India condemns Israeli bombardment -- two weeks after it began

[Township75]

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India has condemned Israel's "disproportionate and excessive use of force" in Lebanon, making its first comments on the deadly bombardment two weeks after it started.

Junior foreign minister Anand Sharma also condemned the action of Hezbollah in kidnapping two Israeli soldiers in a statement, adding that India wanted an immediate cessation of hostilities as Lebanon has become a "victim by default."

His comments Wednesday came in response to criticism from the Congress-led government's communists allies that New Delhi had not reacted to Israel's fortnight-long attack on Lebanon.

The issue was raised in the lower house of parliament by Communist Party of India leader Basudeb Acharia, who described the Israeli blitz as "a full-scale assault" in "brazen violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060726/wl_sthasia_afp/mideastconflictlebanonindia;_ylt=A0SOwlD5ZMdEZmwBqBNvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

[meegbear]

1. Two weeks? Did they outsource their condemnation?

:shrug:

[burythehatchet]

2. some background

Not coincidentally, some of the biggest boosters of US-Indian military ties both in and outside the Bush administration are also prominent neo-conservatives with close ties to Israel's ruling Likud Party.

With the support of hardline officials like Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith - whose law partner is a spokesman for the settlement movement on the West Bank - a group of leading neo-conservatives have formed a new think tank, the US-India Institute for Strategic Policy, precisely to promote military ties, according to Hallinan.

Members of note are the head of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney, and a founder of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, Michael Ledeen. Both have promoted Indian-Israeli military ties as well. Gaffney and Ledeen, in particular, have long argued that the Pakistani military was unreliable as a US ally in the "war against terrorism" given the alleged sympathies felt by middle- and some senior-ranking officers.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EE27Df01.html

[Totally Committed]

3. At least they're saying it.

Name me ONE politician in this country besides Tasini who has vcome out unapologetically against Israel's "disproportionate and excessive use of force" in Lebanon. Just ONE.

It's a disgrace with so many civilians dying on both sides that NO ONE is speaking out in this country... and those that ARE are taking Israel's side. We have to be braver than this. We have to be on the side of what is RIGHT. Friends don't let friends drive drunk... Allies shouldn't let allies a "disproportionate and excessive use of force" against another country.

TC

[Sherman A1]

4. Agreed

a case of better late, than (like us) not at all.

[Bridget Dooley]

5. Dennis Kucinich, for one

HR 450 with an additional 23 cosponsors thus far.

[Vidar]

7. Thanks for that small bright spot.

[goforit]

6. Waiting for the OK rom Bush,eh?