Obama: Mumbai attacks will not defeat India's democracy

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US President-elect Barack Obama on Friday said that the United States must stand with India against terrorism and promised the attacks would not "shake the will of a global coalition" to defeat the threat. Obama was monitoring the situation in Mumbai, where more than 150 people were killed in violence that began Wednesday night when gunmen attacked 10 sites across India's financial capital. He received several intelligence briefings and spoke by telephone with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, State Department officials said. "These terrorists who targeted innocent civilians will not defeat India's great democracy, nor shake the will of a global coalition to defeat them," Obama said in a statement. "The United States must stand with India and all nations and people who are committed to destroying terrorist networks, and defeating their hate-filled ideology."