Little poor Sri Lanka is suddenly a global model of successful COIN. Everybody seems to forget how long it took (it stretches back to 1983) and instead want to know how the decisive punches were landed.
Louise Arbour, head of the International Crisis Group, sums up the model thusly:
- Full operational freedom for the Army to pursue scorched-earth tactics;
- Little concern for noncombatant deaths (pretty much a requirement for #1); and
- Dismissing international and media protests regarding #1 and #2.
Judging by Israel's latest mistakes in mishandling the protest flotilla (pen knives and deck chairs = a dozen-plus dead?), Tel Aviv is absorbing the message alright.