Should India Go fro as war on Iraq
Out of the results of the poll that appeared in last Sunday’s Hindustan Times on whether India should send troops to Iraq, an overwhelming majority of respondents (87 per cent) said that they were opposed to a US invasion of Iraq. More significantly, the reasons they gave for their opposition had little to do with Saddam Hussein, Iraq or the Islamic world. Why are educated Indians — otherwise pro-American in their views and their cultural reference points — so unwilling to support the US in this war? ... The opposition to the war has been largely determined by a single issue: the manner in which most educated Indians believe that the US has mishandled the aftermath of 9/11 and the failure (or postponement) of the promised global war against terror. ... We were ready to join the war against global terror. ... There is no global war against terror. ... American policy-framers like to say that the disillusionment in India over US policy in the region is due to Washington’s dependence on Islamabad for the Afghan operation. This is, of course, accurate — how credible can a war against terror be when your principal ally is the man who sends terrorists across our borders? ... “Victory in the war against terror! ... Like some shyster who goes from scam to scam, he is already on to the next trick: an invasion of Iraq. ... But Bush needs to tell us why, of all the world’s repressive regimes (many of them US allies), he thinks that Iraq is worthy of special interest. ... India was attractive to Washington for a number of reasons. ... In the scope and sophistication of its democracy and the size and professionalism of its armed forces, India is closer to some of the Western powers. ... US policy-makers say that foreigners are against the war because they are resentful of America’s status as the world’s only super-power.