Again the most powerful and influential western media – the NYTs – manages to muddy the waters when defining the enemy of the west in their article today, Sophisticated Attacks, but al Qaida link disputed.
UPDATE: The NYT’s evidently rethought the original headline with language of “al Qaida link disputed”, and changed it to “But by whom”?….. H/T to Dave Noble for noticing. END UPDATE
A day after the terror attacks in Mumbai that killed over 100 people, one question remained as impenetrable as the smoke that still billowed from one of the city’s landmark hotels: who carried out the attack?
Security officials and experts agreed that the assaults represented a marked departure in scope and ambition from other recent terrorist attacks in India, which targeted local people rather than foreigners and hit single rather than multiple targets.
The Mumbai assault, by contrast, was “uniquely disturbing”, said Sajjan Gohel, a security expert in London, because it seemed directed at foreigners, involved hostage-taking and was aimed at multiple “soft, symbolic targets.” The attacks “aimed to create maximum terror and human carnage and damage the economy,” he said in a telephone interview.
But the central riddle was the extent to which local assailants had outside support. The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, said the attacks probably had “external linkages”, reflecting calculations among Indian officials that the level of planning, preparation and coordination could not have been achieved without help from experienced terrorists, particularly groups affiliated to Al Qaeda. The planning of the attack has profound political implications for both India and its neighbor, Pakistan.
But the identity of the Mumbai attackers remained a mystery.
An e-mail message to Indian media outlets taking responsibility for the attacks in Mumbai on Wednesday night said the militants were from a group called Deccan Mujahedeen. Almost universally, experts and intelligence officials said that name was unknown.
What is it that escapes the logic of the western press? What these human cockroaches are is just another global jihad movement. Does it really make a difference that it’s a new name rather than an established group of jihad fighters? Or that they do not use traditional AQ methods?
What they are is yet another band of the Islamic jihad movement that wages war on land they wish to claim for their own Caliphate. Whether they wear an AQ badge, or carry membership cards doled out by Osama Bin Laden matters not one bit. They are part and parcel of the same universal enemy that is a rose by any other name.
Yet there are some that refuse to face that reality.
The Indian official also suggested the foot-soldiers in the attack might have emerged from an outlawed militant group of Islamic students. Photographs from security cameras showed some youthful attackers carrying assault rifles and smiling as they launched the operation.
“There are a lot of very, very angry Muslims in India,” Ms. Fair said, “The economic disparities are startling and India has been very slow to publicly embrace its rising Muslim problem. You cannot put lipstick on this pig. This is a major domestic political challenge for India.”
“The public political face of India says, “Our Muslims have not been radicalized.’ But the Indian intelligence apparatus knows that’s not true. India’s Muslim communities are being sucked into the global landscape of Islamist jihad,” she said. “Indians will have a strong incentive to link this to Al Qaeda. ‘Al Qaeda’s in your toilet!’ But this is a domestic issue. This is not India’s 9/11.”
That, too, was disputed by the Indian official. “This was Mumbai’s 9/11,” he said. The consequences of the attack, the official said, may be to disrupt any overtures to Pakistan and to ignite a backlash against Indian Muslims.
Reflecting a widespread assessment in Pakistan, Moonis Ahmar, a professor of international relations at Karachi University, called the attacks a well-thought out conspiracy designed to destabilize relations between India and Pakistan and sabotage efforts at reconciliation.
Hindus make up about 80 percent of India’s 1.13 billion population and Muslims 13.4 percent. Experts disputed the complexity of the operation.
Mr. Hoffman said: “These aren’t just a bunch of radical guys coming together to cause mayhem.”
“This takes a different skill set. It doesn’t take much skill to make a bomb. This is not just pressing a button as a suicide bomber and dying. You don’t learn this over the Internet.”
But Ms. Fair did not agree that the attacks on Wednesday necessarily required deep planning and training.
“This wasn’t something that required a logistical mastermind,” she said. “These were not hardened targets. A huge train station with zero security. Two hotels with no security, both owned by Indians. Leopold’s Café. How hard is it, really? It’s not rocket science.”
To ignore the obvious will minimize the ability to combat the enemy. The sooner the world stops placing more import on the name, a common method of warfare, and the connections – rather than the shared ideology – the better.
Vietnam era Navy wife, indy/conservative, and an official California escapee now residing as a red speck in the sea of Oregon blue.
A deliberate effort to avoid the truth of the enemy is only going to cost more lives and make this war longer. Dangerous hacks over there at the Times.
M.E.
The article presents both sides of the AQ linkage. That’s journalism. Mata is doing editorial. She is arriving at conclusions. They are two different styles of presentation. We need both.
MataHarley, how does this muddy the waters by providing specific details about these groups? Regardless of what shared ideology the groups might have their methods, motivations and connections are very important distinctions. Just calling them all “bad guys” (or whatever label you want to place on them) is just not good enough in my book. Understanding the unique differences (as there are many) in tribal, ethnic, linguistic and even races within the broader networks offer opportunities to disrupt, destabilize, deconstruct and destroy them.
Yeah telling both sides, just like with McCain and Obama. The MSM is complicit in any and all terrorist actions, because they refuse to relay to the world the facts. They make it up ala Dan Rather. No thank you I’ll trust Mata before any MSM report, because I know she searches for the truth. Long live the alternate media.
there is a reason more and more people are seeking their news outside of the msm. its because they can’t be trusted to tell the trueth. what i really want to know is just how upset president elect obama is about this. did he give the usual platitudes and then be done with it, it is a holiday after all and he does have to get on with his plans to ruin our nation. i think anyone who tries to get attention for their cause, or beliefs or whatever by killing innocent people and causing so much destruction should be shot. how does them doing this make them so much more superior? it doesn’t, it makes them pieces of crap.
t
Once again the MSM and the leftists do not want to call them “bad guys”. They are “bad guys” you idiots. They are TERRORISTS who kills innocent people and spread terror in the city. Would you call them “good guys”? Get real! Incredible to see how disconnected some people are. It is discouraging and pathetic. They remind me of Hamas who calls themselves “resistance fighters”… lol. They are terrorists for God sake!
We already know that these attacks in Mumbai were done by Muslims, so they are: Islamic terrorists. Period! The American leftists just love terrorists because they hate USA just as much as they do.
TERRORISM: “The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.”
Dave Noble, the story presents both sides of the AQ linkage via their interviewees. The headline, however, minimizes the threat in the western mind by suggesting that it just couldn’t be AQ. And unfortunately, most of this nation is a soundbyte/headline educated voter.
blast, INRE your comment:
For intel and counterintel, plus warfare, you are correct that the differences in how each jihad movement organizes and carries out their atrocities has value.
However a jihad Islamic fighter is a jihad Islamic fighter… whether he is an AQ trainee/bonafide member, or whether he heads a rebel break off group.
The problem I try to point out here is that… unfortunately… the US denizen seems to think if the jihad movement isn’t traceable directly to AQ and Osama Bin Laden, they are somehow less ominous… a group to consider as criminal law enforcement, and not worthy of preventative scrutiny as terrorists.
However the shared ideology is most certainly a profile of an enemy that can, and should be pursued. Those that intend to “disrupt, destablize, deconstruct and destroy” us – the west – and establish the Caliphate should be hunted down and isolated/destroyed… whether they call themselves disciples of Osama bin Laden, or if they call themselves the Arab Mohammed Mouse Club.
My problem is when the western media tends to toss off actions as “oh, that’s not al Qaeda, tho”… it minimizes the impact of what the enemy as a whole *is*. They are one cohestive unit with the same shared goal… even if they don’t break bread together regularly. And the media has been derelict in their education (so what’s new…) about just who the enemy is. This India business is serious… yet the NYTs and some in India themselves pass it off lightly as it’s not necessarily a OBL group.
Dumb, and dangerous.
MataHarley, I think we probably agree on “My problem is when the western media tends to toss off actions as “oh, that’s not al Qaeda, tho”” The problem for me is the broad brush image that the word ‘terrorist’ paints as well. No doubt most people don’t understand the implications of an attack like the one in India; and the media just wants to talk about the number of Americans killed or directly effected, which is news, but they do not detail the tactical or strategic importance of the incident to our enemies.
I don’t think an Islamic jihad fighter is an Islamic jihad fighter as you say though. We have seen through the Al Anbar awaking where jihad fighters who were shooting at Americans one day turn their sights on AQ instead. There is much nuance in that area for us to find the right buttons to push, but we did. The media simplifies things too much and we should not either.
No doubt we ALL should be very concerned about men with Caliphate aspirations, but keep in mind there can only be one Caliph in their world, so we will likely see them fight between themselves (as we have seen in the past). Hopefully we can help them kill each other 🙂
Mata,
Here’s the headline:
“Sophisticated Attacks, but by Whom?”
That simply does not suggest that “it just couldn’t be AQ.”
The article goes on to even-handedly discuss the various opinions (at this early stage) as to who might have been behind the attacks. That is responsible journalism.
I don’t want my conclusions spoon-fed to me by the MSM or FA or anybody else,whether in the headline or the body of the article.
Spoon-feeding leads to the kind of blinkered thinking, full of emotion and devoid of reason, demonstrated in Craig’s post just above yours. Certainly that’s not the kind of “thinking” you want to encourage.
Craig,
Who said they weren’t “bad guys?” The article certainly didn’t. Did you read it? Gunmen who murder innocent people, whatever their cause, are terrorists. The only thing left open in the article was the exact nature of their affiliation, not the morality of their actions.
I’m one of those American leftists you refer to and I don’t hate my country and I don’t love terrorists.
Dave Noble, it appears you’re making up your own headlines, guy. The *exact* headline stated “al Qaida link disputed”…. it most certainly is “spoonfeeding” doubt that AQ may be involved.
UPDATED: Dave… apologies! I reclicked on the link. Guess what… The NYT’s *changed* the headline! I typed it in exact in it’s earliest form, as I restated in the paragraph above. OMG! Did they actually get a clue for a change???? Wow…. END UPDATE
And as I stated, it matters not at all that AQ is involved. These are critters of the same cloth as AQ official membership (the only ones US citizens seem to care about) … those bent on attacking civilians in the name of jihad.
Linking this to AQ at all, instead of linking it to the global Islamic jihad movement is the *entire* crux of my post…. a rose by any other name means these terrorists are no different than the US citizen’s concept of “al Qaeda”.
blast… INRE your comment:
The Anbar fighters who retrained their sites on AQI were not global jihad movement fighters. They were Saddam and/or Sunni loyalists. You cannot convince a global jihad member to turn on his own. You are confusing the variety of alliances and rebels in Iraq with jihad groups.
As you say, you don’t want to “over simplify” things… yet you are doing just that. There were Iraqis who were in power under Saddam, or suddenly found themselves an unrepresented minority (by their own doing…) who battled the new Iraq govt. They bonded with the jihad movements until they saw them assail any and everyone to instigate a needed civil war. It did not work….
But I assure you, they did not have jihad fighters atone, and turn to face their former compadres in Anbar.
The Jerusalem Post has an excellent editorial today on Mumbai and the “whodunit” attitude called In Cold Blood
We may learn the identities of these young scumbags wreaking death and mayhem in Mumbai…. but we may not know the source who gave the orders. Just as Saddam used jihad groups as an unofficial state weapon, these may be but a small battle in a larger jihad theatre.
But we do know why… this is yet another jihad assault against the west, and western culture. They singled out British and American hostages, picked foreign frequented hotels and sites, and they are none too pleased with India’s relationship with the US, and their love for western capitalism and economics.
Call them AQ or not… they are but a rose by any other name….
Mata you are so right. It is unconceivable that some people can not make the difference between Jihad fighters and the Iraqis Sunnites who used to have all the power in Iraq. It is probably the fault of leftist Medias they read.
Leftist do not understand Jihad. They think that it is related to Western foreign policies. This has nothing to do with it. It is a religious ideological war. They hate our freedom and the way we live. For them, we are all infidels and we must be killed. Their goal is to have a Caliphate and install Sharia Laws all over the planet. Leftists do not understand that. They think that the West is guilty. They think that our foreign policies are what make them mad. Some think it is because they are not educated… wrong, some of the attackers of 9/11 had PhD. They think it is because they are poor… wrong, some of the radicals are very rich. Nothing is so far away from the truth. All these reasons are wrong. They hate everything about us. The way we dress, the things we eat and drink our rights and liberties… everything. They hate our way of living. They all want us to become Muslims and they will never stop till they succeed. Unless we win the terrorist war before they reach their goal.
Another reason why liberal/leftists (redundant I know) want to talk to or “understand” the terrorists is because of cowardice. They want to believe if we just give them what they want, they’ll go away. That is much “nicer” than the alternative reality. You see, they don’t want to face that they hate us for not being muslims and no level of appeasment will keep them from trying to murder and conquer us.
It is thanks to this type of denial that BDS exists. Rather than fighting the war on terror which may take a long time, cost American civilians their lives, and generally scares the crap out of them, they come up with a nice neat solution. Make Bush go away. If he’s gone everything will be ok.
Another bunch of murdering Muslim bastards seeking out westerners and Jews while releasing those of their own religion.
It doesn’t matter one iota what banner they fly, they are all the same people and the only way to negotiate or deal with them is with a bullet to the head.
This is a war. A holy war.
Why is everyone so hesitant to call this what it so obviously is?