Something Different
Roggio, Long War Journal, with a long examination of how the Mumbai attacks differed from past terrorism attacks: military-style assaults on multiple targets led to three days of fighting:
The Mumbai attack is unique from past terror strikes carried out by Islamic terrorists. Instead of one or more bombings at distinct sites, the Mumbai attackers struck throughout the city using military tactics. Instead of one or more bombings carried out over a short period of time, Mumbai (is) entering its third day of crisis.
An attack of this nature cannot be thrown together overnight. It requires planned, scouting, financing, training, and a support network to aid the fighters. Initial reports indicate the attacks originated from Pakistan, the hub of jihadi activity in South Asia. Few local terror groups have the capacity to pull of an attack such as this.
…
The Mumbai attack is something different. Foreign assault teams that likely trained and originated from outside the country infiltrated a major city to conduct multiple attacks on carefully chosen targets. The primary weapon was the gunman, not the suicide bomber. The attack itself has paralyzed a city of 18 million. And two days after the attack began, Indian forces are still working to root out the terror teams.
So why. Part, or all of the answer may be in the demands for the release of jihadis in Indian jails and negotiations with the Indian government, an opporutnity not afforded by one- or two-off suicide bombs. Another goal may be in enhanced publicity and attention that has been the demonstrable effect of a drawn out, complex attack. Then, there may be the matter of doing what they know. Lashkar e Taiba has staged hundreds, maybe thousands of murderous guerrilla attacks into Kashmir.
Washington Post: “A new, horrific milestone … ”
UK Daily Mail: Up to seven gunmen were British, came from the same area as the 7/7 bombers.
Reuters: Hotel staff emerge as heroes, taking bullets, shepherding guests to safety.
NYT: US Intelligence focuses on Lashkar e Taiba.
The Australian: Message aimed at Obama and Americans. Maybe. Looks more like a message aimed at India, with any message for Obama being a secondary bonus.
Earlier at this site: The strategic back story on India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Paks, and ISI in particular, with a long history of support for cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, three big wars with India and more small ones, don’t want India to position herself with influence in their strategic rear. Afghanistan is Pakistan’s and particularly the ISI’s jealously guarded territory. It’s a fact of that war the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan are going to have to address.
Another theme, via Gateway, terrorists’ email to India: Stop hating us. Frankly, that sound more like an excuse for people who would like to see more hate, more blood, more war, which is where their opporutnity lies.
Kaplan at the Atlantic, India’s Hindu-Muslim tensions, already bad, just got ratcheted up.
Times of India’s news roundup.
Pakistani Dawn’s news roundup.
American Digest’s news, art roundup on Mumbai and other topics.
Hot Air’s roundup, discussion.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:29 pm Comments (2) on Friday, November 28, 2008
2 Responses to “Something Different”
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November 29th, 2008 at 9:51 am
[...] Jules Crittenden with Bill Roggio quotes notes that this took long term planning. (lots of links there too) It certainly wasn’t arrived at in the week since the Zadari announcement. [...]
November 29th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Terrorist tactics may have been ratcheted up in Mumbai, but I believe, like 9/11, it will turn out to have been a strategical error for the terrorists (and really, do we care what name they call themselves?). India, concerned with its own internal terrorists and keeping a hairy eyeball on Pakistan, largely ignored the terrorist problems of the West. Now they have to confront the fact that there is a “global jihad”, and it is a threat to everyone who doesn’t accept the idea of an eventual worldwide caliphate. I’d rather have a billion Indians committed to our side than indifferent to problems they consider “ours”.