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| Sunday, 27 February 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Visit of the US ex-presidents : Political expediency 101 by Ananth Palakidnar
February 20 was a red-letter day for the Sri Lanka Air Force. Spruced to perfection, its officials were on maximum alert, keeping a close vigil on their entire operations in Colombo and other vital air bases down South. Their task: to ferry two important visitors from the United States of America and ensure that no harm comes their way. These two globally important passengers were none other than the two former Presidents of the United States of America, George Bush senior and Bill Clinton. The Sri Lankan Force had put in operation the best of its helicopters to transport the US heavy weights. Group Captain Ajantha Silva spokesman of the SLAF elaborating on their handling of the highly sensitive operation,said the SLAF pilots who were manning the cockpits of the choppers were overwhelmed, when they were praised by Bill Clinton, who had said "well done gentle men", at the air base in Koggala.
According to SLAF spokesman Silva, four 412-Bell helicopters and three MI-17 Helicopters had been deployed to carry the former US Presidents who were air borne most of the time, to see the tsunami devastations in the South. "Even our Chief-of Staff President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was very happy, with the manner in which the SLAF handled the aerial movements of the US leaders," Silva added. Of course the SLAF had proved its efficiency by handling the transportation of the ex-US Presidents. But only a few will perhaps know that one of the VVIP's in the SLAF choppers was a heroic die-hard bomber pilot of the US Navy during world war-2, who had escaped enemy fire by parachuting himself into the Pacific waters and later rescued by a US submarine named the USS Finback.
The World War-2 hero is none other than George Bush senior,father of present US President Gorge William Bush, who at the age of twenty, was considered one of the youngest pilots of the US Navy involved in the resistance against the Japanese air borne attacks in US territorial waters during World War-2. George Bush senior, was a member in the US Naval squadron known as `VT- 51'. On September 2, 1944, Lieutenant Bush piloted his Avenger in the toughest flight of his career.The mission was a dangerous one: A dive bomb attack over the island of Chichi Jima. As Bush lowered his Avenger to strike his target the engine of the bomber aircraft was hit and caught fire. The young Bush radioed a bailout command to his two crewmen, but when his parachute hit water, there was no one else in sight. Hand-paddling a small life raft, he was struggling for survival. For an hour and a half Bush paddled with his cupped hands,trying in vain to keep his raft from drifting. He was nauseated and exhausted. Stories he had heard of what happened to airmen captured by the Japanese flashed through his mind and he began to panic. No matter how hard he struggled, the ocean was going to take him to the island he had just bombed.It was going to take him right into the hands of the enemy. However several hours later, an American submarine sighted and in a dramatic rescue, pulled the young pilot out of the sea. There,still wearing his flying helmet and the life jacket, was the future president of the United States. A sprightly, 81- year -old today, the former President along with his colleague former President Bill Clinton landed at the Katunayake International Airport early this week. The Airport was created by the British Royal Air Force during World War-2 to counter the attacks from the east by the Japanese fighter planes. George Bush would have also had the opportunity to use the Koggala Air base, which was another British creation.The base was attacked in a lightning strike by some of the Japanese air crafts which entered the island from the eastern skies during World War-2. The `VVIP- No 4 squadron of Katunayake' comprising a twelve member team of pilots was responsible for the flights of Clinton and Bush.Though ex-President Bill Clinton did not have the experience of handling an air craft, he was accompanied by his predecessor George Bush who was a fighter pilot for a bird's eye view of the attack of tsunami devastated Southern Coast, which also came from the east and destroying the scenic coastal belt. Since Sri Lanka gained independence from the British in 1948,not a single US president had visited the island. However several dignitaries have visited the country,the foremost among them Apollo-11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first human being to land on the moon. He visited Sri Lanka in the early seventies and even exhibited the stones which he brought from the moon. Neil Armstrong also worshipped the tooth relic at the Dalada Maligawa. Hilary and Chelsea the wife and daughter of Bill Clinton also made a brief visit to Sri lanka in the late nineties. Recently the former US Secretary of State General Collin Powel also arrived in the island to witness the destruction of the tsunami. However the purpose of the visit of the ex-US Presidents were to make an assessment of the tsunami devastation in the country.The visit was historic on the basis of existing US and Sri Lankan relations which prevailed for more than a century, with the arrival of US Colonel Henry Steele Olcott and also the American missionaries who had made enormous contributions in the spheres of education and health throughout the island. Meanwhile the Bell and the MI-17 choppers used to transport the US VIPs were manufactured in the USA and Russia respectively .It was during the Vietnam war that the earlier versions of these choppers were used by the Americans and the Russians to attack at each other. The US Bell and the Russian MI choppers were purchased by the SLAF to be utilised in the North and East war in the mid eighties. Several air -men who piloted these choppers had lost their lives. However for the past three years with the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement, most of the Bell and the MI choppers have been very much in use for non-military purposes, to ferry the vital figures involved in the peace process between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. The visit of the former US Presidents to Sri Lanka to see the tsunami devastation has strengthened the spirits of the Sri Lankans to rise against all odds created, not only by the tsunami but also the deadly ethnic war which destroyed the resources of the country for more than two decades. So the visits of the ex-US Presidents George Bush,a war veteran and Bill Clinton from opposite sides of the American political divide, has indicated the necessity to set aside petty differences bring back the `golden era,' which prevailed in Sri Lanka soon after World War-2. |
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