India, US natural partners, says J J Singh

NEW DELHI: Touching on the raw nerve in the Indo-US relations, Arunachal Pradesh Governor General (Rtd) J J Singh today said India had got it right when it sought a United Nations mandate to send troops to Iraq in 2002 to participate in the US-led war in the Middle East. However, Singh, also former Army Chief, lauded the growing Indo-US defence cooperation and called the two countries "natural partners."

"We (India and US) are natural partners," Singh said, releasing a book on Indo-US relations penned by an army colonel here. "The strategic partnership we are talking about is a comprehensive, all-encompassing strategy...and, therefore, it will do us all good," the General said. Stating that both New Delhi and Washington had "so much in common and very little which is conflicting," Singh said the defence co-operation between India and the US was growing in leaps and bounds.

"We had our hiccups I think all in the past. The differences are bound to be there in any democracy, where a system of discussion and debate takes place before arriving at any conclusion," Singh said. Without mentioning the US' war in Iraq, Singh said India was respected across the world as it refused to undertake any international mission without a United Nation mandate.

"We have always said that the Indian Armed Forces will participate in trouble-shooting, peace-making and peace- keeping, whenever the UN asks us to do...whereever we have the Blue Berret as a rallying point," he said.