New Delhi: Members in the Lok Sabha on February 19 assailed the United States for its
war rhetoric against Iraq as several Opposition members wanted India to take a
meaningful initiative to ensure peace in West Asia at a time when Washington was
acting as a "big bully".
Participating in a special discussion on the situation in Iraq, they alleged that
Washington was acting against Baghdad with the hidden agenda of taking control over
huge oil resources of Iraq.
Initiating the discussion, Ramji Lal Suman (Samata Party) said the US was using the
pretext of alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction by Iraq to replicate
Afghanistan there.
This, he said, despite the fact that the UN Inspectors had not found any such weapons
in Iraq.
Mani Shankar Aiyar (Cong) and Suman made a strong plea for India to take initiative
in ensuing peace in West Asia.
Aiyar said India's voice mattered in the world when it talked of non-alignment.
Stating that "we cannot matter as a B team", he said if the "lust for dominance" of
the US was not challenged, it would endanger peace all over the world.
Vijay Kumar Malhotra (BJP) said if the US was concerned about al-Qaida and Osama bin
Laden, then its target should have been Pakistan and not Iraq.
PTI
