Massive Terract campaign in India

[rah]

It was hard to isolate all the facts in this thread due to all other discussions happening. Even I couldn't read all of it. Which is why I wanted that discussion moved to another thread. People were coming to this one to find out any updated information without being able to seperate it from all the other crap.

[Sirotnikov]

rah

[TCO]

Just replace "it" and "people" with I, ferret-head.

[Kuciwalker]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120203519.html

"Gunmen Used Technology as A Tactical Tool
Mumbai Attackers Had GPS Units, Satellite Maps"

This is a laughable way of trying to make it sound like the attackers were just so leet and that's why the Indian security forces couldn't handle them. They NAVIGATED THEIR BOAT USING GPS. Just like thousands of American drivers every day...

[Elok]

Well, when you consider that Indian police are still navigating via divination of snake entrails (it's all their budget will handle)...

[Imran Siddiqui]

And today 18 are dead as a blast rips through Peshawar:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/world/asia/06peshawar.html?hp

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Vesayen
Real life has been so hectic for me the last week I have not had any time to follow this. Someone sum it up for me: Who claimed they did it, who in all likelihood, did it?

E-mails were sent by a never-heard-of-before organization calling itself Decca Mujahadeen [sp?] taking responsibility.

Fingers are pointing at Lashkar-e-Taiba, an extremist Islamic group centered around the Kashmir conflict. It was once allied with Pakistani intelligence, but after 9-11, Pakistani intelligence reputiated it.

[TCO]

How odd
Of God
To choose
The Jews

[Darius871]

Anyone else wonder if this will lead up to the 1/20/08 "generated crisis" Biden was blathering about? Maybe Indian intelligence confirms a mastermind's exact location in Pakistan and launches an airstrike or special ops incursion, which sparks all-out war, which results in those shiny Paki nukes ending up in the wrong hands? Ooh fun!

It was pretty fascinating to watch Obama try to get around a reporter's question on this at a press conference:

[Question:] During the campaign, you said that you thought the U.S. had a right to attack high-value terrorist targets in Pakistan if given actionable intelligence with or without the Pakistani government's permission. Two questions on that.

One, do you think India has that same right?

And, two [...] some people up there on the stage took issue with your saying that. They have strong opinions about issues ranging from Pakistan to the surge. And while they're all committed to have a successful United States, what private assurances have they given you that they will be able to carry out your vision even when they strongly disagree with that vision as some of them have been able to do in the past? [...]

OBAMA: I think that sovereign nations, obviously, have a right to protect themselves. Beyond that, I don't want to comment on the specific situation that's taking place in South Asia right now. I think it is important for us to let the investigators do their jobs and make a determination in terms of who was responsible for carrying out these heinous acts.

I can tell you that my administration will remain steadfast in support of India's efforts to catch the perpetrators of this terrible act and bring them to justice. And I expect that the world community will feel the same way.

Then, here's how the Times of India chose to interpret and report that statement:

Sovereign nations have the right to protect themselves, US President-elect Barack Obama said on Monday, when asked if India could follow the same policy he advocated during his election campaign — of bombing terrorist camps in Pakistan if there was actionable evidence and Islamabad refused to act on it.

Although Obama said he did not want to comment on the specific situation involving India and Pakistan, his tacit endorsement of New Delhi adopting the same policy was circumscribed by two caveats: first, let the investigators reach definite conclusions about the Mumbai carnage, and second, see if Pakistan will follow through with its commitment to eliminate terrorism.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/I...ow/3781630.cms

doh!

[Boris Godunov]

"Get around?" I see it as the only responsible answer at this time. If it's only a few days after a massive terract like this, and when tensions between India & Pakistan are decidedly bad, you'd be insane to be publicly talking about any specific course of action either country should take beyond "let the investigators do their job."

I know the cowboy-in-chief has set a standard for saying stupid things at moments of crisis, but we're trying to turn the page on that era, right?

And it's not surprising the Times of India will hear what it wants to hear, either...

[Darius871]

Just because there was no better answer available in the circumstances, that doesn't mean circumventing is anything but circumventing. For the reasons you mention, I wouldn't even say that's a bad thing; in fact I admire the remarkably prescient tact. Given the leap the Times of India took construing so much from such a deliberate non-comment, a direct answer definitely would have been a misstep.

[TCO]

excellent circumvention!

[KrazyHorse]

I think it says much more about the Times of India than it does about Obama.

[Darius871]

Indubitably. All it says about him is that he's a natural, which we already knew.

[TCO]

You know bombing aspirin factories with Monica-hawks is a lot cheaper and less troublesome than administering countries like Afgh or Iraq with boots on ground.

Invading is kind of fun, but I don't like hanging around.