Mumbai under terrorist attack?

[OilersBaby]

This is tragic..a lot of my husbands family lives in Mumbai or else travels to Mumbai for work. I can't imagine why someone would do things like this or the events of 9/11 or all the other things. HORRIBLE. So according to the news the hostages were asked if they had American or British passports and if they did they were killed but if not, were they released? Then why are there Canadian hostages?

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by OilersBaby

So according to the news the hostages were asked if they had American or British passports and if they did they were killed but if not, were they released? Then why are there Canadian hostages?

Well if they killed all the americans/brits, maybe canadians were the only ones left alive to become hostages?

[icarus]

There is no indication in any of the reports that they killed people who answered yes to being American or British. Presumably when they asked no one said anything.

[icarus]

My gf's friend's uncle and aunt have been safely rescued from Hotel Oberoi! Yay! It has been a harrowing 39 hours... Phew.

[driveway]

With the crisis in Mumbai stretching on, it's cause me to start to wonder:

Based on the actions of NATO after 9/11, if it can be shown that these terrorists were based out of Pakistan, is India within its right to go to war against Pakistan?

Not asking if it's likely, or a good idea - just wondering the opinion of CP.

[CaptainCrunch]

From what I heard India's navy has seized two Pakistani flagged freighters that they suspect bought the terrorists in, and are ramping up the rhetoric about these thugs coming in from Pakistan.

This terrorist attack is going exactly as these terrorists probably want it. They've now destabalized the whole region, thrown it into a paranoid state, and moved India and Pakistan who already don't like each other one step closer to war.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

From what I heard India's navy has seized two Pakistani flagged freighters that they suspect bought the terrorists in, and are ramping up the rhetoric about these thugs coming in from Pakistan.

This terrorist attack is going exactly as these terrorists probably want it. They've now destabalized the whole region, thrown it into a paranoid state, and moved India and Pakistan who already don't like each other one step closer to war.

Oh lord.

[CaptainCrunch]

If there is one positive note in this though, it might force Pakistan to be more proactive in terms of attempting to clean out the wild lands and stop their intelligence and security apparatus from playing both sides of the fence when it comes to the terrorist factions that are sheltering themselves in Pakistan.

However I think that things are going to get really ugly over there, if I was to predict anything, I can see India air strikes or special forces incursions into the tribal lands in Pakistan.

[HOZ]

Looks as though a couple of the terrorists, or "militants" as the BBC like to call them, are British born an bread. Another thing that makes you go....hmmmmm

With the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency now heading to India to "help". Something tells me that the captured "youths" will be soon confessing to quite a few things before the first battery cables are burnt out.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by HOZ

Looks as though a couple of the terrorists, or "militants" as the BBC like to call them, are British born an bread. Another thing that makes you go....hmmmmm

With the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency now heading to India to "help". Something tells me that the captured "youths" will be soon confessing to quite a few things before the first battery cables are burnt out.

Hopefully the UN will send a strongly worded letter complaining about the mistreatment of these freedom fighters, and India and Pakistans deplorable human Rights abuses when it comes to the treatment of these suspects.

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Hopefully the UN will send a strongly worded letter complaining about the mistreatment of these freedom fighters, and India and Pakistans deplorable human Rights abuses when it comes to the treatment of these suspects.

I had a HANS BRIX/Team America moment.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by HOZ

Looks as though a couple of the terrorists, or "militants" as the BBC like to call them, are British born an bread. Another thing that makes you go....hmmmmm

With the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency now heading to India to "help". Something tells me that the captured "youths" will be soon confessing to quite a few things before the first battery cables are burnt out.

It's pretty amazing how the global media is handling this with kid gloves. Remember the Syrian incident a while back where US commandos landed in Syria and engaged in a firefight with "civilian construction workers." Why isn't the same level of outrage applied here?

[ikaris]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

This terrorist attack is going exactly as these terrorists probably want it. They've now destabalized the whole region, thrown it into a paranoid state, and moved India and Pakistan who already don't like each other one step closer to war.

The good news is that in the most recent comments from India's prime minister, while suggesting that the terrorists are likely based out of Pakistan, he was somewhat clear in differentiating that Pakistan itself was likely not supporting the terrorists. This is very important when considering the politics of this region as usually India will attribute these sort of attacks to the ISI (Pakistan intelligence service) but this time they seem to recognize that the terrorists aren't directly supported by the government. In reality though, there are likely rogue elements in the ISI that still provide logistical support that the government of Pakistan cannot control because of their internal instablity. It is in India's interest to not further destabilize Pakistan.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by ikaris

The good news is that in the most recent comments from India's prime minister, while suggesting that the terrorists are likely based out of Pakistan, he was somewhat clear in differentiating that Pakistan itself was likely not supporting the terrorists. This is very important when considering the politics of this region as usually India will attribute these sort of attacks to the ISI (Pakistan intelligence service) but this time they seem to recognize that the terrorists aren't directly supported by the government. In reality though, there are likely rogue elements in the ISI that still provide logistical support that the government of Pakistan cannot control because of their internal instablity. It is in India's interest to not further destabilize Pakistan.

This is a great post by the way.

I had hopes that Pakistan's new government would attempt to reform the ISI as they have been fighting a behind the scenes war against Pakistans government for years and providing overt support and intelligence to the terror groups in the Wild Lands.

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

If there is one positive note in this though, it might force Pakistan to be more proactive in terms of attempting to clean out the wild lands and stop their intelligence and security apparatus from playing both sides of the fence when it comes to the terrorist factions that are sheltering themselves in Pakistan.

However I think that things are going to get really ugly over there, if I was to predict anything, I can see India air strikes or special forces incursions into the tribal lands in Pakistan.

Yikes, two nuclear powers going at it.....

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by peter12

It's pretty amazing how the global media is handling this with kid gloves. Remember the Syrian incident a while back where US commandos landed in Syria and engaged in a firefight with "civilian construction workers." Why isn't the same level of outrage applied here?

I think we can easily determine the reason.

No GWB involvement. Though I do await, eagerly, for him to be blamed in some fashion and reading the rational behind blaming him.
NO Sara Palin.
The victims were mostly Indian AND no US troops are involved.

[HOZ]

Boston.com has some graphic high resolution pictures of the Mubai terrorist assault.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by peter12

It's pretty amazing how the global media is handling this with kid gloves. Remember the Syrian incident a while back where US commandos landed in Syria and engaged in a firefight with "civilian construction workers." Why isn't the same level of outrage applied here?

How is this being treated with "kid gloves"?

This ongoing (and hopefully over) terrorist attack has been the biggest story in the world for a few days now. Hourly death counts, blood in the streets, orphaned babies, explosions going off behind reporters on TV...

I don't know about levels of outrage, but the global media didn't give the US/Syria story 1% of the coverage this is getting.

[Thor]

Pakistan is a nation that has a massive tribal and terrorist population in the north, it would be difficult for any nation to deal with or handle; let alone a Pakistan trying to keep itself ruled by moderate and democratic forces.

Its going to be really interesting to see how India handles this, they would not help the situation in Pakistan by increasing up the rhetoric.

[HOZ]

Here at least is one reporter that takes the PC glasses off.

Killer need no motive

Islamic radicals would kill Israeli civilians to protest, say, Israel's presence in Lebanon. So Israel withdraws entirely from Lebanon and ... the killing continues. Or perhaps the Islamists say they're killing civilians to protest Israel's presence in Gaza. Israel withdraws entirely from Gaza and ... the killing continues. Israel builds security barriers and then suddenly the "humiliation" of the barrier becomes the reason to kill Israeli civilians. And on it goes.
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If it takes a long time for Indian authorities to identify what the terrorists were hoping to accomplish in Mumbai, it could be because the terrorists are still working on their reasons.