New Delhi: India on March 12 denied news reports suggesting that the US has offered
it a piece of Iraq pie after the ouster of President Saddam Hussein if New Delhi
holds its counsel in the event of an attack on Baghdad.
"We deny that any such conversation has taken place between the US and India,"
External Affairs Ministry spokesman said in response to a question on comments
attributed to US Ambassador Robert Blackwill in this regard.
The US Embassy also issued a statement that Washington never linked the Indian
government's position on the question of Iraqi disarmament of its weapons of mass
destruction with India's role in Iraq after Saddam Hussein.
"The assertions made in this regard are absolutely untrue," it said.
"Such a linkage has not been made by the US in the numerous high-level conversations
on Iraq that have taken place between New Delhi and Washington over the past several
months," the embassy said.
PTI
