Time to woo India? (Terror Watch).

The cheek-to-cheek relationship between America and her principal Cold War partners has famously soured, with perhaps a permanent breakup in the offing. Even if U.S.-European affairs can be patched up, it is time for the Bush administration to play the field and come up with some new geopolitical partners: "Young, fit, sole superpower seeks like-minded democracies for long-term relationship. Must be willing to use military power, even preemptively. Turn-offs: rogue regimes, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, proliferation, ethnic cleansing. Turn-offs: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness."

With no Soviet-style chess match underway, the United States need not tolerate the unsavory regimes it sometimes made common cause with during the Cold War. We are freer to use our power to advance the cause of freedom. Of course there are new strategic considerations, shaped by the war on terrorists and terror-loving states in the Middle East, as well as by concerns over the future of China, the most likely candidate as a great power rival.

With these two factors in mind, perhaps the most alluring partner for the United States in the century ahead is India. Although underreported in the American press at the time, one of the major initiatives of the early Bush administration was an opening to New Delhi undertaken by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

While there is much work to do to repair past decades of rancorous relations between India and the United States--and many misconceptions to overcome, such as the perceived danger of India's nuclear program--a sound basis for future cooperation exists.

First and foremost, India is a strong democracy. Not only is india the world's largest democracy, it is an increasingly stable one. It also boasts the world's largest Muslim population (more than 120 million) that is genuinely free. Even Democracy in Turkey is limited in comparison.

As its democracy has deepened, India has become, haltingly, a more decent society. Despite the epic violence of the ...