Mark Steyn: Mumbai could happen just about anywhere

[TheSarge]

When terrorists attack, media analysts go into Sherlock Holmes mode, metaphorically prowling the crime scene for footprints, as if the way to solve the mystery is to add up all the clues. The Mumbai gunmen seized British and American tourists. Therefore, it must be an attack on Westerners!

Not so, said Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria. If they'd wanted to do that, they'd have hit the Hilton or the Marriott or some other target-rich chain hotel. The Taj and the Oberoi are both Indian-owned, and popular watering holes with wealthy Indians.

OK, how about this group that's claimed responsibility for the attack? The Deccan Mujahideen. As a thousand TV anchors asked Wednesday night, "What do we know about them?"

Er, well, nothing. Because they didn't exist until they issued the press release. "Deccan" is the name of the vast plateau that covers most of the triangular peninsula that forms the lower half of the Indian subcontinent. It comes from the Prakrit word "dakkhin," which means "south." Which means nothing at all. "Deccan Mujahedeen" is like calling yourself the "Continental Shelf Liberation Front."


http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ideology-mumbai-gunman-2242227-muslim-terrorists

[Thor]

I kind of think that Mumbai might be a "dress rehearsal" for someplace in the US.

[NHSparky]

Imagine a similar scenario in Miami Beach, Santa Monica, or Honolulu.  Not so farfetched.

[TheSarge]

Imagine a similar scenario in Miami Beach, Santa Monica, or Honolulu.  Not so farfetched.

I was thinking more like one of those huge Gaylord Hotel/Resports...or someplace like Disneyworld.

[NHSparky]

I was thinking more like one of those huge Gaylord Hotel/Resports...or someplace like Disneyworld.

Possible as well, but the places I listed have many hotels easily accessible to beaches with significant merchant shipping traffic.  Even launching a Zodiac off a ship coming into San Pedro and attacking hotels in Long Beach would have a devestating effect.  Where the attacks in Mumbai were so effective was the fact that the targets were very close to the ocean, so close that authorities had no time to react.  If one were to try something like Orlando there is somewhat of a possible warning/lead time.

I left off places like Chicago/New York/San Francisco because in the case of the first two, security and local law enforcement is pretty much on their toes, and the tourist concentrations are not along the shoreline as they were in Mumbai.  But imagine, if you've ever been to Honolulu, sailing into Ala Wai and going from there.  The devestation of a similar attack from there would be mind-boggling.

[TheSarge]

Possible as well, but the places I listed have many hotels easily accessible to beaches with significant merchant shipping traffic.  Even launching a Zodiac off a ship coming into San Pedro and attacking hotels in Long Beach would have a devestating effect.  Where the attacks in Mumbai were so effective was the fact that the targets were very close to the ocean, so close that authorities had no time to react.  If one were to try something like Orlando there is somewhat of a possible warning/lead time.

I left off places like Chicago/New York/San Francisco because in the case of the first two, security and local law enforcement is pretty much on their toes, and the tourist concentrations are not along the shoreline as they were in Mumbai.  But imagine, if you've ever been to Honolulu, sailing into Ala Wai and going from there.  The devestation of a similar attack from there would be mind-boggling.

Imagine an attack on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.  Couple Zodiacs onto the beach and there you go.

There's a big new fancy Gaylord Hotel across the Potomac from D.C.  I can see it from the GW Parkway when I drive to work.

Targets everywhere...yet the left thinks we're just being paranoid.

[Thor]

Typical, y'all ain't even talking about the "flyover country". The Mall of America is one BIG target, with their hotel areas and all....

Lots of muslims in Minneapolis already.

[TheSarge]

Typical, y'all ain't even talking about the "flyover country". The Mall of America is one BIG target, with their hotel areas and all....

Lots of muslims in Minneapolis already.

Yeah I was reading something today on Newsbusters about Somali "agents" recruiting from the Somail's in Minneapolis to return to the homeland for a "visit".

But it seems that the Strib was downplaying the link between the "visits" and the country's cast terrorist links.

[Peter3_1]

There was a saying in Russia during Stalin that if there were three conspiritors at a meeting, one was a police spy. NOW, FOR VERY DIFFERENT REASONS, that seems to be the case in the USA. Sleeper Agents , from the islamofascist view, go bad and chose the materialism of the West over the "Garden with a River Beneath" of the martyr's grave.

Whereas in places like India , there is no positive pragmatic change possible yet. Reasons, time lapse between insertion and attack, and widespread poverty.

I suspect the next attack on the USA of any consequence will be chemical, biological of a dirty bomb. The ultimate goal, of course, is a nuclear device at NYC or WashingtoN DC.. San Fran , tho., is quickly becoming  a secondary taerget.

[TheSarge]

The ultimate goal, of course, is a nuclear device at NYC or WashingtoN DC.. San Fran , tho., is quickly becoming  a secondary taerget.

Talked to an officer with the Capitol Police's version of SWAT a few months back...he says they plan for "when" not "if" the next attack comes..and that yes D.C. is a prime target.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Any place people are concentrated is a 'Prime target,' and the more vulnerable the type of people are at the location, the better for the terrorists.  The point is simultaneously obvious, uselessly large in terms of possible target analysis, and often largely ignored by our defense/police/AT organizations, who devote a large proportion of their efforts to further hardening some of the least likely targets possible.

The main limitation the terrorists have is their own tenuous logistics, which means it usually takes them 12-24 months to move all the pieces around the board to mount a major international move without compromising it.  Intelligence gathering and analysis is the primary threat to them, not the capabilities of reaction forces (important as that may be).

[Chris]

CNN had an interview of some ****in' woman from Los Angeles.  She said "it wasn't so bad" and that she "survived by eating snacks out of the minibar".

[TheSarge]

CNN had an interview of some ******' woman from Los Angeles.  She said "it wasn't so bad" and that she "survived by eating snacks out of the minibar".

What's her DU name?

[Chris]

What's her DU name?

Yeah, that's what I thought when I saw it.  ****in' idiot woman. 

[lars1701c]

Imagine an attack on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.  Couple Zodiacs onto the beach and there you go.

There's a big new fancy Gaylord Hotel across the Potomac from D.C.  I can see it from the GW Parkway when I drive to work.

Targets everywhere...yet the left thinks we're just being paranoid.

Are you kidding? if the muzzies got in between an old lady and her favorite slot machine I would put my money on the old lady