So, the siege of Mumbai is winding down. Coordinated teams have shot up a town instead of hijacking planes or planting improvised explosive devices. Instead of a quick bang, they managed to disrupt Mumbai for 60 hours (not quite 3 days). They came by sea, bypassing border guards. A new tactic to watch for.
The shooters were the same types we have seen before. Young males questing for their own identity, trying to prove to themselves and their God that they are worth something. Another atrocity carried out by boys who felt themselves to be second-class.
3 comments:
Nicely summarized. Rubber dinghies have been a hallmark of Iranian mischief in the Persian Gulf for some time, terrorizing navigation (think also, USS Cole). Applying them in a new context: innovative.
The whole thing is reminiscent of the Wild West, which begs the question: when will the next Clint Eastwood pop up to deal with it using what Thomas Friedman calls 'Hama Rules' -- the only ones, it seems, that these folks understand or respect.
We will learn more about the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks over the next few weeks, but the usual suspects (radical islamic schools in Pakistan) are the focus right now.
I just hope and pray that before India and Pakistan go to war over this, both nations remember that they have nuclear weapons, and that it takes only a few to ruin decades of progress, leaving a power vacuum which some third regional power might not hesitate to fill. Not to mention the death toll which could run into the millions.
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