Terror in Mumbai

So I'm sure all of you have heard about the terror attacks in Mumbai (Bombay), India. The media (especially in India) is all over this one, but to be honest, I don't really think ANYONE knows ANYTHING about whats happening. First of all, people who I know in Bombay are fine. Shaken, but OK.

There's a blog up that has pics. I'm not so sure about the captioning. There are people dying and this guy is gushing about the beautiful helmets of the Indian fire department. But still, some of the pics are arresting.

http://arunshanbhag.com/

This is an incredibly sophisticated and well-planned attack. Sure, there have always been terror strikes in India (some 3,600 deaths in the last three years, second only to Iraq). They usually get short shrift from the International media, and sadly, from Indians themselves. We tend to forgive, we tend to forget. And the one basic tenet of Hindu philosophy "Life will go on", which ordinarily helps one immensely with getting over grief, with looking past setbacks, rings terribly hollow right now.

I don't want "life to just go on". I don't want this one to be another one of those terror attacks that flits across the TV screens and fades away from memory as soon as it fades away from the media spotlight. We already had 50+ people die in a blast in Jaipur, another 50+ I think die in another blast in Ahmedabad just in the past few months. Didn't hear about them, did you. Yeah. Thats what happens when "Life goes on".

I want things to change after this one. I'm looking at a few things that were immediately, painfully obvious:

The cops were incredibly out of shape and were equipped with lathis (batons) and .303 rifles. No match against AK-47s that the terrorists had.

Bad communications on ground in the immediate aftermath; confusion, mayhem, even, where there should have been clarity and decisiveness.

Horrible decision making. How on Earth can the Chief of the Anti-terror squad and the top Encounter Specialist of the Mumbai Police be allowed to walk into a hostile situation without adequate protection? Within less than a couple of hours into the ordeal, these two top cops were shot dead. The Chief was shot thrice in the chest. No bullet proof vest???

Why do the police not have someone who can keep the media and the crowds at bay? Some of the media shots of the commandos and their setup was incredibly intimate. Sure, the public needs to know whats happening, but to openly discuss and reveal their locations and tactics on live TV? That just cannot be allowed to happen.

I know, I know; with this level of planning and sophistication, almost any government will have been overwhelmed. It is near impossible to completely prevent this sort of attack. There are long-term strategies aimed at stemming the tide of Islamic fundamentalism (all signs point to this also being behind the current Mumbai attacks), but thats a topic for another day. But for today, we need to think deeply critically of our counter terrorist tactics to keep fatalities and damage as low as possible, in the event of such an attack.

Lets see how things pan out.