The American Macdonald report, heavily loaded with the opinions of top brass Pentagon officials, calls the large Indian army arrogant and protocol-obsessed. The report tries to magnify issues such as the "so observed" crumbling infrastructure of the Indian army along with the difficult to deal Intellectual brass in the Indian army. It states that Indian army officials are well educated, intellectual but are unbusinesslike. How did the report arrive at all these conclusions? -- Americans who recently travelled to India commented on the above, based on their experiences with Indian army, all trying to give a glimpse of the difficulties facing the modernizing Indian army.

Many retired Indian army officials regarded the US assessment as wide off the mark. Some even stated that the Americans should first try to fight in extreme places like Siachen and then talk.

If the assessment is based purely on opinions of visiting American officials, then it is definitely not fair and if a structured approach has indeed been followed then the Americans are victims of following a protocol which is quite self contradicting.

Source: Outlook, June 16, 2003 www.outlookindia.com

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