Last night, Rob (Dunnster) and I had a little chat about what we thought really happened over in Mumbai during the past few days. We both agreed that it couldn't have been some desert bootcamp trained uneducated zealots that alQaeda uses because the operation was too professional. Of course, these were just our thoughts and musings, from two dumb guys with too much free (night) time on our hands.
Then I wrote to my good friend Shivdeep who lives in Chandigarh, India (up north). And we had a good discussion. I wanted to make sure that he, his family, friends, customers were OK. They were. And that is good. Here is the convo. You may be interested in reading the link at the end, as it comes from a different news source than most of us in the west ever read. It is nice to get news from different angles; it helps to see the bigger picture without so many cloudy obfuscation getting in the way. (Did I use that word, properly?)
It seems that the general thought is that the commando attack squad (we like to call them terrorists) acted very much like a specially-trained group of soldiers that were put in place by the American government when Russia was invading Afghanistan. Interesting... Nicaragua, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan..... all forces initially trained to be specialists, by the American government, and then set free... interesting.....
I love you!
Cam
***********************
Shiv,
How are you doing? Did the terror over the past few days in Mumbai shock you? It shocked me.... Are you and your family and friends OK? I hope so.
You know... those 10 guys were WAAAY too professional to be some Afghan Desert Terror camp trainees... The stuff they seem to have pulled off with the professionalism they did it leads me to believe that it was some SOG special operations group ... or a group of mercenaries... They were just too efficient to be your ordinary terrorist.
Tell me what you know that isn't coming out on Propaganda World News...
What does the Indian government and other special interest groups really think happened?
Cam
***********************
Hello Cam
Indeed they were not the regular bomb and run sort of people that we have seen in the past. What they did was quite intense, aggressive and professional. I guess I had trouble sleeping and still do because I have had this sudden realisation that if a person enters a place with an automatic rifle there is not much you can do about it.
Strangely I was thinking about you and how you always wanted to stay at a Taj hotel when you came to India. Overall the government here is saying that these people came from Pakistan (which is likely according to me) through the coastal route and basically they were trained commando style, to be more specific marine commando style. The Government is also saying that they had enough ammo to kill 5000.
It is a massive security breakdown when it comes to India. I hope the government now gets less lax, till now they had been butchering ordinary people on the streets but this time their targets were the high and the mighty. The westerners and the people who apparently matter. There is a lot of anger among the people here now and I just hope that it does not result in some further problems.
This link echoes your earlier thoughts quite uncannily.
Everyone I know is fine. There is nothing to worry about for me personally. I do some business in Mumbai and all my clients and their families seems to be fine as well. Do let me know of your news and how things are progressing for you.
Regards,
Shivdeep
A few Aussies were shot and/or killed during the skirmish - one couple (the girl got shot in the leg, the guy got a bullet graze) are on their way back to Australia and the guy was saying that he fell on his gf (the girl who got shot) and stayed there till the shooting stopped and then they both went to run out of their room and there was a shooter like, right THERE and they looked at each other, the shooter didn't move so they both took off to safety.
ReplyDeleteThis might sound heartless, but Australians were warned about travelling to Mumbai but there's always the dumb heroes who think bad things won't happen to them.
Sigh...
And while we're discussing these issues, can somebody please shoot the next Fox News asshat who asks, "Is this Al-Quaeda?"
ReplyDeleteWell, short answer, "No, it fucking isn't you ignominious cretins!"
Al-Quaeda was essentially the leadership of the 55th Arab Mujahideen Brigade in Afghanistan, and they're all dead or in hiding.
And even if they weren't Al Quaeda was never the terrorists' version of the Pentagon. Their goal was to inspire the faithful, not provide them with logistics services.
Terrorists (or 'Freedom Fighters' if they work for the US) existed long before Al Quaeda, and they're still here after Al Quaeda is gone (or at least completely degraded.)
There was this news on the channels here also.
ReplyDeleteApparently a lot of protests by the Indian citizens against police who they saywere lax and unprepared and responded in a less than timely manner.
It was said that they had no idea of the layout and floor plan of the Taj hotel ( that place is gorgeous).
Just heard now on the BBC that there was intelligence that there was a planned attack. The peopls grief and shock is turning into anger.
Sounds familiar... In 2001 and before, the Bush administration minimized and ignored warnings from intelligence sources.
Bureaucracies are created and lots of policies written up, then ignored as day to day complacency takes over... it's human nature, but must be fought.
Well heads have started rolling in India. The Central governments Interior minister had to resign and the Chief Minister of the Mahrashtra state where Bombay is and his deputy have had to resign as well. People are really angry this time and are baying for the blood of our politicians whose laxity is partially responsible. I wish the Americans had done the same with Bush Jr and his cabinet.
ReplyDeleteAmericans are too dulled and distracted and too easily deluded into thinking they shouldn't question the government. Those few who do are labeled unpatriotic... traitors even.
ReplyDeleteIt's like battered wife syndrome here. We hate what the govt. does to us but we are too loath to demand better.
It seems most other nations are more willing to do that. We're too sheepish... and too many of us are .. sheep!
This is just my opinion; this morning when President Obama had a press conference was the first time that I had heard of any Americans being killed during the attacks; to me our President now should have made some type of annoucement about the Americans being killed. Jen, I don't know if this is what your saying, but this is my opinion...our government and the President is not worrying about what is going on in the world as of now; George is only worried about lining his pocket with "our" money....this whole bail out crap is just to make the rich man richer; but we as working people are going to have to pay for that $700 billion dollar bail out; just like the bitch, Pelosi...who once she found out this was going to pass, but to help her husband to get richer she added a bunch of shit so he would make more money; that might not be the techinical terms; but tha is what it amounted to.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly what i was referring to, Jalopy, but i do have problems with the bailouts too. I just don't know if there was a whole lot of choice on SOME of them.
ReplyDeleteBut i was talking about all the Bush crap the he shoved down Americans' throats and they just swallowed.
The war for starters, then the stripping away of civil and privacy rights...
And the BILLIONS of dollars thrown at scumbag contractors in Iraq... that bugs me a hell of a lot more than the bailouts!
But no matter... Americans have lost their guts... they accept whatever comes down the pike. And the media is complicit.
Before the war, we marched in the streets ... thousands of us! But the media covered it as if it was a handful of miscreants. It fell on deaf ears, then before we could regroup we were fully engaged and any HINT of dissent was patently treasonous.
Those like the people of India we see today would not have cared... they might have rioted... many in other countries do.
We did back in the 60s, but those days are gone.
Alright, well I got what I wanted to say off my chest....lol.
ReplyDeleteI have not understood our government for the last few years. I was not for this war at all; today while watching the press conference; Obama said something that I have been thinking the whole time we have been in Iraq; this is not the country that the threats of terrorism came from. I just never understood the whole issue of this war; there was nothing found their....the only reason that I thought of was the fact that Sadam had threatened to kill George Sr...so Daddys' boy did something about it.
This is just my opinion; I'm hoping for the change that is to come and hope Obama can do something for this country; we really need change.
Sorry that I misunderstood what you was say; forgive me......
No apology necessary, J.
ReplyDeleteIt was in keeping with the tone... that Americans need to learn to speak up when they believe our government officials, whether local, state, or national, are going against our wishes.
No harm at all.