COLOMBO, Oct 2: Dead bodies of soldiers killed in the fighting earlier this week are still being collected by the truckload from the conflict zones as hospitals all over the country splitting at its seams with the wounded. But, it appears many Sri Lankans are still in favour of a sustenance of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.Fight to win! goaded the anti-government daily Island in its editorial after more than 1,000 combatants were killed in the worst blood-letting in recent months earlier this week. The newspaper called for a review of military strategy so that the army did not suffer debacles like the one at Killinochchi but said the only way to bring peace to Sri Lanka was to continue the war against the LTTE.The newspaper asked president Chandrika Kumaratunga to seek military assistance from friendly countries in the form of satellite reconnaissance and other high-tech defence equipment.``This is not a cricket match where we can be satisfied with an honourable draw.This is war and war has to be fought not to lose or have a stalemate but to win,'' it said.Military experts have for long described the war of attrition between the government and the LTTE as "unwinnable" for either side. This week's bloody battle proved just that. But Sri Lankans, especially those of the majority Sinhala community, believe that an all-out war against the Tigers will resolve the decades-old ethnic conflict.``The government has become more and not less popular due to the war, because for the first time people think those in power are serious about finishing off the Tigers,'' a senior cabinet minister told The Indian Express. The minister said that when he went to attend funerals of soldiers in his constituency, mothers came up to him and told him they were ``proud'' their sons had died for the country.``It wasn't like that when the UNP (the opposition United National Party) was ruling the country. They used to get chased out of funerals because everybody knew they were makingdeals with the LTTE,'' the minister said.Earlier this month, a rally was held in the capital to protest against demands for negotiations with the LTTE. Many Buddhist monks participated in the demonstration that asked the government to go flat out in its efforts to finish the Tigers.In line with this thinking, the state-run Daily News had this to say in its editorial: It is plain to see that the government is not going on a militaristic path by persisting with the Jayasikurui operation. The objective is the noble one of serving all sections of the people and freeing the Tamil populace from the clutches of the LTTE.In a news report titles ``from the battlefront'' the newspaper predicted that the LTTE's end was very near. ``Very soon the sound of battle in the Wanni jungles will never be repeated once we eliminate the ruthless and brutal terrorists in the near future,'' it assured.Though senior army oficials think differently, they have by and large kept counsel for fear of antagonising theirpolitical bosses or being painted as traitors or cowards by the government.
