Operation total destruction VS state-sponsored terrorism

The desperate search for an extreme drama to seek an end to the political impasse - after six months of holding out at the Government House compound - was the only excuse the PAD leaders could find to offer any semblance of justification that stranded at least 10,000 passengers on Tuesday night. Untold damage will result if "Operation Total Disruption" continues today, as the protestors continue to hunt down Premier Somchai, no matter where his plane might have landed last night after its long flight from Lima, Peru.

But then, Somchai's departure from office won't be a big blow to the country. In fact, his passive and dismally ineffectual style of governing has helped substantiate the PAD's vocal and persistent accusation that he was behind the so-called state-sponsored terrorism in the form of bombs from M79 grenade launchers, one after another, over the past week.

The PAD has, from day one, dubbed Somchai "Thaksin's stooge". After October 7, when police were ordered to use force to disperse protesters in front of Parliament House, he was known as a "blood-stained prime minister". And soon after former premier Thaksin Shinawatra was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, the premier inevitably became the nominee of a political convict.

But Somchai has never publicly said anything critical of the PAD. In fact, he has even sounded conciliatory, expressing his readiness for negotiations with his worst enemy. The olive branch, however, quickly withered away when Somchai's lieutenants started firing verbal salvos and unidentified gunmen used M79 grenade launchers almost nightly to attack the PAD's guards. While the PAD's ASTV was spewing round-the-clock vitriol against the "remnants of the Thaksin regime", Somchai turned a blind eye to his officials using government-run NBT (Channel 11) to launch vehement counter-attacks against the PAD. Clashes between followers of the yellow and red factions became more frequent and deadly.

The rest of us have been taken hostage by the yellow-red showdown.

The military, caught in its own dilemma, can't decide what role it should play at this crucial time when it is expected to be an honest broker.

PAD leaders have been calling upon the top brass, especially Army chief General Anupong Paochinda, to make a clear public stand on the people's side.

Thaksin's men, fearful of another coup that could put the brakes on any possible return to power for the ruling party, have been threatening to go out on the streets against any military takeover.

General Anupong's no-coup refrain has been convincing - not because the public believes the Army isn't tempted by political power but because even the most powerful military officer can't be sure how to handle the post-coup political complexities.

Somchai's side has been saying the PAD is agitating for a coup so that it can share power with military dictators. The PAD has shot back with the charge that Thaksin has been stepping up his effort to create political tension within because he wanted to push the military to the brink of a coup to create sufficient chaos to justify a national civil war that could propel him back to power.

The PAD's decision to launch its "total war" to unseat Somchai was clearly a high-risk gamble. It's a make-or-break move that could backfire. But the protest leaders seem to have come to the conclusion that a drawn-out cat-and-mouse game would only weaken the PAD. A no-peace-no-war situation would only benefit the Thaksin camp.

As the PAD's chief strategist Maj-General Chamlong Srimuang put it before the big move began: "If we can't win this time round, we will just go home and hand the country over to the criminals."

Somchai must have found it hard to come home last evening through the normal channel in a peaceful manner. Chamlong knows that once out on the streets, you can't go home again.

(Catch up with my latest blogs around the clock on the ongoing events at: http:// blog.nationmultimedia.com/ thaitalk and www.suthichaiyoon. blogspot.com.)