The right response

BS OPINION

There is an old Chinese saying that the warlord's henchmen are more hated than the warlord himself. The Prime Minister, who has just returned from China, may or may not have been aware of this adage.

But he needs to be congratulated for having decided not to send Indian troops to Iraq. Their experience in military assistance to civil authorities was one attraction for the US; in addition, of course, to the fact that they would serve as substitutes for US troops in the line of fire. In a sense, there wasn't much doubt about the final decision.

The moment Mr Vajpayee said that it was a matter of consensus, it was clear that India was not going to send troops. Even the US must have known this.

However, the motions had to be gone through, and there was much diplomatic to-ing and fro-ing. Mr Vajpayee also deserves to be congratulated for having handled a rather tricky issue adroitly, for it couldn't be easy to turn down the hyper-power without raising hackles.

The point at issue bears repetition. If the US, having invaded Iraq without international sanction, and having now got stuck there for at least three years (for that is the current reckoning), needs help in policing the territory it has captured, such help should be made available under UN auspices and a UN flag.

Otherwise, as has been pointed out by everyone, India would be seen in the Arab world as aiding and abetting the unjustified and possibly illegal occupation of an Arab country, on the basis of pretexts that now stand fully exposed.

This would have severely jeopardised India's long-term relationship with the Arab world. Whatever benefits would have flowed from India's sending troops to Iraq at the Indian tax-payer's cost (and these benefits are not very obvious) would have been more than negated by the abiding hostility of the Arab people.

India has had a long tradition of friendship with the people in West Asia (if not the governments thereof). The mess of pottage that the US would have offered by way of some hand-me-down contracts and a delusional sense of importance on the world stage were never worth sacrificing for the goodwill of people in the extended neighbourhood.

That said, there are several other ways in which India can offer help to Iraq. These range from medical assistance to education and the provision of a variety of civic amenities.

However, the real issue is not what India can offer, it is what the US will accept. What it wanted was a mercenary force, which would be willing to sacrifice itself in place of US soldiers who are now being killed at the rate of two to three a day and who need relief from extended duty.

That not being possible will probably make the US behave in a more distant manner, in spite of the public utterances to the contrary. It will also put the so far ascendant Indo-US relations on a plateau.

Indians should not, therefore, be disappointed if the US decides to cut India out of the commercial opportunities in Iraq. For, sometimes, doing the right thing ought to be compensation enough.