'Indian soldiers are good at bringing peace'

I accept the Cabinet Committee on Security's political decision but I am not happy with it. I believe India's strategic interest would have been better served if we sent troops to Iraq. I feel we have lost an opportunity.  

The decision seems to have been taken in view of the polls in five states and because of the absence of a United Nations command and control structure. But I am not sure whether the decision to not send troops is final. The government has decided it will not send troops to Iraq except under UN command. This means India will only accept the Security Council's decision and will expect the UN to pay the bill.

We are not mercenaries, we are not in it for money. We are interested in helping the Iraqis because we know the job of peacekeeping.

India does not want to be seen as endorsing the US strike on Iraq. It wants to be seen on the right side of the law. But this also means India does not want to be part of the multinational peace-enforcing mission in Iraq.

The decision has its pros and cons. 

I feel if you deny America something today, tomorrow it will deny support when you seek it. India is seeking America's support in halting cross-border terrorism in Kashmir and in controlling Pakistan's evil designs. The repercussions will be there. If not today, then tomorrow. 

Will the Iraq decision impact on Indo-US
ties?

India cannot fight terrorism by killing militants. That is not going to help. We have to hit the root cause. We must cut the supply of money to terrorists. To do that you need help of other nations as well. The fight against terrorism is multinational. And that's a give and take affair.

Also, Iraq is devastated completely, and requires billions of dollars to be back on track. India's participation in reconstruction will be easier if we send troops to Iraq. Besides, it will help strength our energy security.

Another important aspect is that neither Iraqis nor Arabs are homogenous. Shias, Sunnis Northern Iraqis and Kurds have differences. Iraqis do not want Turkey to take advantage of the softened border. India is in a position to help Iraqis by maintaining the status quo on the border.  

Idealism takes you only up to a point. You also have to be pragmatic because the world around you is not idealistic. You can't live in isolation. We are living in a world where give and take is normal. In today's world we should remember that nobody permits you to stand alone and erect all the time.

Let me first tell you where our strength lies, and why we should have gone to Iraq.

Indian soldiers are trained at our Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping. India has a glorious record of peacekeeping. Since the birth of the United Nations in 1945, India has been instrumental in maintaining global peace.

India is the second largest contributor of troops to the UN. Indian soldiers have participated in 36 of 58 UN peacekeeping missions so far. Over 65,000 soldiers have served abroad, and 108 have made the supreme sacrifice. India has participated in all the UN peacekeeping missions in Africa.

Peacekeeping is an art, and we have professional excellence in practicing it. Indian soldiers are good at bringing peace, hope and cheer to victims of war or ethnic clashes. Unlike many Western soldiers, ours are not trigger-happy. We select them through a rigorous and uncompromising process and then train them with the help of case studies.

We give them real hard training. We give them an example from the Mahabharat. It is said the Kauravas had almost 11 divisions while the Pandavas had only 5 to7 divisions. Yet the Pandavas prevailed. Because your strength lies in guts and wisdom.

We tell them they should use their minds, because they are not there to wage war. Their job is to prevent infighting between two belligerent groups. They are taught that their objective is to attain peace, not by force or arms. They behave diplomatically.

They are quietly assertive without offending anyone. Their presence should prevent fighting. They are not there to argue or debate, they should protect and help people as much as they can.

There are any number of examples where we have seen that Indian soldiers are highly impartial in providing support and protection in foreign lands. We would have given the mission-specific training to them before they went to Iraq. Our field officers work with a sense of responsibility. They are good decision-makers and they have typical 'Indian flexibility' while in the field. 

I am confident that Indian soldiers would have pacified the Iraqis. They have done it at many places before.

I know many critics talk of the Indian Peace Keeping Force's failure in Sri Lanka. I think the IPKF didn't achieve its objective in Sri Lanka because of the absence of clarity of thought. Our soldiers did not know what they were supposed to do. Indians were working at cross purposes. Indian intelligence had given arms to the LTTE which was fighting Indian soldiers on ground. 

Some Indians scholars and critics are against sending troops to Iraq because many of them belong to institutions which are funded heavily by America. At this time they don't want to be branded 'pro-America.'

Knowing that the mission won't be a cake-walk, other politicians and opponents talk about the complexity of the ground situation. They also talk about the 'just cause' theory, saying the war against Iraq by America was not for a just cause.

The clock can't be reversed.

I am saying let us take a calculated risk. Let us handle Iraq deftly and genuinely. We know the Iraqis consider the Americans 'an enemy' who have caused vast destruction in Iraq.

But look at it from other side: Iraqis are now left with no choice!

Why should we get killed, ask many people. Why should we bail out America?

That is simplistic thinking.

We should look at our own background. In the last 50 years India has struggled against colonialism, apartheid and is in favour of global  disarmament. We have spoken loudly for creation of an equitable  international economic order. We have the credibility required for  the job.

I believe we could pacify the Iraqis and achieve some success. Think of the gains. We would have contributed in strengthening stability, peace and security for Iraqis and for the world.

Major General Youdishter Kumar Gera (retired), Deputy Director, United Service Institution of India, served as additional director general of Signal Intelligence and head of Project Suraj, which dealt with electronic warfare He spoke to Senior Editor Sheela Bhatt.