"India's 9/11"

I couldn't help but notice this series come up in succession in one of our RSS feeds:
Mumbai gun attacks are India’s 9/11 - Blatherskite
Mumbai Terror Strike: It Is Not India’s 9/11 - The Moderate Voice
Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America - Washington Post
"This is India's 9/11" - Economic Times
I've long suspected that India and Israel have been in cahoots since (and maybe before) 9/11, given their mutual hatred of Pakistan...
- gretavo's blog
- Login to post comments

Makes for a good excuse
Looks like Obama may be able to make good on his comments concerning attacking Pakistani tribal areas.The war on terror is expanding just as some are claiming victory in Iraq.I think the lines are being drawn for a much larger conflict and a terror strike in the U.S. is all they need to set their wet dream in motion.
Good eye gulu!
You spotted the elusive WARbling Obamaburd in the Bush.
And, we must choose to side with India so as to defend our corporate interests by protecting Dell and Hewlett Packards' outsourcing of their technical support to India. If not, our frantic calls for help in solving Windoze Veesta crashes might be answered by someone we can understand.
Maybe Bush will get this started for Obama. Then, it will appear as if the O-man has no choice but to stay the course, in part because need more war to confront our exploding economic crisis. Expect the volume of rhetoric about how it was WWII that brought us out of the economic turmoil following Bankster Bombings of '29 to slowly be turned up to an excrutiatingly intolerable level.
Boom, boomboom, boom, boom.
Hank Paulson went to India and all I got was a lousy bailout!
Obama Leads Global Condemnation of Mumbai Attacks
By Michael Heath
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aEYE85lgss3E&refer=i...
Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama led global condemnation of grenade and gun assaults in India’s financial hub of Mumbai, the third major terrorist attack targeting foreigners in South Asian nations this year.
The U.S. will work “with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks,†Obama’s transition team said in a statement. Gunmen raided Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and the Oberoi Trident and carried out attacks across the city that killed at least 101 people.
The violence in Mumbai came two months after a suicide bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, killed 40 people and a January attack on the luxury Serena Hotel in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed eight.
“Terrorism in Asia is on the rise,†said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research. “It’s paramount for Asian countries to convene a summit to fight the rising terrorism.â€
Militants are finding it difficult to hit diplomatic targets so are attacking hotels instead, he said.
[But, I though that diplomats were more likely to get a room at a No-Tell Motel.]
The U.S. “stands ready to help the Indian government†and is continuing to monitor the situation, including the safety and security of its citizens, the Bush administration said in a statement.
The White House National Security Council convened after the attacks with officials from counterterrorism and intelligence agencies as well as the State and Defense Departments, it said.
‘Heinous’
The attacks were “heinous,†Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement issued today in Brussels.
[ hehe...hehehe. they said haynus. hehe. ]
“These acts show once again the need for the international community to stand united against terrorism and fight it with determination,†Solana said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the “outrageous†attacks in India would be met with a “vigorous response,†while United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the attackers to be “brought to justice swiftly.â€
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told her Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, in a phone conversation today that Israel condemned the attacks in Mumbai and was ready to assist in any way possible.
“Israel, India and the rest of the free world are in the forefront of the battle against terror and extremists and unfortunately we received further proof of this yesterday evening,†she said in an e-mail sent out by her office.
‘Dark Forces’
“China strongly condemns the attacks in Mumbai,†Qin Gang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a press briefing today. “We offer our condolences to those who died.â€
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the attacks “reminded us that there remain dark forces in the world that think killing innocents is a way to advance an agenda.â€
“New York is in many ways similar to Mumbai: it is a wonderfully diverse city that is a leading center for business, education, science and the arts,†Bloomberg said in a statement. The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, on an official visit to Vietnam, condemned the attacks as the “mindless†act of people “pursuing a path of destruction.â€
Two Australians were among those injured in the attacks, according to the government in Canberra. One Japanese citizen was killed and another injured, the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said.
‘Unforgivable’
Australia “unreservedly condemns these atrocious attacks,†Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said the attacks “are utterly unforgivable, vicious and heinous.â€
In September, a bomb shattered the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, killing at least 40 people and injuring more than 145. It occurred hours after President Asif Ali Zardari made his first speech to parliament, pledging to fight terrorism.
In January, Taliban insurgents killed as many as eight people in a suicide bomb attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul, where Norway’s foreign minister was hosting a meeting. A Norwegian journalist accompanying the foreign minister and a U.S. citizen were among those killed.
Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani “strongly†condemned the attacks and noted both India and Pakistan have suffered from global terrorism.
‘Despicable, Cowardly’
The attacks in Mumbai “which have claimed many innocent victims remind us, yet again, of the threat we face from violent extremists,†they said in a statement on GEO TV. “Pakistan and India will continue their joint struggles to counter the actions of terrorists.â€
The Mumbai attacks on innocent people were “despicable and cowardly,†Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said today in a statement.
“NATO, as part of the international community, is determined to spare no effort to fight the scourge of terrorism which should have no place in the 21st century,†de Hoop Scheffer said.
Mumbai is India’s financial hub and a base for international companies.
Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s largest securities firm, confirmed that 2,000 employees at its IT center in Mumbai were safe. The company will close the IT center today for security.
JPMorgan & Chase Co. has told staff in Mumbai not to come into the office today, said Hong Kong-based spokesman Ray Bashford.
Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s two largest computer suppliers, limited staff movement in India. Dell canceled all travel by employees into India for the next 48 hours at minimum, John Schaeffer, vice president of global security, said in an e-mail to staff.
Hewlett-Packard closed its Mumbai office and prohibited its staff from traveling to the city, spokeswoman Joanne Tan said in an e-mail.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: November 27, 2008 09:30 EST
"A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."
~~ attributed to Senator Everett Dirksen
must.. save... more... propaganda...
Attack forces India onto front lines of global war on terror - USA Today
Mumbai, India's 9/11 - Fiji Daily Post
If The Mumbai Terror Attack Occured on January 21st, the GOP Media ... - BuzzFlash
This attack is shaping up to be India's 9/11 - Toronto Star
Obama says India's democracy will win over terrorism - Times of India
FKN Newz
no, really, people really care! look! it's Peter Bergen!
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14808371
Longest lasting news event on US networks since 9/11
Saturday, 29 November , 2008, 12:14
New York: The Mumbai terror attacks played big time in the US media but nowhere more so than on the 24-hour news network CNN. What may have begun as a result of a slow news week because of the Thanksgiving holidays starting Wednesday soon turned out to be virtually the sole focus of the network soon after the first hour of the crisis. The network was quick to spot the potentially enormous implications of the unfolding events in the city.
Mumbai terror attack special
For quite a few hours it had to depend upon its sister network CNN-IBN for the visuals of the frenzied goings on with holiday anchors stepping in to provide as broad a perspective as possible. For the first eight to ten hours the sheer momentum of the story was driven by the seemingly random nature of gunfire by the terrorists.
But as it began to become clearer that the terrorists were working to a specific plan of singling out Westerners, mainly Americans and Britons, CNN latched on to the angle. Its experts began developing the perspective that what was different about these attacks, apart from the fact that they were not hit-and-run bombings, was that for the first time Americans were becoming a target in India.
While the story would have cornered significant airtime on its intrinsic importance, what kept the US media focused were the possibilities of American casualties. Another angle that was introduced later was how seriously the crisis may strain India-Pakistan relations and present the incoming President Barack Obama with his first foreign policy and national security challenge. The convergence of American casualties and impending challenge for Obama also seemed to kept the US media in thrall of the Mumbai attacks.
Full coverage: Mumbai terror attack
CNN International New Dellhi correspondent Sara Sidner, who is normally not seen in CNN's US specific broadcast, became a household name reporting from close to the Taj Mahal Hotel and getting into an occasionally hairy situation with frequent gunfire. While throughout Wednesday and Thursday CNN's preoccupation remained with the overall story, by Friday the deaths of American citizens ensured that they would stick with the story.
Overall the Mumbai attacks, although not as large as some of the earlier ones in terms of the sheer fatalities, may have the distinction of the longest lasting news event on US networks after 9/11. While initially, it may have been more by default than design but soon enough American media realized how big the attacks were.
Breaking news from TV channels
The New York Times appeared to be slow to get off the ground in the initial hours of the attacks but the paper soon started putting out detailed updates on its highly popular website. Interestingly, initially the paper even sought out contributions from Mumbai directly to its website in an acknowledgement of the interest in the goings on 10,000 miles away.
By Friday evening CNN's terrorism expert Peter Bergen was already deeply immersed in analyzing the events to the extent of naming Dawood Ibrahim, a former Mumbai gangster who first went to Dubai and then to Pakistan creating a huge crime empire, as a possible lead player in the planning of the Mumbai attacks.
Overall, the US media, feeling somewhat lost in the aftermath of intensely acrimonious albeit hugely historic electioneering that elected Obama, found in the Mumbai attacks a riveting story that went on for nearly 60 hours.
More India news | World news
interesting thread on mumbai
on Anti-Neocons
http://www.rys2sense.com/anti-neocons/viewtopic.php?f=11&p=110908
especially this:
Further update: We can now report that Henry Kissinger, along with elite members of president-elect Obama's transition team, were in Mumbai (Bombay) the day of the attack, along with Kartik Raghavan, a Director of Microsoft.
Other unknown aides from the [privately owned] U.S. Federal Reserve were also present.
The purpose of this conference was to advocate an Iranian-Pakistani-Indian pipeline project, which was opposed by the Bush Administration, the Pakistani ISI as well as the Israeli Mossad.
The pipeline project would also circumvent British Petroleum's (BP) monopoly in southeast Asia.
It is clear, folks, that both British Intelligence, as well as the Israeli Mossad, along with the outlaw Bush Administration, had a motive to pull the trigger and launch the BLACK OP attacks.
PIPLELINE OF PEACE
"...Iran is interested to also include the People's Republic of China to this project.[1] The project is expected to greatly benefit India and Pakistan..."Â
"...The long-stalled talks made a breakthrough in April 2008 when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made whistle-stop visits to Pakistan and India...."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Pakistan-India_gas_pipeline
More Theories on Mumbai
More Theories on Mumbai
Mumbai Massacre: Is 'India's 9/11' another false flag event?
Mumbai Terror Attacks: The Mossad Angle
Original article contains links to more information.
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2008/1127-Mumbai.html
Mumbai Terror Attacks: The Mossad Angle
They killed Hemant Karkare, chief of the police anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai, to send a message that you cannot investigate the Mossad-RSS angle
by Amaresh Misra
MUMBAI, INDIA 4:00AM -- Mumbai is under attack. People and forces who killed Mahatama Gandhi, who demolished the Babari Mosque have triumphed. More than 16 groups of terrorists have taken over Taj, Oberai and several hotels. Hundreds of people are dead. For the first time no one is blaming Muslim organizations. The Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare and other officers of the ATS have been killed. These were the same people who were investigating the Malegaon Blasts - in which Praggya Singh, an army officer and several other noted personalities of the BJP-RSS-Bajrang Dal-VHP were arrested. Karkare was the man to arrest them. Karkare was receiving threats from several quarters. LK Advani, the BJP chief and several other prominent leaders of the so-called Hindu terrorism squad were gunning for his head. And the first casualty in the terrorist attack was Karkare! He is dead - gone - the firing by terrorists began from Nariman House - which is the only building in Mumbai inhabited by Jews. Some Hindu Gujaratis of the Nariman area spoke live on several TV channels - they openly said that the firing by terrorists began from Nariman house. And that for two years suspicious activities were going on in this house. But no one took notice.
Our worst fears have come true. It is clear that Mossad is involved in the whole affair. An entire city has been attacked by Mossad and probably units of mercenaries. It is not possible for one single organization to plan and execute such a sophisticated operation. It is clear that this operation was backed by communal forces from within the Indian State. The Home Minister Shivraj Patil should resign. The RSS-BJP-VHP-Bajrang Dal should be banned. Advani and others ought to be arrested. Today is a day of shame for all Indians and all Hindus. Muslims and secular Hindus have been proven right. RSS type forces and Israel are all involved in not only destabilizing but finishing India. India should immediately snap all relations with Israel. We owe this much to Karkare and the brave ATS men who had shown the courage to arrest Praggya Singh, Raj Kumar Purohit, the army officer and several others.
A photograph published in Urdu Times, Mumbai, clearly shows that Mossad and ex-Mossad men came to India and met Sadhus and other pro-Hindutva elements recently. A conspiracy was clearly hatched.
This is a moment of reckoning especially for Hindus of India. The killers of Gandhi have struck again. If we are true Sanatanis and true Hindus and true nationalists and true patriots we have to see this act as a clear attack by anti-national deshdrohi forces. Praggya Singh, Advani and the entire brand is anti-national. They ought to be shot. Any Hindu siding with them is hereafter warned of serious consequences.
This is a question of nationalism. If no one else, the Indian army will not take this lying down. Communal, anti-national forces have attacked the very foundation of the Indian constitution and the nation. We will fight a civil war if need be against the pro-Hindutva, communal forces and their Israeli backers.
More on Mumbai... Mumbai Truth
From:
"Doubts and People"
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2008/1129-Misra.html
[Received via email from Amaresh Misra on November 29, 2008]
Doubts and People
Some people have raised doubts about the `theory' I
am circulating supposedly on the net. They have
every right to question and doubt anyone and
anything. After all doubt is the mother of all
kinds of right thinking.
I have recevied dead threats, hate mails--but more,
I have received praises for courage and conviction.
I am not surprised and I do not mind people
ridiculing me or anyone else--but I do mind when
that ridicule actually goes a long way in hiding
the hypocrisy and criminal face/intent of several
prominent politicians and corporate figures.
Yes--corporate figures as well; what people do not
understand is that in complex situations such as
the Mumbai terror attack, new lines of thought will
emerge as more facts emerge. But that should not
stop anyone from offering critiques of the official
or media version.
My initial theory that basically the Sangh Parivar
elements instigated the terror attacks is stronger
now. In fact more than the Sangh Parivar, it was
Modi--yes he is the new, modern face of Indian
fascism. He is the one to have a cozy relationship
with Ratan Tata, one of the most ruthless and
anti-Indian business man, whose family earned its
money while smuggling opium to China during the
19th century, and sided with the British in 1857,
when 10 million Indians, Hindus and Muslims, lost
their lives fighting the British.
In fact, Modi has left the RSS behind in many
ways--he is Mossad's number one man. Recently, a
top RSS functionary told me that "Amaresh we have
lost control over out cadres. We never wanted to
let things get out of hand in Orissa and Karnataka.
In Orissa, we had even planned a joint declaration
with Christian leaders. But there was a revolt from
below. The VHP and Bajrang Dal refused to fall in
line. Then they got the subtle support of that man
Modi. We were helpless".
Basically, the RSS lost control over the
Frankestein they created.
In Modi's form this Frankestein struck a deal with
Mossad--now remember Mossad has links in the
faction torn ISI--remember also that several
`Jihadi' groups, in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the
Middle-East are still remote comtrolled by either
the Mossad or the CIA. In a recent case, a Muslim
`Jihadi' organization in Yemen was found to be a
Mossad set-up.
That is why it is possible the several young men
who attacked Mumbai used Pakistan as a base. But
their nationality is varied. Some might be Muslims
from the UK as well; at least there is one with a
Mauritius passport.
Now it is coming to the fore that someone from
Saudi Arabia (called Maulana Bedi for now)
probably collected and sent these `Jihadis'. That
mastermind must have been paid by an Indian/Modi
interest. These masterminds have no ideology. They
are creations of America who now work for money,
and even against American interests. This is again
a complex but stark reality.
Also Nanda, the owner of Oberoi, is a close friend
of Modi. He has millions invested in Gujarat. How
come terrorists were holed up in Taj and Oberoi for
days before the operation? How come arms and
ammunition were stored for days in the two 5 star
Hotels? Can the common man do this? Is all this
possible without some sort of a connivance (known
or unknown) of Hotel authorities? And is it too
incredible to suppose that Hotel owners will not,
knowingly or unknowingly, encourage the destruction
of their own property? Taj maybe great for us--but
what is its emotional or financial value for Tata?
Modi's acceptance of the Nano plant in Gujarat on
extremely favorable terms might be more important
for Tata.
I leave this aspect to you all.
Coming to the Nariman House, I am really surprised
at the perception that why would a Mossad backed
operation kill Jews? Why not? In any case Mossad
backs aggressive Zionism, which is very much a
modern religo-fascist ideology like Hindutva.
Zionism is not part of Judaism, just as Hindutva is
not part of Sanatan Dharma, the real religion of
Hindus. In the Praggya Singh affair, Sanatan
Dharmis opposed Hindutva especially when they were
maligning Hemant Karkare.
So Mossad and Zionists are known to have killed
ordinary Jews--after all Hindutva ideology killed
Mahatama Gandhi--can anyone deny that? Also Modi
without a qualm masterminded the killing of several
of his own people in the Godhara train incident, in
order the create the atmosphere for large scale
anti-Muslim and anti-India riots.
Remember evil thrives in the world because the
`good' lacks imagination. Evil triumphs because it
is capable of out-thinking `good'.
Those who call themselves supporters of Modi and
Advani, they are also supporters of the killers of
Gandhi. Hindutva ideology and politics since its
inception has been opposed to the idea of a secular
Indian nation-state since 1947. They staged an
uprising against Indian state in 1947; proof exists
that Golwalkar the RSS chief was hand in glove with
the British army in carrying out anti-Muslim
attacks. This was brought to the notice of
Rajeshwar Dayal, the then Home Secretary of the
United Provinves (present day UP) who took the case
to Govind Ballabh Pant, the the then UP Chief
Minister.
Muslims who stayed back in India after 1947 did so
because of choice. There was an acute polarization
within Muslims between Jinnah and the Muslim League
on one side and the Muslim Ulema and its supporters
who sided with the Congress.
Karkare's death
Now the Karkare incident--two versions are already
coming out. It is unclear how he was killed--and
foul play is suspected. Karkare's mother came onto
TV and wanted to know how her son was killed.
Salaskar's cousin raised the same issue.
So the relatives of the brave martyrs are asking
for justice. They feel that there is more than
meets the eye--and that somehow Karkare's death,
and that of Kaamte and Salaskar, was related to the
Malegaon blast investigation conducted by Karkare.
Why has Karkare's son refused the 1 crore announced
by Modi? The latter came to Oberoi when the firing
was still on; he made a very petty statement
disliked by everyone. Modi was probably feeling
that he had pulled off an ace by triggering this
crisis just before elections in Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Delhi, areas in which the BJP was
clearly losing before the terror attacks.
Think--the boat to Mumbai could not have come
without the co-operation of the Gujarat Government!
The fact is that Hindutva forces who were
castigating Karkare and the entire Mumbai ATS team
as villains and `enemies of Hindus' are now
suddenly hailing them as heroes? What double
standards man--people have send me mails, saying
that they support Advani and Modi. All these people
are supporting the killing of Karkare, just as they
supported the killing of Gandhi.
Karkare and Kaamte were true Hindus and the most
secular elements within the strife-torn, and highly
communal Mumbai Police. They were men of
integrity--how come Karkare died while wearing a
bullet proof vest? Or like Sharma in the Batala
House encounter, was he not wearing that vest? Was
he shot in the heart or the neck? Probably we will
never know.
But we should know--we have a right to know.
Karkare was hated by Hindutva elements. And they
masterminded his killing--they are responsible.
Karkare is a great hero, a martyr in the cause of
secularism.
Modi, Advani and all the anti-Sanatani Hindus
posing as Hindus on the net have a distorted mind.
In their blind or soft anti-Muslim hatred, they are
unable to see how, to suppress the Malegaon Blast
investigation, in which Karkare was about to take
the name of Praveen Togadia and even Chota Rajan,
Karkare was eliminated.
Communal forces backed by foreign agencies are hell
bent on destroying India--America wants to
dismember Pakistan, gherao China etc. and for that
it needs India firmly in the US-Israel orbit. That
is why Americans, British and Israelis were
targeted. Nariman House was a hub where according
to eyewitness reports, several suspicious Israelis
were seen coming and out; it is possible that these
people were involved in the terror attacks and that
they killed their own people.
The Mumbai terror attacks were a gigantic exercise,
a fight between those forces within the Indian
establishment who want to take India towards the
dangerous and suicidal US-Israel nexus and those
who want India to stay Independent and have good
relations with Pakistan, China and Iran.
Everyone in this battle would not everything or all
the countours. But the pattern is becoming clear
slowly and steadily.
Indian nationalism has to be redefined--India's
slow drift towards a pro-US and a pro-Israel policy
and towards Hindutva gives the ground for people
like Maulana Bedi and Mossad to attack India. India
has to go back to the anti-Imperialist,
Hindu-Muslim unity, anti-Hindutva 1857 nationalism.
Why were the 1857 150th anniversary celebrations
downplayed in India? Why was my book on 1857
downplayed? Because the pro-US and pro-Israel lobby
did not want 1857, the nodal point of true Indian
nationalism to resurrect.
Think...just think...we owe this to Karkare and all
brave NSG men and army men...
Thanks to Bush, global terrorism has become an
industry, a money making machine. It has other
phenomenon like outsourcing war and terror to
mercenaries attached to it. Mossad excels in
forming armies of private mercenaries and
destablizing states the world over. Just go to the
net.
This is one of the best
This is one of the best posts on the Indian terrorist attacks. There are some parts where I was hoping the essay would elaborate more on the personalities mentioned and their links to events, but otherwise the author seems to know what she is talking about.
the Harvard Crimson NYT Wannabes Toeing the BJP Line
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=525646
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=525650
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=525634
I would encourage people to post comments to these articles while they are "hot", though I would recommend not overemphasizing the Mossad angle since it will immediately turn off a LOT of folks there.... I think the key here is Karkare, without question. This was an assassination first and foremost.
...and the Harvard Crimson Weekly Standard wannabes get in on it
help!
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=525677
Lessons From Mumbai
We’ve underestimated the threat of radical Islam
Published On Wednesday, December 03, 2008 1:20 AM
By LUCY M. CALDWELL
Thanksgiving was rocked by the news from Mumbai, India: A small gang of terrorists had wreaked havoc on the region. Allegedly trained at a camp in neighboring Pakistan, the group was well prepared. They came with guns, grenades, satellite phones, and foodstuffs. They came with knowledge of local maps, floor plans, and specific targets. India’s most cosmopolitan city was crippled by the attacks, which lasted three nights and claimed the lives of hundreds. Even more were badly injured.
In Cambridge yesterday, the Harvard-area Chabad House held a candlelight vigil for Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the American-Israeli couple that ran the Nariman House, Chabad’s Mumbai outpost. The young couple had moved to Mumbai to help spread the Chabad movement, which encourages young Jews to become more religiously observant. According to news reports, despite being a focal point of Jewish life in Mumbai, Nariman House is in a hard-to-find neighborhood, which many of its own guests have trouble locating. Yet the terrorists who arrived at the Nariman House did not stumble upon the location by chance. They knew exactly where it was and came to kill.
The Holtzbergs and their companions were slain because they were Jewish, and these terrorists hated Jews. Yet Jews were not the attacks’ only victim. These extremists also hated India—for its majority Hindu population, for its stance on Kashmir, and for the strength of democracy. These terrorists despised everything Western. That is why they killed the American tourist and his 13-year-old daughter who ate supper in a local café. It’s why they killed as many guests as they could as they rushed the swanky Taj and Oberoi hotels, frequented by foreign tourists and India’s own elite. It is the reason these terrorists killed average Indian citizens as they sped through the city. India is the world’s largest democracy, and these extremists hated democracy.
Though most Harvard students have not been directly touched by the tragedy in Mumbai, how our community reacts to the events remains critically important. In so doing, let us not be afraid to acknowledge what these attacks represent: Modern Islam has a problem, and it is that shockingly large numbers of today’s Muslims favor a domination of those who espouse Western principles.
Whenever terrorist attacks such as these are carried out (such generalizations can be made because they occur so frequently), pundits predictably exclaim that we must not allow hatred for Islam to fester, but rather, we must remind ourselves that terrorists represent a fringe movement and that tolerance should be extended to the rest of the Muslim world. A witch-hunt may not be in order, but there is no question that the attacks in Mumbai were fueled by the Muslim fanaticism that has grown so prevalent. The Wall Street Journal reported that as two gunmen poised to fire at a dozen people in Mumbai’s Oberoi Hotel, two hostages screamed out that they were Turkish Muslims. Hearing this, the gunmen spared their lives and killed everyone else.
Islam is not a wholly extremist religion, nor is any religion free of extremists who commit atrocities in the name of faith. American Klan members committed crimes against blacks in the supposed name of Christianity. Harvard is filled with Muslim students with mainstream politics. Yet outside of well-educated communities like ours, this is not the case. Islam has come to possess more extremist members than any other modern religion.
This is not a problem exclusive to less modernized countries. It rages across the United Kingdom and Europe. A 2006 survey of a cross-section of British Muslims found that half favor being governed by Sharia Law, the extremely antiquated and intolerant Islamic code. Nor is it a problem exclusive to countries fighting the War on Terror: The Netherlands is increasingly terrorized by Muslim extremists. In 2004, filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was brutally murdered after producing the documentary “Submission,†which detailed the culture of subjugation of Muslim women. After shooting Van Gogh repeatedly, his killer, a young Muslim, stabbed a letter through the filmmaker’s throat “in the name of Allah.†The letter called for the murder of Van Gogh’s co-producer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch Parliamentarian and former refugee. Hirsi Ali was forced to spend the next several years in hiding until she moved to the U.S., where she still requires a great deal of security because of continued threats on her life.
Even at Harvard, a supposed champion of intellectual honesty, most are afraid to acknowledge the problem that exists within Islam. In 2006, when Muslim students protested the Harvard Foundation’s sponsorship of a talk by Hirsi Ali, the Foundation pulled its sponsorship of the event. When Hirsi Ali came anyway, a coalition of Harvard Muslim students stood up and screamed at her, rattling off her supposed crimes against Islam and declaring that it was she who was responsible for Van Gogh’s death. This is only one example of the culture that is arising at Harvard and nearly everywhere in which Islam—even aspects of mainstream Islam—gives us reason to be fearful.
If there existed any doubts that radical Islam poses one of the biggest threats to our time, let the horrifying news from Mumbai erase those. This is a threat far greater than the damage wrought by a dissatisfactory Bush administration or by domestic disagreements. It exists neither far ahead in the future, nor is it geographically far-flung. Last week’s attacks may have only struck Mumbai physically, but they were attacks on all of us. If ever there were a time to shed our preoccupation with political correctness, this is it.
Lucy M. Caldwell ’09, a Crimson editorial writer, lives in Adams House. Her column appears on alternate Wednesdays.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
recent comments (follow comments)
Ms. Caldwell, this has to be the most putrid and bigoted rant I have ever had the misfortune to read in th epage sof the Crimson since I was a freshman in 1992. What I see here is an ambitious and unprincipled senior angling for a job next year with any of a number of similarly unprincipled publications that seek out this kind of violent rhetoric for their pages.
There has been since 9/11 a most disturbing mainstreaming of a kind of bigotry that uses fear to encourage both violence directly against arabs and muslims but more importantly to blind people to the reality concealed by the hateful rhetoric--that what we are witnessing is nothing short of an ongoing manufactured libel against a group of people in order to systematically turn world opinion against them in the face of an onslaught by the real terorrists--radical elements in a number of countries who see demonizing Islam as a way of advancing their own regional and global agendas.
As you may or may not be aware (it's really hard to tell whether you are just ignorant of reality or willfuly denying it) there are numerous precedents for attacks being perpetrated and then falsely pinned on any number of variations of your favorite canard "radical Islam". The latest that naturally comes to mind is the bombing in Malegaon, where naturally Islamists were blamed to much fanfare by right wing apologists only to be discovered later that the real perpetrators were Hindu extremists. The investigator in charge of exposing the real terrorists in that case and arresting them was subsequently pilloried by the right wing BJP in India, the party that has long spewed venom very similar to your present work. One day before the attacks in Mumbai, this diligent law enforcement officer, Hemant Karkare, received a death threat that seems to have been carried out as he was one of the first to be executed by these terrorists.
I ask you Ms. Caldwell, is it likely that a radical Islamic group would assassinate the man most responsible for exonerating muslims in the Malegaon bombing? Or does it make more sense that those who were most threatened by the revelation of Hindu extremist agency in that attack, again one deliberately and falsely blamed on muslims, set about yet again to frame their enemies and at the same time remove a thorn in their side?
Better yet, I ask the reader to do their own research and come to their own conclusions since I suspect that Ms. Caldwell would not be interested in jeopardizing her career with the Weekly Standard. Read broadly on the subject, weigh point against counterpoint and do not dismiss any angle out of hand but only after thoroughly and diligently reviewing all the information that the internet makes available to you. The truth is not impossible to discern, and discern it we must if we are not to repeat the mistakes made in the past when countries have been destroyed and thousands of families torn apart because shrill media cheerleaders were more interested in making a name for themselves than with arriving at and informing the public of what was really going on.
We will reap in grief and sorrow what we sow in ignorance, apathy, and hate.
over there, over here
Thank you for your noble truthing over there in Crimsonland, Â Gretavo. Â
hey, you might want to invite "ThorsProvoni" over here to our house...his bio is intriguing.
i'm reading now the Lubovitch angle on his blog. did you happenta catch a comment about Zakheim and Torah writing at the Pentagon?...deserves some diggage.
An opportunity to interrogate the Holtzbergs would have helped
An opportunity to interrogate the Holtzbergs would have helped investigators immensely.
Closing sentence to "Chabad Lubovitch's Dangerous Game" by Joachim Martillo. some new ways of approaching mumbai and more in this article.
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2008/12/chabad-lubavitch-dangerous-game.html
That was a very nice post
That was a very nice post Kate. J. Martillo seems to have a good insider view.
I am posting the whole article at the thread started by Lazlo.
http://wtcdemolition.com/blog/node/1944#comment-14918
It's tragic that the Holtzberg couple were killed in the attacks. The Indian nanny they hired may know important facts as well related to the attacks but has flown off to Israel.
http://wtcdemolition.com/blog/node/1954#comment-14908
Harvard vigil for Mumbai victims
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/
Vigil for the Victims of the Mumbai Attacks
Thursday, December 4, 2008
10:30 pm on Steps of Memorial Church
If bad weather condition, vigil will be at 11 pm at Harvard Hillel (52 Mt. Auburn St.)
Please join the Harvard Community as we come together to reflect on the recent tragedies in Mumbai and pay respects to those lost in the attacks. All members of the Harvard Community are welcome.
Co-Sponsoring Organizations: Harvard South Asian Association | Harvard Students of Chabad | Harvard Hillel | Harvard Dharma | Harvard Islamic Society | Harvard Catholic Students Association | Harvard South Asian Men's Collective | Harvard Students for Israel | Interfaith Council | South Asia Initiative | Harvard Pakistan Initiative |South Asian Students Association of the School of Public Health | South Asia Graduate Student Group | Progressive Jewish Alliance
The comments below the announcement are very interesting.