Dec 07 2008
Indian Cells Supported Mumbai Attack
The recent Mumbai, India attack is a horrid example of what can happen when Islamo Fascists gain native support and assistance in their efforts to murder masses of innocent human beings simply living their lives. In this chilling report it has now been confirmed that radical Indians assisted the Mumbai terrorist attack, which was probably conceived, launched and coordinated from Pakistan:
A senior police official says Saturday the men were arrested Friday in the eastern city of Kolkata – also known as Calcutta. He says they are charged with buying mobile phone cards – also known as SIM, or Subscriber Identity Modules – used by the terrorists during the attack, which killed more than 170 people.
Indian officials say the cards enabled the terrorists to talk to their commanders in Pakistan during the attacks.
Police say one of the men is from West Bengal, while the other is a local police officer in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
The arrests expand the number of Indian nationals suspected of aiding the terrorists. On Friday, officials said an Indian national named Faheem Ansari arrested in February had been carrying detailed drawings of sites targeted in the Mumbai attacks.
The reporting here is frustrating on many levels. As someone who is well aware that certain information should not be reported because it helps terrorist refine their efforts to kill people successfully, the mention of the SIM cards and cell phones is a detail that should have been left out of the public square. While the reporter and most others don’t understand the implications, I can attest to the fact we may have lost a tool to detect and stop future attacks by the exposure of this detail.
On the world political stage this development once again shows that terrorism – a nationless threat that can lurk anywhere, in any country – cannot be stopped or contained by nation-to-nation discussions. I seriously doubt Pakistan wants all out war with India. I also know they have been taking some steps to corral terrorists inside their borders. Not as much as I and many others believe is adequate, but they are not the Taliban of the 1990’s fostering terrorism and providing national cover and areas to plan, train and prepare attacks.
And India should not be looking at war with Pakistan. I understand they want to demonstrate their superiority over their neighbors and long time adversaries, but the only reason terrorism is surviving in this region is the schism between these two nuclear powered democracies. By coordinating efforts they could jointly snuff out terrorist elements in their midst who keep attempting to generate a tragic war between the two nations. As long as they are at loggerheads the real threat can survive and roil the region under the radar.
To stop terrorism which uses small numbers of attackers armed with small, easily obtained arms requires coordination and focus on a level currently not realistic between Pakistan and India. The two countries would have to join forces and recognize that there are cells of terrorist cancers in both their nations, whichi either could expose if the other would act on the information in good faith. Until the schism is healed between the democratic governments the terrorist will eek out a living on destruction and death.
I don’t think the sim card/cell phone issue in the press is a real issue. The use of sim cards and their procurement is well known in law enforcement and counterterrorism and the criminals and jihadis know it. In some ways it shows the amateurism of the operation. The terrorists were so ill trained, not trusted and unable to inovate and adapt that they had to be directed from abroad by cell phone. While the phones did give them some intell on the actions by the Indian security forces, by the time, for example, the Indians were not so fast roping down on a building, it is for certain that the terrorists were already exchanging fire. The need for telephones showed that the planners also were not very bright, as they should have known that it would be traced back to them. Maybe the ISI was playing a double game to get the terrorists to expose themselves so the Pakis could justify cracking down?
I don’t think there was any double game going on – this was a straitforward ISI operation, all the way through.
Pakistan is a greater threat to us than Iran. I would say greater than Al Qaeda, but Pakistan IS Al Qaeda.