Bush pledges full U.S. support to India

Bush spoke at the White House after returning from the Camp David presidential retreat, where he spent Thanksgiving and monitored the rampage. The coordinated assaults left nearly 200 people dead, including six Americans, and raised tensions between India and neighboring Pakistan, two nuclear-armed rivals.

“The killers who struck this week are brutal and violent,” Bush said on the South Lawn with first lady Laura Bush at his side. “But terror will not have the final word. The people of India are resilient. The people of India are strong. They have built a vibrant, multiethnic democracy. They can withstand this trial.”

Before leaving Camp David in the mountains of Maryland, he held an hour-long video-teleconference with U.S. diplomats in India. He said his administration had kept President-elect Barack Obama informed since the siege began Wednesday.

“We pledge the full support of the United States as India investigates these attacks, brings the guilty to justice and sustains its democratic way of life,” Bush said.

“The leaders of India can know that nations around the world support them in the face of this assault on human dignity. And as the people of the world’s largest democracy recover from these attacks, they can count on the people of the world’s oldest democracy to stand by their side.”

Those participating in the videoconference included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; David Mulford, the U.S. ambassador to India; Paul Folmsbee, consul general at the U.S. consulate in Mumbai; and members of Bush’s national security team.

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