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U.S. for democracy in Iraq, says Leavitt

Special Correspondent

In India, we want markets to be free and accessible to people
Change in attitude to deal with cases of mental health

NEW DELHI: The United States is working in a concerted way to see that the Iraqi government’s control is given to its people so that the country has a sustainable democracy, Micheal O. Leavitt, U.S. Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, has said.

Access to basic needs

Speaking at an interactive session with students of Jamia Millia Islamia University here on Thursday, Mr. Leavitt said the U.S. also wanted to ensure that Iraqis had access to the basic needs of education and healthcare. “I am not saying this as a spokesperson of the U.S. government but I know President George Bush desires that people across the world should be free and have access to liberty,” he said.

Responding to several questions on the growing U.S. “imperialism,” killing of innocent people in the name of “war against terror” and hunting “weapons of mass destruction,” Mr. Leavitt said the same was true for Afghanistan.

“In India also, we want the markets to be free and accessible to people. People must be lifted from poverty so that they can compete in the global market,” he said.

Pointing out that the world was rapidly changing, Mr. Leavitt said whenever there was a change the best way to deal with it in order to prosper was to lead.

“We with India are trying to lead the changing world by adopting common standards to enhance the quality and safety of food, drugs and medical products exported to the U.S. and to build on America’s partnership with India on health and science.” If you fight change, you fail and if you accept it you will just survive, he explained.

Safety practices

Mr. Leavitt chairs the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety set up by the Bush administration to conduct a comprehensive review of current import safety practices and to determine where improvements could be made.

He is now travelling across the world to discuss the Strategic Framework and collect feedback from individual members to craft its final action plan. India has also agreed to set up a task force for the purpose.

On increasing cases of mental health being reported from across the world, Mr. Leavitt said there needed to be a change in the attitude to deal with such cases by providing them community treatment.

“We realised this after a student who was dealing with his mental problem shot dead a number of students in one of the universities. Until now, the mentally ill people were treated in hospitals but the approach needs to be changed,” he added.

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