Something on the dim edge of my memory. When they first caught this man who is believed to be the only survivior of the militants who carried out the slaughter, I remember reading that he said that this was a payback for the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad back in September. I haven’t heard that statement repeated again since, although I could have missed it.
I wonder why he linked the Marriott bombing and this Mumbai attack. Many believed that the Marriott bombing was carried out by a foreign group rather than Pakistan’s standard-issue domestic terrorist.

Posted by: Ensley | Dec 2 2008 14:46 utc | 3

Stratfor’s George Friedman (thanks vikas):
Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack

one of Islamabad’s first responses to the new Indo-Pakistani crisis was to announce that if the Indians increased their forces along Pakistan’s eastern border, Pakistan would be forced to withdraw 100,000 troops from its western border with Afghanistan. In other words, threats from India would cause Pakistan to dramatically reduce its cooperation with the United States in the Afghan war. The Indian foreign minister is flying to the United States to meet with Obama; obviously, this matter will be discussed among others.
We expect the United States to pressure India not to create a crisis, in order to avoid this outcome. As we have said, the problem is that it is unclear whether politically the Indians can afford restraint.
…
By staging an attack the Indian government can’t ignore, the Mumbai attackers have set in motion an existential crisis for Pakistan. The reality of Pakistan cannot be transformed, trapped as the country is between the United States and India. Almost every evolution from this point forward benefits Islamists. Strategically, the attack on Mumbai was a precise blow struck to achieve uncertain but favorable political outcomes for the Islamists.
Rice’s trip to India now becomes the crucial next step. She wants Indian restraint. She does not want the western Pakistani border to collapse. But she cannot guarantee what India must have: assurance of no further terror attacks on India originating in Pakistan. Without that, India must do something. No Indian government could survive without some kind of action.

Posted by: b | Dec 2 2008 15:25 utc | 5

Qui bono?
Obviously, the major, most powerful intelligence agencies had all the necessary information to intervene and stop this ‘terrorist attack’ from occurring. The most important question is, in allowing this atrocity to occur, what did these such agencies hope to gain? OB wants to bomb North-West Pakistan and many powerful people would argue that stability in that region of the world is not something which should be desired, whilst conflict and tension between India and Pakistan is useful insofar as it permits the powers that be to further manipulate international relations in light of US fear over a powerful, independent Iran building a successful, educated society, a China so strong that the US must cede its position of power in the world (inevitable though, obviously, many are fervently, desperately trying to delay this from happening) and a Europe which, increasingly, is fed up with rubbish wars and conflicts and just wants to get on with Russia and get them to supply all the oil and fuel they need.

Posted by: Al | Dec 2 2008 16:02 utc | 7

This is damned hard to be an inside ops by a domestic group in India. There are too many pieces that open from the GPS device, to the hijacked boat, to the dingy and the method of killing.
That would be like 9/11 being an inside job…..wait.wait..not correct. 😉

Posted by: shanks | Dec 2 2008 16:38 utc | 9

btw, for all its worth..my indian friend who owns the corner stored who i visit everyday (to purchase my bad habit) and talk politics ..he is positive it is an inside job. he told me a reporter w/hindu times that wrote about this was arrested yesterday. i watched democracy now last night, this narrative of it being ‘their 9/11’..and all these police state laws the indian people have rejected time again …..

Vijay Prashad: There is something ominous about this. It means the state has to then follow the playbook laid out by the Bush Administration right after it experienced of course its 9/11. Which is to say you then go and start a war against an adversary that you claim did the attack and simultaneously, you begin to create a security apparatus inside your state to restrict the civil liberties of all people who live within that country.
So 9/11 or branding something as 9/11 has come to have these two aspects. One, go to war against somebody without any kind of full police investigation that is decisively shown us who has done the act. So one, a foreign war, secondly, what you might even consider to be a war against your own population. Where you start to restrict civil liberties far in excess of anything necessary. And of course, always fighting the last terrorist attack. So you build up this enormous apparatus of restrictions which is dealing with the previous attack against population and not trying to forecast the safety of the population into the near future. That is why the media started to talk about Mumbai’s 9/11.
The third reason is, the media had not really called any of the other attacks in Mumbai, and there have been many since 1992, 9/11, precisely because most of those attacks the have taken place in areas which afflicted the working poor, working-class, and middle-class people. This attack, for the first time, targeted places of the top elite. Very expensive hotels, leading restaurants, and this therefore, brought this kind of assault into the bedrooms, into the restaurant of the elite. And they found then that this is their 9/11. The other attacks were not called 9/11. There were the kind normal conditions of suffering borne by ordinary people in places like Bombay. So for these reasons, the media ratcheted up the rhetoric about this being Mumbai’s 9/11.
……
BIJU MATHEW: The Prevention of Terrorism Act, which was, quote-unquote, the equivalent to the Patriot Act here—essentially was something that was repealed by this government immediately after it took power. And the repealing of this Prevention of Terrorism Act came on the heels of years of protests by civil rights groups, human rights groups, and mass movements in India, saying that this was a draconian law, a law that primarily—its primary purpose, in the end, was one of harassing people, denying them basic legal access, etc.
And so, the movement against POTA had built up very, very significantly by 2004, and the government was forced to repeal it because it came, again, on—the government itself came to power in a certain sense on the backs of a certain amount of unrest among the people on these kinds of issues.
Now, POTA, itself, has a long history. India has had several such draconian laws which have been brought in and then, because of public pressure, the Indian government has been forced to withdraw it. The earliest of it goes back to the mid seventies with the Prime Minister Mrs. Gandhi declaring emergency there, and something called the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. So, it has a long history, and each time, the public has risen up against it, forced the government to withdraw the law.

Posted by: annie | Dec 2 2008 17:22 utc | 11

k-h-c @ 12
And I’ve recently been wondering what the fuck Kipling would make of all this…
From the stony sands of ‘Elmand
To the ‘otels of Bombay
etc etc

Posted by: Tantalus | Dec 2 2008 19:00 utc | 13

Mumbai bombers ‘took cocaine and LSD’ before carrying out attacks???

The Mumbai terrorists may have pumped themselves full of drugs to keep going during their murderous three-day rampage.
Indian police sources say tests on the bodies of dead Islamic fanatics revealed traces of stimulant drugs.
One said: “We found injections containing traces of cocaine and LSD left behind by the terrorists and later found drugs in their blood.
“There was also evidence of steroids, which isn’t uncommon in terrorists. These men were all toned, suggesting they had been doing some heavy training for the attacks.
“This explains why they managed to battle the commandos for over 50 hours with no food or sleep.”
The source said one gunman is thought to have injected himself with large doses of stimulant so he could keep on fighting after he was seriously wounded.
…

Bullshit.. as another board I visit says, (sarcastically speaking)” Sure, that would be MY fucking first choice if I was gonna go against the army…Jesus! Its known for its ability to help you concentrate and be a lethal killing machine, with hyper-accuracy and nimble fingers… ”
Heres a video of british soldiers on LSD. Seems theyre pretty frosty!
Steroids, painkillers and methamphetamine or regular speed, sure thang. But coke and acid is just ridiculous. Id be astonished if those guys could even disassemble and clean a gun on LSD. Sure a trained psychonaut could, but it would still decrease performance and accuracy. ”
I know for a fact they are using drugs such as
Modafinil (Provigil), in special trainings as well as an engineered form of ecstasy, which is meant to, and takes out or blocks our fear of dying or of being hurt. My intution has told me from the beginning, that is excactly what these black sites are set up to do. Experiment on humans. Any MOA whom isn;t keeping up with valtin’s work on this matters ought to.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 2 2008 19:28 utc | 15

Mumbai bombers ‘took cocaine and LSD’ before carrying out attacks???

The Mumbai terrorists may have pumped themselves full of drugs to keep going during their murderous three-day rampage.
Indian police sources say tests on the bodies of dead Islamic fanatics revealed traces of stimulant drugs.
One said: “We found injections containing traces of cocaine and LSD left behind by the terrorists and later found drugs in their blood.
“There was also evidence of steroids, which isn’t uncommon in terrorists. These men were all toned, suggesting they had been doing some heavy training for the attacks.
“This explains why they managed to battle the commandos for over 50 hours with no food or sleep.”
The source said one gunman is thought to have injected himself with large doses of stimulant so he could keep on fighting after he was seriously wounded.
…

Bullshit.. as another board I visit says, (sarcastically speaking)” Sure, that would be MY fucking first choice if I was gonna go against the army…Jesus! Its known for its ability to help you concentrate and be a lethal killing machine, with hyper-accuracy and nimble fingers… ”
Heres a video of british soldiers on LSD. Seems theyre pretty frosty!
Steroids, painkillers and methamphetamine or regular speed, sure thang. But coke and acid is just ridiculous. Id be astonished if those guys could even disassemble and clean a gun on LSD. Sure a trained psychonaut could, but it would still decrease performance and accuracy. ”
I know for a fact they are using drugs such as
Modafinil (Provigil), in special trainings as well as an engineered form of ecstasy, which is meant to, and takes out or blocks our fear of dying or of being hurt. My intution has told me from the beginning, that is excactly what these black sites are set up to do. Experiment on humans. Any MOA whom isn;t keeping up with valtin’s work on this matters ought to.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 2 2008 19:29 utc | 17

Fucking typepad!
For example, his Vermont State Hospital Implicated in CIA Mind Control Experiments.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 2 2008 19:32 utc | 19

@ Kilo
are you sure about that? none of the attackers were Afghanis. the only proof we were offered that Afghanistan had anything at all to do with the attacks was a video of bin Laden talking about it with some friends. I doubt that you can prove the video was made in Afghanistan nor even that the topic was the attack. we only know what we were told by our betters.

Posted by: dan of steele | Dec 2 2008 20:05 utc | 21

b,
I speculated about a false flag operation by the Indian right.
You aren’t the only one. According to this blog post, people in India are having similar suspicions:

There are also whispers about the active involvement from certain Indian politicians and police personnel. It could be just a malicious rumour but the fact is that these three days have improved the Opposition’s chances in the forthcoming elections a hundredfold. Plus, with Hemant Karkare dead, who knows how the investigation of the Malegaon blasts will conclude (Karkare said that evidence pointed to the the bomb blasts being a Hindu fundamentalist plot rather than an Islamist one, earning himself the ire of the BJP).

The Indians allege that the captured terrorist is one Ajmal Amir Kamal from Faridkot in Pakistan. But a man of that name is unknown there
Oops… How about Mohammad Amjad Amir Iman? Yes, they’ve changed the name now…
That much is normal. All sorts of confusion and conflicting info is to be expected the first few days.
But this, ‘There were more than just 10 terrorists’ This is ridiculous. It’s been almost a week since the first shots, and they still aren’t sure what hit them! It seems, the only thing the authorities are sure of in this whole story is who they want to be pointing fingers at…

Posted by: Alamet | Dec 2 2008 21:49 utc | 23

@24,
His adopted daughter was from Bangladesh, wasn’t she? Maybe he’s just saying hi to her extended family. Yeah, that must be it.

Posted by: biklett | Dec 2 2008 22:35 utc | 25

What is McCain doing, visiting hot spots?
did you miss jeb bush’s statement about the gop forming a shadow government?

Posted by: annie | Dec 2 2008 22:55 utc | 27

@annie did you miss jeb bush’s statement about the gop forming a shadow government?
If only it were so, I have often wondered why amerika doesn’t run with the usual adversarial model of a shadow government. Having peeps on the other side whose job it is to stay across specefic issues with qualified access to the departments their opposite number in the administration oversees, is a really effective way of ensuring governments don’t get above themselves. Also good for countering corruption. Of course in contradiction to what shrub the lesser maintains it increases division on partisan lines, which considering the alacrity with which dem reps hop into rethug policies and support them, would be no bad thing.
Na I reckon this business with McCain is something else to do with Obama’s professed desire for bipartisanship (ie being a closet rightist)
McCain is gonna become a prez envoy for Obama.
Clinton B. has been touted as a potential State department envoy working in co-operation with Clinton H. and the prez.
Someone will be required to do similar sorts of envoy tasks on military and Defence matters so Obama will pick McCain and then turn around to well known ‘anti-semite’ (in the AIPAC usuage not the real usage of that word) Carter J. and say “Sorry Mr Prez, all positions are filled at the moment. Leave me your resume, maybe something will turn up.”
I reckon the humiliation of Jimmy is just beginning.
But back on topic.
There is absolutely no way that any state organ of Pakistan would be involved in this. Apart from amerikan insistence that Mushie clean all islamists outta ISI during the half decade plus amerika was paying the bills, not even the looniest fundie could see the Mumbai bombing as playing out as a positive for Pakistan.
Pakistan already has too much on it’s plate to handle and however this does play out, the attack on Mumbai will make it worse.
As far as false flag goes that may be true but it is unlikely that will ever be discovered because the cannon fodder at the sharp end will have been led to believe that they were doing this for either Pakistan, Kashmir, Islam or all of the above.
For eg I have some reservations about the fact that the one gunman captured was the vid game look-alike whose visage has been plastered across about 99.9% of the media outlets around the planet. But conjecture is as pointless as it is frustrating. We simply don’t have enough information and it is unlikely we ever will.
Of course Pakistan will be judged in the media and by insinuation from amerika and her ass-wipers as ‘letting this happen’ as if the Pakistanis had a choice.
With all resources up north harassing the Pashtu, I betcha that intelligence work south in and around Karachi had (until last weekend) a very low priority.
It is really difficult to see what a congress led govt can do in India aside from harassing Pakistan, while explaining to their voters in the islamic communities “not to take it too seriously”.
The trouble is that the way this action has unfolded means that the rapprochement desires of the governments of both India and Pakistan will become untenable on both sides of the border, so if one wanted to find a culprit, looking for those groups vehemently opposed to the current de’tente would be a good place to start.

Posted by: Debs is dead | Dec 2 2008 23:59 utc | 29

debs If only it were so, I have often wondered why amerika doesn’t run with the usual adversarial model of a shadow government.
wasn’t iran contra operated thru shadow government. bush was just the face of cheney’s neocon shadow government.
Na I reckon this business with McCain is something else to do with Obama’s professed desire for bipartisanship
i don’t think he is sending people on ‘diplomatic’ missions yet.
As far as false flag goes that may be true but it is unlikely that will ever be discovered because the cannon fodder at the sharp end will have been led to believe that they were doing this for either Pakistan, Kashmir, Islam or all of the above.
rediff

the bodies of the terrorists were beyond recognition. “Their faces were beyond recognition.”
There was no way of identifying them

this tells me they could have very well used dead victims in place of ‘terrorists’ IOW, the people who did this could be alive and protected. why kill assets if they can be reused.

Posted by: annie | Dec 3 2008 1:30 utc | 31

… not even the looniest fundie could see the Mumbai bombing as playing out as a positive for Pakistan.
Pakistan already has too much on it’s plate to handle and however this does play out, the attack on Mumbai will make it worse.

That presumes there is one entity in Pakistan directing things, which I believe is not the case. Just as in India, there *seems* to be different actors.
So, whether it is seen as net positive for Pakistan or it is important that India is hurt is the choice, it seems.

Posted by: shanks | Dec 3 2008 2:04 utc | 33

FBI team detained at Mumbai airport

“Mumbai: A seven-member FBI team was detained at the Chhatrapati Shivaji airport due to some “miscommunication” between officials as it arrived to probe Wednesday’s terror strike but was allowed entry after it provided a list of forensic equipment it was carrying.
Authorities at the airport came in for a surprise when a special plane carrying the FBI team and special forensic equipment landed in the city, official sources said.
The team was detained by the Customs and Immigration authorities as it had neither sought permission to arrive nor had made a request in advance for bringing in the forensic equipment, they said.
Immediately, after being not allowed permission, the FBI team got in touch with their Mission in New Delhi who in turn contacted officials in External Affairs Ministry.
Finally, the issue was resolved and the team was allowed to come in but only after providing the list of equipment that the team were carrying, the sources said.
They attributed this incident to miscommunication between the two sides and added that if prior information was available, the authorities would have placed a liaison officer to receive the team.
FBI would be investigating the case from its side as six American nationals were killed in the three-day-long shootouts.
It was not immediately clear whether the FBI had also registered a case in the matter as it had done in the IC-814 hijacking case of Indian Airlines plane which carried a US national Jennir Moorie.”
And another story, just a snippet rest at link:
“WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday described the relationship between Pakistan and India as different from what it was a number of years ago, while stressing that “they share a common enemy, because extremists in any form are obviously a threat to the Pakistanis as well as to the Indians”.”

FBI shows up, India un prepared? This sounds fishy as all hell….

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 3 2008 3:49 utc | 35

Should have read:
FBI shows up unannounced , India unprepared for them?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Dec 3 2008 3:59 utc | 37

This whole thing is so dodgy. There really is no other way to put it.

Posted by: Al | Dec 3 2008 4:44 utc | 39

pro Pakistan propaganda? No! pro people propaganda. One of the main reasons that the entire subcontinent has been held back is because some of the people who live there can be tricked into believing that their enemy is anybody who observes a different god, speaks a different language or lives on the other side of a line drawn on a piece of paper thousands of kilometres from where either person lives.
As long as people believe those are their enemies, they forget that poverty, ignorance created by poor education and those who feed off that situation are their real enemy.
I suggest you watch as one of the processes amerika uses to ensure that it can keep India ‘under control’ unlike China, is by ensuring that India has to spend far too much of the wealth it generates from underpaid labour and polluted waterways on armaments to scare and overawe their neighbours.
As long as sufficient people in India can be tricked into fighting with those they have so much in common with rather than those who seek to exploit them, the progress will be as illusory as that on a treadmill.
Pro Pakistani propaganda eh? Take a good look here you won’t find anything written by any of us critical of Indian people, you will find stuff critical of our cowardly troll’s partners in crime in the BJP, who try to use the Indian people’s beliefs against themselves, to further their greed and lust for power, but just as you won’t find anything pro-Pakistani here, you also won’t find anything ‘anti-Indian’.
It’s weird most of the Indian Hindus I have met may not spend a lot of time amongst muslims much less Pakistanis, but they agree with Annie’s friend that these divisions are created by powerful people deliberately to cause trouble. I have written here a while ago of my friend from Gujurat who was so upset and angry when the thugs in that state terrorised so many poor muslims in 2001.
I guess we had to find the exception that proves the rule here at MoA eh!

Posted by: Debs is dead | Dec 3 2008 5:49 utc | 41

@ Uncle 15 Could you give some links for “Valtin’s work”? A (not very thorough) Google search didn’t turn up very much.
Thanks also to Tevere Biondo @ 38 for an amusing bit of Kubrickian satire.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Dec 3 2008 11:42 utc | 43

India warns all options open with Pakistan after Mumbai attacks

India on Wednesday warned that all options were open in dealing with Pakistan after last week’s attacks on Mumbai, as the United States pressured Islamabad to show urgent cooperation with the probe.
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said there was “no doubt” that the militants had come from and were coordinated from Pakistan .
“What action will be taken by the government will depend on the response we have from the Pakistan authorities,” he said, referring to India’s demand that Pakistan hand over 20 terrorist suspects.
“I am expecting the response, (and) after obtaining the response, whatever the government considers necessary to protect its territorial integrity, safety and security of its citizens, the government will do that,” he warned.
…
Although Rice said she refused to “jump to any conclusions about who is responsible,” US intelligence officials have privately supported India’s accusations.

What are these “U.S. intelligence officials” trying to achieve with that leak???

Posted by: b | Dec 3 2008 17:34 utc | 45

i remembered reading earlier of suspects taken into custody. even tho it comes up on google, the references in the US/UK links have now been scrubbed

#
Indian Commandos Storm Jewish Center – NYTimes.com
The general said he expected all anti-terrorist operations in Mumbai to be over by midafternoon. … Nine suspects were taken into custody, they said. …
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/world/asia/29mumbai.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Sengupta,%20Somini – Similar pages –
#
Commandos clear Mumbai hotel – Yahoo! News UK
… said at least seven attackers were killed and nine suspects taken into custody. … Play video ‘British men among Mumbai terrorists’. 1 hour 9 mins ago …
uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20081128/tts-uk-india-mumbai-shootings-ca02f96.html – 30k – Cached – Similar pages –

here’s one not yet erased
here is abs cbn news whoever they are.

An estimated 25 men armed with assault rifles and grenades — at least some of whom arrived by sea — had fanned out across Mumbai on Wednesday night to attack sites popular with tourists and businessmen, including the city’s top two luxury hotels.
Police said at least seven attackers were killed and nine suspects taken into custody. Twelve policemen were killed, including the chief of Mumbai’s anti-terrorist squad.

finally i have found what appears to be the original rueters story (Reporting by New Delhi and Mumbai bureaux; Writing by Simon Denyer; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and John Chalmers ) carried by an au yahoo link (australia?)
so, the police originally reported they had taken 9 suspects into custody. this has for the most part been scrubbed. and we are to assume they then tortured them to the point of beyond recognition after the hindu newspaper reports at least 3 of them are ‘members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, based in Pakistan .’
one might think they would keep a few more of them alive to be able to question them further.
also, this report came out on the 28th but the attacks didn’t end until the 29th. how could there have been only 10 terrorists? maybe the original guys they arrested on suspicion they let go because they determined they didn’t cause the attacks.
very fishy.

Posted by: annie | Dec 3 2008 20:00 utc | 47

pt 2
here’s one not yet erased
here is abs cbn news whoever they are.

An estimated 25 men armed with assault rifles and grenades — at least some of whom arrived by sea — had fanned out across Mumbai on Wednesday night to attack sites popular with tourists and businessmen, including the city’s top two luxury hotels.
Police said at least seven attackers were killed and nine suspects taken into custody. Twelve policemen were killed, including the chief of Mumbai’s anti-terrorist squad.

finally i have found what appears to be the original rueters story (Reporting by New Delhi and Mumbai bureaux; Writing by Simon Denyer; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and John Chalmers ) carried by an au yahoo link (australia?)
so, the police originally reported they had taken 9 suspects into custody. this has for the most part been scrubbed. and we are to assume they then tortured them to the point of beyond recognition after the hindu newspaper reports at least 3 of them are ‘members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, based in Pakistan .’
one might think they would keep a few more of them alive to be able to question them further.
also, this report came out on the 28th but the attacks didn’t end until the 29th. how could there have been only 10 terrorists? maybe the original guys they arrested on suspicion they let go because they determined they didn’t cause the attacks.
very fishy.

Posted by: annie | Dec 3 2008 20:03 utc | 49

vbo, i became obsessed this afternoon w/karkare and started collecting all these quotes and the varying versions (wiki was just updated, wow are they ever on top of the official story) when they do timelines they don’t include when the police were killed.
did you know after he died the some bjp guy showed up at the families house after he called numerous times and they kept telling him they didn’t want to see him, or take gov money for his death. it was only 36 hrs since the death threats to blow up his house. pisses me off no end. as time goes on they dilute/adjust the stories.
argh

Posted by: annie | Dec 4 2008 1:26 utc | 51

Annie , thank you for digging…

Posted by: vbo | Dec 4 2008 6:21 utc | 53