BLOG:
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/02/strategic_analysis_of_the_mumb.php
“Strategic analysis of the Mumbai attacks: Few points to project”
By Walid Phares
SNIPPET: “As the Indian Government has issued its various reports on the Mumbai attacks and as a number of Think Tanks worldwide are issuing their evaluation and projections, the long term debate about what the operation meant, was meant to become and could generate in the future is now wide open. Pakistan’s Government evaluation is focusing on minimizing the possibility of an inside assistance to the perpetrators. The Indian Government and agencies are focusing on determining the responsibility of Islambad’s Government. In the West and also in Russia, analysts are studying the ability of international or local (called Homegrown) Jihadists of producing similar attacks in the future. As a contribution to the ongoing discussion I have briefed a number of US Representatives and members of the European Parliament on some points of projection and published several short pieces over the past month. Many of these points were expanded by colleagues. Following is an article published by the World Defense Review. I have added an interview with ETWN aired just before the inauguration of the new Administration.
As part of a panel held in the US Congress to review the Mumbai attacks, I raised four points in my global analysis of the Terror operation and its strategic goals:
1. The Jihadi decision-making process leading to the Mumbai operation.
2. What I define as the “strategic war room” ordering the operation. That is, the level of command behind this attack and other terror strikes. Such a discussion is needed because the media debate about the identity of those implicated in the operation has blurred the understanding of the public and thus needs to be clarified.
3. The strategic goal of the operation was designed by the higher levels in the Jihadi decision-making web above those who executed the operation. The execution team – killed and detained – was made of 10 individuals. But, it is very possible that the full number of those involved in the entire operation may be not yet determined. In this regard I am surmising that the “terror commandos” may have been ordered to action in Mumbai in order to trigger a crisis that only the higher level may know about.
4. The long range goals for this operation, meaning at the strategic level in the region.”
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6971240770845409239
VIDEO DESCRIPTION - QUOTE:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6971240770845409239
EWTNews_Mumbai_Dr_Walid_Phares_12_05_2008 - 20:09 - Dec 6, 2008
Dr. Walid Phares discusses the latest threats in Bombay India - Mumbai Attack. In Future Jihad, terrorism and Middle East expert Walid Phares gave a definitive account of the historical and cultural forces that led to September 11 and the rise of radical Islam. In The War of Ideas, he revealed the conflict of ideologies that underlie the War on Terror. Now, in The Confrontation, he identifies the clashes to come and provides a blueprint for defeating the forces of jihad. Moving from the ravaged villages of the Sudan to London’s Muslim neighborhoods to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, he illuminates the vast and complex world of the global jihadist movement. He offers a multi-pronged strategy, global in scope, and calls on the world’s diverse local and international institutions to come together and coordinate their efforts. Pointing the way forward, this book shows how we might reclaim a world that is safe for freedom and democratic societies. Walid Phares is currently FOX News Contributor on terrorism and Mideast. Dr. Phares is a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. He has been a Professor of Middle East Studies and Ethnic and Religious Conflict at Florida Atlantic University and lectures worldwide. He regularly appears on MSNBC/NBC, CNN, BBC, C-Span, Voice of America, al Jazeera, al Hurra, NPR International, and Abu Dhabi TV, among others and is a frequent contributor to US and international radio programs. Phares conducts briefings to the State, Justice, Defense and Homeland Security Departments, the US Congress, the European Union, the United Nations Security Council, and other international bodies on the Middle East, Jihadism, counterterrorism, democratization, al Qaeda and other issues. His columns and articles, in such venues as The Washington Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Denver Post, Indianapolis Star, San Diego Tribune, etc, have received much attention. He is a media communicator, and has the academic, professional, and insider credentials to offer an unprecedented analysis and prescription for the future of Jihad. http://www.theconfrontation.net/ http://www.walidphares.com/«;