareance Paul wolfwitz former deputy secretary of defence (and the head of the world bank ,that makes him your boss btw !;-)) ) has a girl friend who is non-US citizen and apart from the whole shit storm about WB thing the national security issue was one of the thing ppl raised.Also take the case of Dana Perino the current Whitehouse spokesperson who has a British husband.
What about the case of former Saudi Embassidor Prince Bandr (Bandar Bush as Micheal Moore says) who has access Bush Family and integral part of security decisions in Bush I and Bush II whitehouses according to some?

What I’m saying there are Non-US citizens close to the top rung of US defence officails as well .
When it’s comes to loyalty Who would Paul Wolfowitz be loyal to US ,British,lebenese Chritians or Isreal?

The Bottom Line is that Gota is a Sri Lankan Citizen.He spent the best part of his life serving the country in a dangerous war.Why should he have less of a oppertunity simply becuase he has a green card?
If Indi would like to be the Defence sceretary he should be able to do that if the President and the people of the country have faith in him that he will get the Job done.

Lol, so now some sort of special loyalty is needed to be a general, wheras the cannon fodder can be foreigners, yeah? Are you sure you want to prsist with this line of aargument? Never mind, I’ll indulge you. It’s a holidaay and I’m stuck in office with nothing to do.

Actually, you couldn’t be more wrong here. During the crusades, kings would hire out armies to foreign heads of state who would pay and feed these knights and foot soldiers. They were led by their own leaders and were loyal to their own king, but fought very well for the flag they were under. The British and Dutch East India Companies were led by their own generals who were mercantile employees. In Sierra Leone in the ’90s, all government offensive military operations were conducted by private military companies (PMCs) — the South African firm of Executive Outcomes, and later the British firm Sandline. They were led by their own officers. So the company CEO was in fact the commanding general, and the regional director for Africa was the operational commander. Right now, in Iraq, the second biggest contingent of coalition troops (after the US) are PMCs (numbering around 30,000 combat and support troops.

And btw, you don’t have to be a US citizen to fight in its armed forces. I know of aat least one SL citizen resident in the US at the time who fought as a Marine in Vietnam. Right now, many Mexicans, Asians, and Puerto Ricans are fighting in the US armed forces in Iraq & Afghanistan.

“You might get the occasional Lafayette, but more generals are nationals like Washington.”

That is certainly true. Historically, most generals have been nationals. But not all. And just because things have been traditionally done in a particular way, doesn’t mean they must always been done that way. So unless you can cite specific reasons why a foreign citizen cannnot be trusted, I must conclude that you don’t really have much to stand on here. This isn’t a war between SL and the US, so there’s no conflict of interest.

Finally, Indi, I’m curious. Why do you continue to call Gota & co “non/half citizens”? It has already been pointed out to you that they are in fact full SL citizens who hold foreign visas. What part of “SL citizen” do you not get?

I also asked you why you don’t have a problem with RW & CBK having held foreign resident visas during their time in office. You seem to not notice these points but hammer out the false notion that Fonseka etc are foreign citizens when they are not.

6. The Concern. Foreign contacts and interests may be a security concern if the individual has divided loyalties or foreign financial interests, may be manipulated or induced to help a foreign person, group, organization, or government in a way that is not in U.S. interests, or is vulnerable to pressure or coercion by any foreign interest. Adjudication under this Guideline can and should consider the identity of the foreign country in which the foreign contact or financial interest is located, including, but not limited to, such considerations as whether the foreign country is known to target United States citizens to obtain protected information and/or is associated with a risk of terrorism.

There are legitimate security concerns with having foreign green-card/citizenship holders at the top levels of our military. Most national security policies do not allow it, but our nepotistic culture does.

But a Green Card is not citizenship – it’s like a permanent resident visa. There’s no problem with a person having the right to live somewhere else, even if they are a politician or hold public office, I feel. I would be surprised if there wasn’t at least one European politician with a Green Card, for example.

Besides, if they are criminals in Sri Lanka and they flee to America, we can extradite them, surely?

Yeah right. :)

“Anyway, I agree with Indi, I don’t know about other jobs, but if you are involved in any jobs that relates to National security, you should be 100% committed to that country/nationality.”

I don’t think the possession of a foreign visa negates commitment to one’s home country. If not, we’d have to disregard all the comments made on blogs by Sri Lankans living abroad.

“I am not saying they are, but these people could easily be suspected of working towards other country’s interest until the shit hits the fan.”

Since many people here have been critical of this administration’s human rights record in particular, and the conduct of the war in general, shouldn’t we be pleased that these guys might be held accountable by the US?

And once again, why’d no one have a problem that both RW and CBK were both foreign residency holders as well as owners of foreign property while in office as PM and prez?

“They’ll also be open to human rights charges when and if they move stateside.”
oh wow… thats a nice way to control human rights violations… “do not torture your captives in side your country… you can do that in a prison out side your country…”

i think you misunderstood me when i asked for citations
its not that i’m accusing you of making things up or anything like that
its just that it would secure your claim better as a fact

Simply i know the commanders daughter Aparna who studies there..
I’m just bullshitting about the whole Okalohoma thing.

pun intended. I din’t have citations.
Never did. Don’t want.

You can either read and digest my bull crap or go to padashow direct – My secret pet project,
where I post my rantings on other jobless bloggers like me.

I’m also trying to understand my self.

Amen.

a) A green card is NOT the same as being a foreign citizen
b) Most well to do people in Sri Lanka have an ‘exit route’. That is nothing new.

The only thing of note is the hypocrisy displayed by the majority of those who have commented here: almost all the top stakeholders in the private sector have residence permits elsewhere, CBK had an escape route as did Ranil. As do Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, Kumar Rupesinghe, Radhika Coomaraswamy and almost everybody else who thinks it is their god-given right to meddle in affairs of the state be it national security, sovereignty or the economy. But as members of the Colombo elite, apparently they are entitled to it, while the rustics from Hambantota should stick to Lanka.

At least Gotabhaya has served in OUR army when he was here, which is more than what can be said for other arm chair pundits.

Anyway, I agree with Indi, I don’t know about other jobs, but if you are involved in any jobs that relates to National security, you should be 100% committed to that country/nationality. I am not saying they are, but these people could easily be suspected of working towards other country’s interest until the shit hits the fan.