U.S. Warned India in October

U.S. intelligence agencies warned their Indian counterparts in mid-October of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centers in Mumbai," a U.S. intelligence official tells ABCNews.com.

A second government source says specific locations, including the Taj hotel, were listed in the U.S. warning.

One month later, Nov. 18, Indian intelligence also intercepted a satellite phone call to a number in Pakistan known to be used by a leader of the terror group, Lashkar e Taiba, believed responsible for the weekend attack, Indian intelligence officials say.

The Indian intercept also revealed a possible sea-borne attack, the officials say.

The chairman of the company that owns the hotel, Ratan Tata, told CNN that security was temporarily increased following a warning.

“The Taj was alerted, but put all their security in the front, the jihadists came in through the kitchen.
There were jihadists staying there watching the security, when it lifted because guests were complaining, they attacked inh three days. The guests complained of the slowness in passing luggage through the metal detectors and of the body searches.

There was a convention of diamond merchants and they refused to have their bags searched. So, the security ended.”

And that is exactly why we here in the U.S. face a high possibility of similar attacks. People don’t like to be inconvenienced by something as mundane as national security. And like the jihadists coming in through the “kitchen” in India, they can and will come in through the open doors of our kitchen; our open borders. It remains a recipe for disaster.

Security at the site of potential attacks will never, ever do the job. You simply can't do enough at that stage to be even reasonably sure you're protected. The only answer is to hit them where they live and train. We know where they are, we know who they are. We know enough about how they train to recognize with little effort the villages they are using in host nations to prepare for these attacks.

I would have kept the fact we had gotten the cell phone of one of the terrorists quiet, very quiet, waited a few days then call each number of the list. And once I knew where the number called was located I would have sent in the Predators with their “My-God-it-was-a-mess!” missiles to strike them while they were talking.

This madness isn't going to end until someone stops fiddle-farting around with end-point security and goes after the nests of these animals. Make every attempt to restrict collateral damage, but beyond that make it so that no person who is concerned for their safety or that of their family will go anywhere near these places.

Somehow we have simply got to start making this enemy pay a price for any success they have. So far it's been a win-win situation for them. For over 30 years now they've attacked us and rubbed our noses in their hostility and with precious few exceptions not had to pay any price whatsoever for it. That's got to stop. They've got to know and believe that with hours of any attack someone, somewhere is going to pay a price. Their practice of surrounding themselves with innocent civilians to avoid detection and attack has got to come to an end. I would put dozens of these villages that house these animals under watch and then serve notice that they have 24 hours to get their friends and families out, after that it's open season on the bastards. Then watch to see which villages react.

Time to get serious folks, time to put ourselves on an equal footing with those who are at war against us. Failing to show up for a war that's been declared against you does not mean you are not at war. It just means you are going to suffer more and longer than if you had responded with the appropriate force to show the aggressor that you won't take it lying down.

Even if all you do is pick out a hundred or so of these villages suspected of being sanctuaries for terror training activities and bombed the hell out of the surrounding territory it would show them that we know who they are, where they are and that we have the means to deal with them if we get serious. Carpet bombing the jungle a half-mile or so from my home would certainly get my attention. These people are cowards and just as soon as they come to believe there will be a price to be paid for attacking us they'll slither back into their holes and leave us alone.

India has a weak and vacillating governance with many muslims in it. India has more muslims in it than Pakistan.

India is also highly decentralized, with a very weak federal-level security-response system.

City-states like Mumbai are left to their own defense largely and there is minimal national level intelligence sharing.

That all needs to change.

Again, this was not their 9/11, it was their Tet offensive, revealing a very soft under-belly.

Site security will never be very effective. Hardened targets get avoided.

But site security has to have "panic buttons" and cities like Mumbai, countries like India absolutely need a rapid response force.

One that is on call 24/7 and can be dispatched to fully respond in force anywhere within 2 hours and at competent tactical response within 20 minutes.

They don't have that now, their elite commandos don't even have the equipment that our ordinary infantry has.

Look at the newscasts, after 2 days, they didn't even have a cordon around the Taj, we saw live tv of the fires that broke out with no barricades, police lines, nothing.

Good points! Why do you suppose the city is so badly protected? Do they not believe the threats to be real or do they lack the ability or will to do better?

You are certainly correct when you point out the lack of even the most rudimentary law enforcement steps, steps that would be taken by the smallest police force in the US.

One would think they have had enough terror in the last few years to convince them of the need for better responses, but that doesn’t seem to be the case at all.

Is there something about the government or factions in the government that prevents them from mounting the most basic response to such an attack?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.