The Confession on Mumbai: Timeline

There’s now a leaked confession in India from the one live terrorist out to the news, and it made the rounds yesterday. It came out very fast, and I’ll withold judgement on its veracity until more of the real evidence comes out. The confession does lay out a realistic timeline, but there are a few gaps I find in it.

Normal terror Logistics, and the fact that the terrorist shot more than 250 rounds they were supplied with tells me there were more than the 10 stated. I would suspect there are others who did just logistics work and facilitation, and there are the unknown financiers. Those are the real leads that need to be followed up on, the weapons used, the RDX, the grenades, etc. did not materialize out of thin air, someone bought them.

Here’s the purported timeline from the confession at The Malaysian Insider:

Azam said he was member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, but the Kashmir- based Pakistani militant group has denied any role in the attacks.

Founded as a guerilla group to fight the Indian army in Kashmir, the group was banned by the Pakistani government after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, but reportedly continues to enjoy the backing of some Pakistani politicians and security officials.

A native of Faridkot in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir, Azam revealed the names of his fellow terrorists, all Pakistani citizens: Abu Ali, Fahad, Omar, Shoaib, Umer, Abu Akasha, Ismail, Abdul Rahman (Bara) and Abdul Rahman (Chhota).

But the 10 men were apparently not the only ones directly involved: Another group, he claimed, had checked themselves into hotels four days before, waiting with weapons and ammunition they had stockpiled in the rooms.

The 10 men in Azam’s group were chosen well: All were trained in marine warfare and had undergone a special course conducted by the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Preparations were also detailed, and started early.

Azam and eight others in the team made a reconnaissance trip to Mumbai several months before the attacks, pretending to be Malaysian students. They rented an apartment at Colaba market, near one of their targets, the Nariman House.

The chief planner of the attacks also visited Mumbai a month before to take photographs and film strategic locations, including the hotel layouts.

Returning to Pakistan, the chief plotter trained the group, telling them to ‘kill till the last breath’.

Surprisingly, the men did not expect themselves to be suicide terrorists. Azam said they had originally planned to sail back on Thursday – the recruiters had even charted out a return route, stored on a GPS device.

On the evening of Nov 21, Azam’s group set off from an isolated creek in Karachi in a boat. The next day, a large Pakistani vessel with four Pakistanis and crew picked them up, whereupon the group was issued arms and ammunition.

Each man in the assault team was handed six to seven magazines of 50 bullets each, eight hand grenades, one AK-47 assault rifle, an automatic loading revolver, credit cards and a supply of dried fruit. They were, as some media put it, in for the long haul.

A day later, the team came across an Indian-owned trawler, Kuber, which they boarded. They killed four of the fishermen onboard, dumped their bodies into the sea, and forced its skipper Amarjit Singh to sail for India.

The next day, they beheaded the skipper, and one of the gunmen, a trained sailor, took the wheel and headed for the shores of Gujarat, India.

Near Gujarat, the terrorists raised a white flag as two officers of the coast guard approached.

While the officers questioned them, one of the terrorists grappled with one of them, slit his throat and threw his body into the boat. The group then ordered the other officer to help them get to Mumbai.

On Nov 26, the team reached the Mumbai coast.

Four nautical miles out, they were met by three inflatable speedboats. They killed the other coast guard officer, transferred into the speedboats and proceeded to Colaba jetty as dusk settled.

The Kuber was found later with the body of the 30-year-old captain onboard.

At Badhwar Park in Cuffe Parade – just three blocks away from Nariman House – the 10 men got off, stripped off the orange windbreakers they had been wearing and made sure to take out their large, heavy backpacks.

It was there that they were spotted by fisherman Prasan Dhanur, who was preparing his boat, and harbour official Kashinath Patil, 72, who was on duty nearby.

“Where are you going?” Patil asked them. “What’s in your bags?”

The men replied: “We don’t want any attention. Don’t bother us.”

Thinking little of it, Dhanur and Patil, who said they did not see the guns hidden in the backpacks, did not call the police, and watched the 10 young men walk away.

Then the carnage started.

On hitting the ground, the 10 men broke up.

Four men headed for the Taj Mahal Hotel, two for The Oberoi Trident, two for Nariman House and two – Azam and Ismail – for the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus by taxi.

At the railway station, Azam and his colleague opened fire, targeting Caucasian tourists while trying to spare Muslims.

The two gunmen also destroyed the CCTV control room, throwing grenades into it.

It was here that Azam was photographed, dressed in light-grey combat trousers and sneakers, a rucksack on his back, toting his AK-47.

According to one security expert, the way he carried the assault rifle revealed months of training.

The two men left the main hall of the railway station littered with bodies and pools of blood, then moved on to Metro Cinema and then to the Girgaum Chowpatty area in a stolen Skoda.

It was there that their plans started to unravel.

At the Girgaum Chowpatty area, Azam and Ismail were intercepted by anti-terror troops from the Gamdevi police station, and they ended up trading shots.

Azam managed to shoot dead assistant police inspector Tukaram Umbale, while one of them also gunned down anti-terror squad chief Hemant Karkare.

Ismail, however, was eventually killed, while Azam himself was shot in the hand. Pretending to be dead, he fell, and the two men were taken to Nair Hospital.

But police soon spotted him breathing and quickly evacuated the hospital’s casualty ward, and brought in the anti-terror squad to interrogate him.

In the end I won’t be surprised if other Kashmiri groups like Harkat ul Mujahideen, Harkat ul Mujahideen al Islami, Jaish e Muhammed, and Al Qaeda are involved. All of these groups including Lashkar e Toiba declared loyalty to Al Qaeda in September 2007. Any or all of the above could have aided with planning, logistics, finance, or training, and it’s likely that one of these groups did.

Mumbai Terror Attack Roundup

There are several foci within Mumbai for this attack. Right now it appears that a number of terrorists (at least 20, [the number of actual attackers was later found to be 10, but with some reports of escapees) with varying numbers reported at some locations) attacked several locations killing more than 100 and wounding upwards of 187. Some of the terrorists appear to have arrived in rubber dinghys from offshore, and there’s a hunt on for the ship that deposited them since they appear to have come from out of country. They were armed with heavy military weapons and protective gear, and have large quantities of RDX explosives. At present two five star hotels, the Trident and the Taj, as well as Chabad House, also labeled Nariman house are hostage situations. The rest of this report is going to be a round up of links:

Nariman/Chabad house reporting:

Carl in Jerusalem

The Yeshiva World News

Israellycool

Military Summary:

The Long War Journal

FNN

LIve News feed from India:

NDTV

At this point my speculation would be groups from the Lashkar-e-taibr constellation like Harkat ul Mujahideen al Islami, Harkat ul Mujahideen, SIMI, and others from the Karachi / Kashmir / India nexus groups. This is a well coordinated, well equipped, and long planned operation. While Indian authorities are pointing at foreigners it’s highly unlikely that some locals are not involved. I would wager that the leaders and weapons came in on the dinghy(s) and joined some local terrorists to carry this out.

Fear is Not America

There’s a David Bowie song called “This is Not America” – a wonderful tune about disillusionment in the American dream, and where that led in the tale of The Falcon and the Snowman. The lyrics are intriguing, multi-dimensional, and poetic.

When I hear the tune in my head now and think of the financial hysteria, the paranoia over Obama’s victory, what the next four years portend, and the usual hate groups at both ends of the political spectrum frothing I change the lyrics. Now I hear “Fear is not America”.

Things change, and change again, tides come in and they recede. America endures and fear is not the heart and soul of us so it’s past time to put that aside.

Every pundit spelling doom, every talking head telling you there’s no tomorrow, every fool populist should be ignored. Hysteria means that extreme measures are called for, and none really are. In every recession and depression that America has ever had 80% of value has been recovered in 9 months or less. Worried about your property value? This is the US, there’s no place better to live in all the world, I’m not worried. Worried about your job? There are others out there, and there will be new ones to boot.

This is America, where fear neither reigns nor lasts, this is America where we change, and change again. We are in a bright and bold new century, a new badass millenium with wondrous things to come; so fear not and instead sing along with me: Fear is not America…

Iran Receives Praise For Terror Aid to Al Qaeda: Zawahiri Letter

In an intercepted letter to Iran, Ayman Al Zawahiri praises Iran for their aid in setting up the terror cells in Yemen responsible for the recent US Embassy attacks there. In the past both Al Qaeda and the Taliban have sheltered in Iran, and without Iran’s logistics and weapons aid it’s doubtful that they can be effective in Pakistan and Afghanistan now that AQ is shut off from their ISI sugardaddies by the new Pakistan government. Story at The UK Telegraph:

Delivery of the letter exposed the rising role of Saad bin Laden, son of the al-Qaeda leader, Osama as an intermediary between the organisation and Iran. Saad bin Laden has been living in Iran since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, apparently under house arrest.

The letter, which was signed by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s second in command, was written after the American embassy in Yemen was attacked by simultaneous suicide car bombs in September.

Western security officials said the missive thanked the leadership of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for providing assistance to al-Qaeda to set up its terrorist network in Yemen, which has suffered ten al-Qaeda-related terror attacks in the past year, including two bomb attacks against the American embassy.

In the letter al-Qaeda’s leadership pays tribute to Iran’s generosity, stating that without its “monetary and infrastructure assistance” it would have not been possible for the group to carry out the terror attacks. It also thanked Iran for having the “vision” to help the terror organisation establish new bases in Yemen after al-Qaeda was forced to abandon much of its terrorist infrastructure in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

There has been intense speculation about the level of Iranian support for al-Qaeda since the 9/11 Commission report into al-Qaeda’s terror attacks against the U.S. in 2001 concluded that Iran had provided safe passage for many of the 9/11 hijackers travelling between Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia prior to the attacks.

Victory in Iraq

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A long while back I said something to the effect that we won in Iraq the day we crossed the border, that ultimately victory itself would be defined by how long we needed to stay and by how perfect we want to leave Iraq. There are still some strides to make, some terrorists to kill, and stability to build but it’s close enough to perfect for me to celebrate this day.

Here’s a previous essay during May of last year when the surge and  the idea of it was under heavy assault, where I defended it due to the terrible consequences of defeat. I’m glad the majority of them are not going to come true now, however we do have the dems in control:

Abandoning Children

girlflag.jpg It’s ridiculous, but it has happened. The Democrats sent the surrender-now bill to the White house for veto. They are political posers positioning for next election, and playing with lives in the process. They toy with the blood and lives of our troops and the future and the lives of the Iraqi children, those they would have us abandon tomorrow.

<<< Do you think this girl would live long if we pull out tomorrow? What about the woman in the famous picture holding up the purple-dyed finger?

Continue reading “Victory in Iraq”

Anti-Prop 8 Demonstration

Ringo the Gringo has a great photo essay on the anti-prop 8 demonstration at the Los Angeles civic center. The photo essay is grouped by the themes of the signs, and there were even a couple of Phelpsian counter protestors there. Please stop by to view the whole thing.

In a previous article here I outlined why the social conservative stance against gay marriage is highly counter productive.