The Headley scandal : This should be a lesson to Manmohan Singh

This should be a lesson to Manmohan Singh that the US can never be India's "natural ally", says N.V.Subramanian.

http://www.newsinsight.net/archivedebates/nat2.asp?recno=1969

2 April 2010: The United States has slighted the Union home minister and therefore India in the David Coleman Headley case. It is another matter that India and particularly the Manmohan Singh government have made themselves vulnerable to such slighting by kowtowing to the United States since the first UPA regime.

It does not particularly thrill this writer that he was the first to insinuate that the United States knew about 26/11 from Headley but did not give actionable intelligence to India to prevent it for that would expose its source.

This conclusion was staring in the eye after Headley was revealed as a double agent and his multiple trips to India became known. It was this writer's position when he first made the insinuation of America's foreknowledge of 26/11 and it is now that Washington was in a position to prevent the Bombay carnage.

It is one thing to vaguely tip off Indian intelligence. When the attack did not occur in the duration suggested by the Americans, the India side reduced the Bombay alert. That was a blunder. But clearly the US had more pointed intelligence on the planned carnage but let it happen not to compromise its agent, Headley.

What does it suggest? To the US, its agent is more precious that Bombay. It was also this writer's contention then as now that the US decided to out Headley after the Danish plot surfaced. So they let Bombay happen but grew alarmed when Headley and the LeT picked a target related to the Danish cartoon on the Prophet. That shows a protective attitude towards Western targets and a negligent behaviour pattern for Asians.

When this writer made this analysis in January, the rest of the media picked it up, and for a time, the covert services added fuel to the flames. And then the government went into overdrive exonerating the US of blame. Much was made of the flow of intelligence on Headley and general US-India counterterrorism cooperation.

And then the US dropped the bombshell that Headley was pleading guilty and would turn approver to escape the death sentence. This possibility always existed but receded on account of Headley being central to the ongoing Bombay carnage trial which raised the possibility that he could be extradited from the US. After all, the crime occurred in Bombay and more Indians died in it than Americans.

But suddenly, to everyone's shock, Headley's plea bargain was accepted. When this provoked public and political outrage in India, the US attorney general, Eric Holder, telephoned Chidambaram to tell Headley was available for Indian questioning. This was one of the conditions on which Headley's plea was accepted. Chidambaram promptly publicized the telephone call to limit the damage caused by the US decision to make Headley an approver.

That even questioning Headley was not going to be easy was first revealed by the US ambassador to India, who said no decision had been taken to give Delhi access to the LeT terrorist. Chidambaram refused to take notice of the US envoy and went ahead putting a team together to question Headley on the basis of Holder's assurance. Now another US official, assistant secretary Robert Blake, has repeated that "no decision has yet been made on the question whether [India will] have direct access to David Headley". This means Headley won't be extradited to India if sought and directly questioning him is doubtful.

Since Chidambaram won't misreport his conversation with the US attorney general, it is evident that America has gone back on its commitment to provide direct access to Headley as and when India demands. This means the US is not serious about the Bombay carnage investigation and seeks to protect its intelligence assets.

In other words, the US cannot be a reliable partner in the war against terrorism, and India should cease depending on it. After a series of snubs in the Headley case, it is time India reassesses counterterrorism cooperation with America. This is not a country with which any "natural alliance" is possible.

N.V.Subramanian is Editor, www.NewsInsight.net, and writes internationally on strategic affairs.