US and us

"Post attacks, Bush sends Rice to India", reads the headlines of one of the articles in a daily today. The reason for the visit-- but obviously the Mumbai siege.It is to 'show US's solidarity with the people of India and hold the extremists responsible', as more commonly being propogated. However, a bigger and more valid reason is the loss of American lives that has spurred it into action, as against its usual stand of distancing itself from the multiple terrorist attacks that India has suffered over the years.

Moreover, the recent chill in Indo-Pak ties after the Mumbai carnage and its possible repurcussions is another major reason. The US would not like any unilaterally punitive measures by New Delhi to adversely impact its war on terror along Pak's western front. Hence, the US is seeking to temper New Delhi's response and come up with jointly beneficial options.
This appears to be an undermining of the Indian sovereignty to a certain extent, as many would have us believe, especially since the US support seems to be more for its own benefit. And to a certain extent, it wouldn't be a wrong conclusion.

But then again, this sort of outside intervention, even if it might be for their own interesr, is welcome at this point. For hasn't the inability of our successive governments and our ineptness to deal with the scourge of terrorism harmed us enough? One might accuse the Americans of ALWAYS selfishly putting their own interests ahead of everyone else's, even when seemingly offering support, but can they deny the fact that if any country knows how to take care of its own, its America? No, for no matter whether its one life or 6 lives or hundreds of lives, they will never back away from punishing the guilty.
Furthermore, US support, in the form of intelligence aid, including technological inputs, collaboration of the US investigative agencies with the Indian agencies, etc. is too necessary to be frowned upon.

As per the article referred to earlier, one of the actions being informally considered is to strive for a UN resolution empowering a coalition of the affected countries to dismantle terrorist camps in Pakistan, including Pakistan occupied Kashmir.These affected countries include India, US, UK, China and Russia, and also some countries from the European Union and Israel due the loss of lives suffered by them in the Mumbai siege.

What will be the result of all this, remains to be seen. However, what makes THIS tragedy different (apart from the scale of loss suffered) is the unequivocal response that it has generated the world over, which goes beyond the usual condolences. Hopefully all this will bear fruit and arouse those in charge enough to work together for avoidance of similar pathetic tragedies in the future.