Access to Mumbai terrorist creates rift between India, U.S.

The Washington Post ^ | 26 March 2010 | Emily Wax

[James C. Bennett]

NEW DELHI -- India is demanding unfettered access to David Coleman Headley, an American citizen who pleaded guilty in a U.S. court last week to scouting targets for the 2008 terrorism attack in Mumbai.

New Delhi's interest in interrogating Headley is causing a diplomatic rift between the United States and India. American diplomats have offered conflicting signals on whether Indian investigators will be able to question Headley, 49, a Pakistani American who has agreed to provide the United States with intelligence about possible future terrorist targets.

Authorities have described Headley as one of the most dangerous terrorist operatives apprehended on American soil. He pleaded guilty to a dozen criminal charges related to the Mumbai attacks and acknowledged taking five trips to the city to videotape the targets. The attacks killed 166 people, including six Americans.

Although counterterrorism experts in Washington have lauded his arrest, Indian officials have bristled at the United States' decision to keep them at a distance.

"If the shoe was on the other foot and the Indian authorities had in their custody an Indian citizen involved in major terrorist attacks in the U.S., Washington would no doubt expect to be given direct access to this person. So India is justified in expecting to question David Headley directly," said Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Relations between India and the United States have warmed in recent years, especially after the signing of a landmark 2008 civilian nuclear deal, a key policy achievement for the Bush administration. But tensions have risen recently with the Obama administration, especially over concerns that Washington is favoring India's arch rival, Pakistan, in its war on terrorism. Among New Delhi's fears is that Washington is providing Pakistan with sophisticated weaponry that could one day be turned on India.

[Drill Thrawl]

Excellent. A change to piss-off another ally

[swarthyguy]

Whatever the ins and outs of this case, a huge one, it is abundantly clear that Obama has really stiffed the Indians on this one.

The allegations of Headley being a DEA asset while scouting out sites in India for attacks is not of miniscule importance to the Indians as getting access to his brain and all the info on Indian jihadi assets.

But, America has nailed India with this one, especially after how effective the the 2008 ThanksGiving Attacks in Bombay were.

Raman of SouthAsiaAnalysis.org has done a superb job in keeping track of the mindspinning intricacies of this case.

[swarthyguy]

Well, the Saudis in India are rather pervasive....

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers38/paper3725.html

SAUDI EXPORT OF WAHHABISM to India

Detailed, and by now redundant to a lot of us.