“First pro-US rally in city on April 8”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=307154
bq. A few professionals in the city and outside have come together to express their solidarity with the coalition forces led by the US and UK under the banner of Alliance Against Terrorism (AAT). The members of AAT have organised a rally on Tuesday to demonstrate their support to US-led war on Iraq. It is the only such initiative taken by any organisation in India.
Way to go!

Indian Americans, Speak Now and Be Heard!
bq. There are nearly 2 million Indian Americans in the United States. We are among the most highly educated, and affluent ethnic groups. Our diverse community would like to see progress on a number of political issues: US-India relations, trade, business and equal opportunity, just to name a few. Yet, because we lack a political brand that can collectively represent us in Washington, we have no influence on Capitol Hill. By contrast, the Jewish, Hispanic and African-American communities are much better organized, and are able to effectively influence U.S. policy.

The article is about “USINPAC”:http://www.usinpac.com/ (US India Political Action Commitee), an organization started in 2002 to represent Indo-Americans at Capitol Hill. There have been lot of questions on the agenda of this
organization. The basic question that everyone has about Indian groups
in US is this (which was asked by “Rajiv Malhotra”:http://www.sulekha.com/memberpages/profile.asp?shortcut=/rajiv_malhotra)
* What is the organization?s stand when India?s interests clash against Pakistan?s, and hence, the ?South Asian? identity compromises what we can assert?
* What is the stand concerning Indian Americans who, under the rubric of human rights, or academic studies, or whatever logic, publicly hit against India or its culture, justifying this as a way to ?cure? India?
The stand of this organization is pro-India. Now why would we be suspect of any Indian organization. ? The answer is the various South Asian “neocolonists”:http://www.sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=218625 and sepoys who have been bad mouthing India in the American media. They think degrading India in the eyes of the world is the only way to cure India of its ills. They conveniently ignore the fact that India is a democracy and still has a judicial system (however bad it is)
So please go through the “discussion”:http://www.sulekha.com/allcomments.asp?pg=7&Cid=305794&type=column of this issue at Sulekha.

In her latest imagination of fantasy Arundhati Roy (no link, don’t want to increase ranking) wrote another article (Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates at The Guardian) which is short on facts and large on imagery:
bq. It is unlikely that British and American troops fighting in Iraq are aware that their governments supported Saddam Hussein both politically and financially through his worst excesses.

This one grew over time, but when Iraq was on it’s weapons spending spree from 1972 (when its oil revenue quadrupled) to 1990, the purchases were quite public and listed over $40 billion worth of arms sales. Russia was the largest supplier, with $25 billion. The US was the smallest, with $200,000. A similar myth, that the U.S. provided Iraq with chemical and biological weapons is equally off base. Iraq requested Anthrax samples from the US government, as do nations the world over, for the purpose of developing animal and human vaccines for local versions of Anthrax. Nerve gas doesn’t require technical help, it’s a variant of common insecticides. European nations sold Iraq the equipment to make poison gas.
(Link via “StrategyPage”:http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/qndguide/default.asp?target=topten.htm)
bq. President George W Bush, commander in chief of the US army, navy, airforce and marines has issued clear instructions: “Iraq. Will. Be. Liberated.” (Perhaps he means that even if Iraqi people’s bodies are killed, their souls will be liberated.) American and British citizens owe it to the supreme commander to forsake thought and rally behind their troops. Their countries are at war. And what a war it is.
Let us see what her pal, Saddam was doing:
* Saddam Hussein launched about 40 gas attacks against Iraqi Kurdish villages and targets in 1987-88 with thousands killed, including the largest attack in March 1988 on Halabjah, a Kurdish town of 45,000 in northern Iraq, causing 3,500 to 5,000 deaths, according to Human Rights Watch
* According to Human Rights Watch, “senior Arab diplomats told the London-based Arabic daily newspaper al-Hayat in October [1991] that Iraqi leaders were privately acknowledging that 250,000 people were killed during the uprisings, with most of the casualties in the south.” Refugees International reports that the “Oppressive government policies have led to the internal displacement of 900,000 Iraqis, primarily Kurds who have fled to the north to escape Saddam Hussein’s Arabization campaigns (which involve forcing Kurds to renounce their Kurdish identity or lose their property) and Marsh Arabs, who fled the government’s campaign to dry up the southern marshes for agricultural use. More than 200,000 Iraqis continue to live as refugees in Iran.”
And this is the kind of person Arundhati is crying for. As per Arundhati, liberating people from an opressive regime would be a crime.
bq. After using the “good offices” of UN diplomacy (economic sanctions and weapons inspections) to ensure that Iraq was brought to its knees, its people starved, half a million of its children killed, its infrastructure severely damaged, after making sure that most of its weapons have been destroyed, in an act of cowardice that must surely be unrivalled in history, the “Allies”/”Coalition of the Willing”(better known as the Coalition of the Bullied and Bought) – sent in an invading army!
Even after years of sanction she is not surprised that Saddam and his cronies are still living in lavish palaces. Why did he not sell his palaces, offer his food to his people.
bq. Operation Iraqi Freedom? I don’t think so. It’s more like Operation Let’s Run a Race, but First Let Me Break Your Knees.
I think she is talking about the people who suffered in the “Torture Chamber”:http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12278787,00.html that we found recently.
Arudhanti has one weakness. A love with brutal dictators. She prefers them over democracies. And this is not the first time she has shown her hatred of democracies. In 2002 she visited Pakistan, (a country which sends terrorists to kill Indians and has a dictator as the President) and made comments against a democratically elected Govt. of India. Now she loves Saddam Hussein. Coming soon from her will be an article on why Fidel Castro is a saint.
As an Indian, I am sad that that our sacred soil has produced such a -thing- homo-sapien.

Today is the “90th birthday”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/04sam.htm of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. He commanded the Indian Army which liberated Bangadesh.
!http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/04sam.jpg!
(Picture courtsey: Rediff)
“The Courage to Say NO”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/03sam1.htm
bq. Indian troops won their last great victory against a foreign army of importance in 303 BC when Chandragupta Maurya’s army defeated Seleucus Nicator. After 2,300 years of unremitting defeats of Indian armies against every invading army, Sam Manekshaw made the country experience the glow of a stunning victory against the Pakistan army in what is now Bangladesh. That will remain Field Marshal Manekshaw’s unique position in Indian military history.
(Link via “Ashwini”:http://www.ashoo.org/blog/archives/cat_security.html#000092)