Mumbai: A Message for America

American Thinker ^ | December 02, 2008 | Abraham H. Miller

[neverdem]

Americans have been assured that the horror and terror that exploded across television screens from Mumbai in late November will not affect our own sense of security. Such assurances are as disingenuous as they are comforting.  The murders carried out against Western tourists in India's most technologically sophisticated city have far-reaching implications for Americans, not just for those of  us traveling abroad, but for all of us getting up everyday and going about life's routines.

Those who have prescribed this analgesic of comfort have focused on where this event took place.  Far and away more important are the terrorists' strategies and tactics.

The attacks were carried out almost simultaneously on multiple targets. Airing during the Thanksgiving holiday, the attacks were designed to draw major media attention in America.  The targeting and execution showed sophistication, extensive planning, and precision training. The terrorists had a low probability of evading authorities and a high probability of getting killed.

In terms of strategy and tactics the parallels to 09/11 and Al Qaeda are patently obvious. Consequently, it was not surprising that the group involved, Lashkar-e-Taiba, is affiliated with and cross trains with Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda is not a monolith with a central nucleus of command and control. It is an amorphous structure that operates independently, but follows similar methods, focuses on similar targets and learns, even indirectly, from one another's operations.  In this sense, Al Qaeda parallels the European nihilistic groups of the 1970s and 80s:  groups that shared similar ideologies, often avoided direct cooperation, and possessed a proclivity for dramatic events that had no relationship to bringing about political change.

In Washington, analysts in the law enforcement and intelligence communities will be putting together "after incident reports" on Mumbai. So too will terrorists in Islamabad, Kabul and Gaza.

What few politicians will say publicly is that the terrorists will see these incidents as data points, probes, and simulations for the inevitable next events. And as we are being reassured that the events in Mumbai will have no implications for our future, terrorists are already planning our future against the lessons of Mumbai. 

When those events take place, the first line of defense will not be Special Forces sliding down a helicopter-drawn rope, but ordinary police, who are largely untrained and ill-equipped to deal with well trained and heavily armed terrorists. Reports from Mumbai indicate that the police at the train station were so overwhelmed that they did not return fire against the terrorists. 

The targets will be indistinguishable from those that have already blasted across our television screens: train stations, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and schools, places where large numbers of unprotected people gather like sheep for the awaiting slaughter. 

These are targets that lacerate public sensitivities, create drama written in blood, and compel the attention of the camera's lens.  Terrorists know that the blood bath in Mumbai will not change India's policies in Kashmir; bombings in Jerusalem will not push Israelis into the sea; and the destruction of two skyscrapers only expanded America's role in the Middle East.  So, what do the terrorists want?  In a word, "Attention." 

Attention is not just directed at the source of grievances, but is also directed at the communal group whose support is vital to terrorist operations. The greater the horror, the greater the attention; the greater the attention, the greater the substitution of symbolic political strength for real political weakness!  It is this idea that makes America and Americans anywhere targets of choice.

If you think about what ten terrorists in Mumbai were able to accomplish with automatic weapons, grenades, and bombs against the Indian special forces and military, you realize that a similar attack against modestly-armed American police with a few special weapons teams would create even greater havoc. Certainly, the military would be mobilized in response, but all of that takes time, especially in our multi-layered federal system with its historic emphasis on local control. In the initial hours of an attack, the terrorists would vastly out-gun the police.  The police would hardly be able to contain the situation let alone bring it to denouement. 

As we debate whether Iraq or Afghanistan is the more important theater in the war on terror, we need to consider that the war's first-line defenders are not manning the streets of Baghdad and Kabul, but the streets of American cities. Without a rapid response team at the local level capable of going toe to toe with hard core terrorists, the tragedy of Mumbai will play itself out in similar or worse proportions in the streets of American cities.  Meeting the challenge of the terror war means reconsidering who really stands on the front lines of this war and how to prepare them for the inevitable test that awaits them.

Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati, and a former counter-terrorist consultant to the US Department of Justice.

[neverdem]

And dipwad Bloomberg wants us to be unarmed/disarmed.

Mayor Bloomberg fuming over Plaxico shooting: Throw the book at him

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I reckon it will have to happen here before the masses wake up.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Sounds like we need a paramilitary force, somewhere between the police and the military. Hey! Maybe “President” Obama’s Civilian Civil Defense Force can fill the bill, when they’re not busy confiscating guns or putting thought criminals into reeducation camps...

[Hardastarboard]

Without a rapid response team at the local level capable of going toe to toe with hard core terrorists, the tragedy of Mumbai will play itself out in similar or worse proportions in the streets of American cities.

But - but . . . isn't that what S.W.A.T. teams are for?

Kind of makes me think of that old, outdated law that I remember reading somewhere "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" or something silly like that.

[DB]

Let the American people exercise their 2nd amendment rights and carry concealed weapons. Armed people on the spot would make a big difference in these type situations. The police will never be able to protect the public from this.

[Nateman]

Two guys with a gun did a pretty good job of terrorizing the Beltway 6 years back.

[neverdem]

Beyond Tax Cuts - To win, the GOP must comprehensively address the cost of middle-class living

A gun is worth 1,000 pictures

The Obama presidency begins to emerge

Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the reminder & link.

[durasell]

At the very least they must know what is going on with the middleclass. Votes — for either party — can no longer be taken for granted.

Did Mac expect the middle class to flock to him when he said the economy was fundamentally sound or his team called Americans a nation of whiners?

[killermosquito]

Probably at a large school.

[Jack Hammer]

An open society such as that in the United States is pretty easy pickings; how much longer will it be before the Islamist thugs realize it?

[AmericanInTokyo]

WE’RE GONNA CHANGE THE WORLD

Music and lyrics by Lily Campbell, age 9

We’re gonna spread happiness

We’re gonna spread freedom

Obama’s gonna change it

Obama’s gonna lead ‘em

We’re gonna change it

And rearrange it

We’re gonna change the world.

SING FOR CHANGE

Music and lyrics by Kathy Sawada

Now’s the moment, lift each voice to sing

Sing with all your heart!

For our children, for our families,

Nations all joined as one.

Sing for joy and sing abundant peace,

Courage, justice, hope!

Sing together, hold each precious hand,

Lifting each other up;

Sing for vision, sing for unity,

Lifting our hearts to Sing!

YES WE CAN

Music and lyrics by Kathy Sawada

Yes we can

Lift each other up

In peace, in love, in hope

Change! Change!

There's your "change", you naive, kool aid drinking SHEEP in a world of WOLVES!!!

[hershey]

George Bush is pilloried by the MSM for breathing, never mind whatever else he did...it was wrong, terrible, inhumane, etc....yet he kept us safe here at home for 8 years. Now in the Boston CBS am news in Boston, they announce experts predict an atomic attack on the US within the next 5 years. Well, we needn’t worry. The Great One will be in charge, so we can rest easy. God help us.

[ballplayer]

The Americans warned India In October that they were facing a possible terrorist attack By sea against Hotels and Businesses . THEY WERE WARNED did not connect the dots . Attack coming by sea against Hotels and businesses. Not Specific enough I guess

[saintgermaine]

Sooner or later all this has to stop some where and the parties responsible for sponsoring all this crap held accountable...such as, Syria, Iran, Pakistan........may be it will take another two or three incidences in this country before some one decides enough is enough and gives Islam an ultimatum.......”One more incident and Mecca will be turned in to a parking lot” I even would throw in a free paving job.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Bottom line, from the terrorist's point of view, the Bombay attacks were a huge success. That means they will want to repeat with similar attacks.

The terrorists seemed to have been much more accurate with their shooting than the Indian Police, when they fired at all. Two, this type of terror attack screams out the importance of the 2nd Amendment and armed citizens actually being armed. Would terrorists in Texas kill as many people as their did in Bombay? I don't think so, armed citizens would have killed them, before they could murder so many unarmed people.

[astounded]

...”In the initial hours of an attack, the terrorists would vastly out-gun the police. The police would hardly be able to contain the situation let alone bring it to denouement.”...

That is utter Bravo Sierra. While they would be able to do some damage, ten terrorists, well-armed, would soon buckle under a major city police force such as the Chicago PD or NYPD, once mobilized. The difference between a couple battalions worth of shooters, versus a platoon, is vast in terms of rounds downrange.

I think I’d take the CPD over the Indian “Special Forces”, for that matter...

[goldstategop]

The terrorists were not interested in ransom or in having their grievances met. They were intent on killing and that was their sole objective. The murders itself was the message as well as the strategy.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[usurper]

I think I’d take the CPD over the Indian “Special Forces”, for that matter...

I agree with you. US law enforcement learned a hard lesion during the North Hollywood shoot out. You may not see the long guns but they are now accessible.

That being said we are still extremely vulnerable to this type of attack. The list of targets is too great to protect them all, which is why we must continue to engage them overseas and increase our international and domestic intelligence capabilities.

[Dead Corpse]

The only real response to "sudden jihad syndrome" is to have as much of your populace armed at ALL times and capable of defending both themselves and each other.

Any other scheme, security arrangement, etc would have to be built on a level of police state lockdown that would make Orwell look like a dream of Heaven while still not fully protecting us from an external threat.