The details of the Mumbai terrorist plot are sobering.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
27 Comments
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
And to think nothing can stop this kind of attack.
The whole “war on terror” thing is ridiculous.
Tie him to some AK47’s and throw him in the Arabian Sea.
Better to try him as a serial killer.
Death is too kind a sentence.
Breaking all his fingers and thumbs so that he’d never use his hands to aim a gun again would be a start. Then put him to work as an orderly doing clean-up, swabbing blood and vomit and body parts off the floor every time some other ass-hole decides to blow people apart.
Let him live with those images.
So much for mission accomplished.
“Pakistani vessel” I wonder if this refers just to a vessel from Pakistan, or one owned by the Pakistani Navy or the ISI?
I really doubt they meant a Pakistani military vessel. Relations between India and Pakistan are strained enough – you’d think that even if the Pakistani government were going to sponsor something like this, they’d at least have the brains to use a civilian vessel.
Just Pakistani flag then. Maybe, maybe not ISI undercover. You’d think if it was ISI that they’d be smart enough to use another flag, but maybe not.
All done in the name of God. Where did He eff up?
Also note that it’s blowback from Kashmir. Someone needs to get that settled.
More gruesome details.
The guy was clearly tortured, so exactly how credible is any of his story?
Well, he was caught on a security camera with his AK-47, so unless he’s got an excuse for that he’s probably involved in some capacity.
The details of his confession would need to be verified. For ex, the people murdered on the way to Mumbai. Are their bodies found. Do the wounds match what he said happened?
I presume there are ways to independently verify the killers’ identities.
From what he’s said there are avenues of investigation.
Not saying he wasn’t involved, I’m just saying that anything a person says under torture is suspect. And yes, much of it should be independently verifiable.
On the other hand, it seems a bit grandiose to expect such a relatively small operation equivalent to 9/11.
I think you underestimate the cultural impact and the potential consequences for future relations between Hindus and Muslims in India. The Taj and Oberoi have been made famous in many bollywood movies over the years.
The actions of India’s government in response to these acts of terrorism that attracted global attention will decide how much like 9/11 this is. Elections are upcoming in India and I’d say the right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP party has the upper hand.
How the Indian government reacts is up to the Indian government. I was referring to the scope and magnitude of the attacks themselves.
And speaking of how the Indian government reacts, Juan Cole has this to say.
I was just about to say the same thing, you beat me to it.
This isn’t to excuse what was done in mumbai, but it’s really sad to see people advocating torture here at BMT.
I didn’t advocate torture. I just said that the survivor’s story had some ring of authenticity and his armed presence on camera and in the act of killing did in fact suggest his participation in the slaughter. And while there is a PRESUMPTION of torture of the survivor I haven’t seen any specifics.
Wrong to torture. Wrong to kill people.
And it’s wrong that people are running around with their imagined Gods in their heads telling them to commit the most godless acts in the name of their god.
When Dubya went on about talking with his “higher Father” around the invasion of Iraq people died because of that conversation. That same conversation went on in the heads of the killers in Mumbai. Different languages, different religions. Same conversation. Amygdalas running wild.
“…there is a PRESUMPTION of torture of the survivor…“
My statement that he was tortured is not based on presumption.
“…after his condition had stabilised, Azam was moved to another location on Thursday for more interrogation.
“…the grilling at the hospital had been so intense that at one point, he pleaded with the police and medical staff to kill him.
“
In other words, he was tortured at the hospital – to the point that he begged to be killed – and then he was sent elsewhere for more “interrogation”. Are you willing to bet there was not more torture waiting for him in that “elsewhere”?
I got to say I’m throwing not just a pinch but a whole bucket of salt on these “details”.
Clean-shaven, flawless English speakers with actual stockpiles of alcohol with them stroll right through Mumbai port customs in order to gun down “Caucasians” in order to provoke an Indian 911?
I tell you what, I wish I had time to blog full-time again. There’s something mighty weird about this, mighty, mighty, weird.
Pax
I couldn’t resist doing a little “digging”.
The one terrorist who “survived” just happens to be eloquent and coherent. Yet some (if not all – hard to say from my quick reading) of the bodies of his fellow “terrorists” were burned “beyond recognition” or at least their faces were.
Wha?
And the email “proving” that it was LeT was dictated with “voice recognition” software. Wha?
I also cannot decide how weird it is that the US/western media is so obsessed over THIS particular event (terrorist acts are near daily occurrences in India) due to some WESTERN motive or if it’s truly the Indian press/national conscience driving the coverage. I saw Digby mention this a couple days ago and it’s seemed weird to me ever since.
If 100 blonde white girls were killed, sure but what was the total number of foreigners dead? Like 7 out of 150?
And seriously that alcohol thing is just weird.
Pax
As for the alcohol thing, if the group that committed those criminal acts were really committed “Islamist fanatics”, that is really extremely odd.
Well, keep us posted.
Maybe the killer wasn’t on camera. Maybe he wasn’t captured. Maybe he wasn’t from Pakistan. Maybe those boats weren’t hijacked.
Cui bono?
Well, tonight on what is probably the premier talk radio station in the country one of the better hosts said the attackers were from an organization that is connected with Al Qa`eda (isn’t EVERYTHING we don’t like?), and they were Palestinians. WTF?!!!!!!
In the meantime, though they are trying to pin it on Pakistan, there is reason to believe it is actually an Indian group. Time will tell…………or maybe it won’t.
In any case, despite all the attempts to pretend Al Qa`eda was behind it, that seems unlikely. Not everything bad that happens has to do with Al Qa`eda.
Didn’t you get the memo? Emmanuel Goldstein is the invisible hand behind all malfeasance…
Al Qaeda is much like the McDonalds of terrorism in the Muslim world. Anyone can call themselves al Qaeda. No franchise fees.
By the way, what happened to the story that this was over Kashmir and these were Kashmiri-trained fighters?
Yes, but these people have NOT called themselves Al Qa`eda. It is only the media talking heads and the government “experts” who insist, with absolute boring predictability, upon invoking Al Qa`eda.
I sent a letter of condolence to a friend [Kia Scheer} whose husband and thirteen year old daughter were killed in that hotel-restaurant In Mumbai. How does one cope with such a tragedy? And they were such sweet souls.