DICTATOR WATCH
(www.dictatorwatch.org)

Contact: Roland Watson, roland@dictatorwatch.org

KNLA SIX MONTH BATTLE REPORT

August 21, 2011

Please forward.

http://www.dictatorwatch.org/KNLA/KNLA2011sixmonths.pdf

This is the 2011 six month battle report for the Karen National Liberation Army. It reveals that from January to June enemy losses (Burma Army and related Border Guard Forces) totaled 761 Killed In Action and 1,047 Wounded In Action casualties.

Points worth noting:

This is a significant undercount of the real Tatmadaw losses. Enemy casualties for many clashes are unknown.

Clashes have continued unabated in July and August.

This also represents the extension of an increased level of conflict in recent years. For example, for all of 2010 the KNLA reported 618 KIA and 1,304 WIA Burma Army casualties.

Enemy casualties, including both KIA and WIA, are reported to be above 800 this year on the Shan front.

Although the numbers are not available, Burma Army casualties have also been high at the Kachin front.

Total enemy casualties this year are probably approaching 2,000 KIA and another 2,000 WIA. It is no wonder that the Tatmadaw's morale is so low and that many soldiers are refusing to fight.

It is also amazing that the international media are ignoring Burma's Civil War. It is contemptible that journalists are content to parrot the military regime's propaganda. They should work to uncover the real story in the country!

Libya's dictator Gaddafi is about to fall. Sleeper cells in Tripoli began rising up last night to support the pro-democracy rebels that are now fighting on the outskirts of the capital.

The Libyan rebels, though, would not have had their success without NATO air support. Also, the use of the term NATO should not disguise the fact that the vast majority of the air missions have been carried out by the United States. There has obviously been close coordination between the Libyan rebels on the ground and the U.S. air command for mission targeting.

Once Gaddafi falls, the U.S. should provide the same support to Burma. New U.S. Special Representative Derek Mitchell, who comes from the Defense Department, can help organize this. If the people of the country were to rise up, like the Libyans have done, and the U.S. provided military assistance, Than Shwe and his subordinates would be defeated in short order. Burma, after forty-nine years of brutal oppression, would be free.