(November 02, Colombo / Washington, Sri Lanka Guardian) `I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion so help me God. ` -- US pledge of citizenship.

This is what Sri Lankan Secretary of Defense pledged as he obtained his US citizenship few years ago. Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse pledged that he will not only stand by United States during a war or conflict, but also fight for United States against any enemy, may it be Sri Lanka or South Africa.

Now, United States is looking to conduct an investigation on Mr. Rajapakse`s war crime involvements. Is this fair? Indeed it is. This is an internal matter of the United States and US has every right to persecute and investigate its citizens. Sri Lanka can not and should not interfere with sovereign rights of United States to investigate the American citizens.

This matter is strictly an internal matter of the United States.

If Mr. Rajapakse has any problems with it, he is very free to give up the US citizenship. After all, US citizenship was his choice.

It is reported that Sri Lankan Foreign Office lodged a formal complaint regarding this to the State Department. However, State Department has very limited jurisdictions on a federal investigations. Unlike corrupt structures of Sri Lanka, United States has clear and defined jurisdictions. Thus, any efforts from Sri Lanka to hamper any investigations will only result in more negativity rather any objecting any constructive goals.

As an American who followed the Sri Lankan civil war for the last ten years, I personally do not believe that Mr. Gotabaya Rajapakse is responsible for any war crimes. He definitely needs to be given a lot of credits for eradicating terrorism. However, no matter what he achieved, he is still liable for any federal investigations in United States irrespectively of his status as long as he is a US citizen. The investigation on such matters is strictly an internal matter of the United States of America.