US: Mumbai Attackers Had Training From Pakistan Army Officials

New York Times:

A former Defense Department official said Wednesday that American intelligence agencies had determined that former officers from Pakistan's Army and its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency helped train the Mumbai attackers.

But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that no specific links had been uncovered yet between the terrorists and the Pakistani government.

His disclosure came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held meetings with Indian leaders in New Delhi and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with their Pakistani counterparts in Islamabad, in a two-pronged effort to pressure Pakistan to cooperate fully in the effort to track down those responsible for the bloody attacks in Mumbai last week.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[jdw1981]

Maybe Dick Cheney's office will conveniently find some Nigerian documents linking this to yellow-cake uranium or a bunch of aluminum tubes.

[evahartselftlanguages]

TO: The Safety of the American People and Other Nations December 4, 2008

As I mentioned in another recent blog here that in past I had put here on Huffington Post the fact that I had called into Dr. Bill Wattenburg's radio 810 program to suggest we have parachutes for American airplanes since many crashes were occurring and I cold see the hatred over in Europe of enemies of the United States against us. This went unheeded sadly. Again my warning went unheeded of my warning here on Huffington Post where I most recently mentioned a TV expert stating that even though it has been a long while here in America of no attack this is a false sense of security since the brutal enemies of America have patience and can wait 8 years and then attack again. Also we have our guard up now thus making it harder for the enemy to attack us, but this does not mean we should let down our guard which is the case sadly everywhere.

Furthermore, we need new radio talk show hosts since they do not know what their talking about as regards other nations and never hold a lengthy intelligent discussion of how we can protect American neighborhoods more against the enemy. One idea leads to another and longer radio programs and even a week of discussion how to keep American people safe is needed.

Eva Hart A Christian In Army from 62-70 670 Eddy St. Sfc 94109

[wadenelson1]

Parachutes would eliminate ALL room for carry on luggage.

Parachutes require instruction to strap into, and use properly. There wouldn't be room in the plane for passengers to stand up and strap one on. Only a few aisle passengers might succeed.

In the time between an explosi8on and the plane hitting the ground at best a dozen passengers might be able to strap in and exit the plane. There aren't enough doors. And you can't open them in flight anway, at least not at altitude.

Please, go make a few parachute jumps and THEN consider what you're suggesting.

[Horst]

Now there's a surprise..­......

[glorialovelace]

Two words about Pakistan: parking lot

[chaos4700]

What is that supposed to mean?

[research]

nuke them. That's what he means.

[Durango]

The training and arming of the Mujahadeed in Afghanistan was so successful that the Pakistani military used a similar program in their war with India over Kashmir.

The use of unofficial groups allowed Pakistan deniability and kept the Kashmir conflict from breaking out in total war with India. A war Pakistan knew it would lose.

Musharrif was head of the army when this war in Kashmir got going. He knew the broad outlines.

Pakistan was playing with the devil. As was the United States was in iAfghanista.

The polite way of looking at this is that the Pakistani military started something that got out of hand. They created a Frankenstein they couldn't control. And that is probably the smart way of looking at it as well.

After all, the USA certainly did not intend to create Osama Bin ladin.

But the new government of Pakistan is not responsible for the actions of Musharrif. (not yet anyhow). And the Monster that has been created is probably as big a threat to that government as to the rest of the world.

One of the great challenges of President Obama is how to negotiate these problems. How to help the Pakistani government to fight the forces within their nation. While holding on to power.

Because war between India and Pakistan is too big a catastrophe to allow to happen. And it is most of the worlds interest to defeat these religious nut cases.

[chaos4700]

I couldn't have put it more eloquently myself.

[MagisterLudi]

No, you couldn't.

[cam]

Agreed - the problem is much wider than Pakistan.

Pakistan is a victim of the same people that attacked India. The difference is, Pakistan's criminals are a much bigger threat to Pakistan than they are to India.

[VikramFromIndia]

I cant agree more. You must be a history buff or a international politics expert as this is exactly what has happened in Pakistan! I hope they come to their senses in time!

[truthynesslover]

good post!

[MagisterLudi]

Questions:
Is Pakistani government responsible for actions of its own intelligence services?
Why they haven't managed to place ISI under civilian control? Have they even tried.

No one encouraging war, but P-stan can't have it both ways.
They can't deny responsibility solely becuase they incapable/unwilling to control their own own war-making intelligence apparatus.

[Durango]

Err, making war in Kashmire through proxy fighters is exactly having it both ways.

Worked for the USA in Afghanistan, didn't it?

Allowed the US deniability. And prevented a confrontation between the Soviets and the United States.

Pakistan learned from the CIA how to do it.

[cam]

The fact that there were Pakistani military personnel involved is not particularly significant. Every country has its contingent of irrational people - are the rest of us to be held responsible for them?

Pakistan is in trouble, and so are we. Unless we can stop this madness it will spread throughout the world, getting progressively worse as new reasons for fear and hatred emerge and evolve.

If Pakistan can gain control over its delusionals then it can help the rest of us deal with ours.

[Marlyn]

"the United States will now be able to sell nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India" ???

That is disgusting! The world is doomed unless we use other sources of energy than nuclear.

[research]

Yup

More Nuke Power = More Mushroom Clouds

[jdw1981]

An anonymous "official" with no evidence to back up his claims...

I'm not saying that Pakistan didn't have a role in what happened, but the Bush/Cheney administration is still in charge, so we don't need to go down that road again.

[PoorManRichMan2009]

I s r a e l's Slow-Motion Genocide in Occupied Palestine

I s r a e l is a serial human rights international law abuser. The UN Human Rights Commission affirms that it violates nearly all 149 articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention that governs the treatment of civilians in war and under occupation and is guilty of grievous war crimes

http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2008/112608Lendman.shtml

[ICanHasDemocracy]

a "Former Defense Department offciial" well let's see that would make them part of Bush's club wouldn't they? More drumbeating for the next war in Pakistan? Do we really need to provoke brinkmanship with a "nukular" power? Don't these aholes ever learn?

[lechatnoir]

eh eh...sure, if the NYT says so, it must be true. Still, one has to wonder what Mos.sad is up to these days...

[MagisterLudi]

..Pressure was building on the government to confront the milit-ant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which Indian and American officials say carried out the Mumbai att-acks.

The group focused on waging w-ar against India, he said, but was also committed to wider goals, among them the creation of an Islamic state in south and central Asia.
Though officially banned, Lashkar-e-Taiba, operates openly in Pakistan. It has had a long history of ties to Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. The evidence of LeT's hand in the Mumbai att-acks is accumulating from around the globe:
The lone surviving gu-nman, Muhammad Ajmal Kasab, 21, told his interrogators that he trained during a year and half in at least four camps in Pakistan. The GPS device showed that they left Karachi, Pakistan on Nov. 23. LeT, once focused primarily on Kashmir into one now determined to join the ranks of a global ji-had.

[chaos4700]

Wow, I'm impressed. You actually managed to remain factual and cogent just right up until you that last sentence. I'm impressed that you managed to keep your Islamophobia reflex in check that long before you had to go down the "All Muslims are terrorists!" trope. Congrats on the improvement!

[poster1122]

The original poster said nothing of the kind about all Muslims. He is saying that LeT is broadening its struggle beyond the parochial issue of Kashmir to an overall rejection of "the West", but really modernity in general (which includes other Muslims who don't share their views).

[Ping]

Mushy was the only one who was able to hold that country together.

Now that the democratically elected government is in place, the world is now learning the cruel fact that the current government has no control over the Pakistani Army much less the ISI. Benazir's husband was and still is a crook, a dirty corrupt politician. Clearly no one in the Pakistani military has any respect for this man. The current Pakistani President is completely impotent and unable to deal with the security situation confronting his country.

So now after the liberal stupids on Huffpo called for Mushy's removal, they are figuring out that it was Al Qaida who stepped into the void left by Pervez. Since the US unloads their supplies in Karachi and then convoys them the length of Pakistan and across the Khyber pass to Afghanistan, expect another military coupe in the next 6 months. It is unclear who is in control of the nuclear arsenal in Pakistan. We can be certain that it is not Asif Ali Zardari.

[Ajita]

You have no idea what you're talking about. Your agenda is exposed when you say that all HuffPo reading liberals are "stupid".
Musharraf was powerless and the Taliban and Al Qaeda had control of the peripheral territories in Pakistan all the time. Your comments reveal you ignorance. I'm only curious about why you would advertise your ignorance so openly when the facts are so easily available. My only conclusion is that you are a conservative who believes that throwing around some easily googled names (much like McCain and Palin tried to do during the debates) would be sufficient to obfuscate the issue enough for you win an argument on progressive turf. You are just another one of those idiots who do not care for facts as much as you do for opinions. Well, you win, my friend. Your opinions are indeed remarkably stupid. Congratulations.

The ISI has always been led by extremist Ideologues. Musharraf had absolutely no control over the ISI. Neither does Zardari, but at least he is an honest secular and democratic politician- not a fascistic dictator. The best thing to have happened to Pakistan, and for secularism in general, is the ousting of the dictator Pervez Musharraf.

[erif]

Zardari is honest? You are joking, right?

While military rule was wrong, I believe that Musharraf had best interests of his country in mind.(Lots­a Pakistanis made comments like "God save Pakistan" after he resigned).
But his policies were FAIL.

[Durango]

I don't think Musharrif was all that powerless.

He didn't want to know what the ISI was up to.

But I think things got WAY out of control.

[chaos4700]

So... what you're saying is that democracy /doesn't/ work? Hot damn, I guess all of those "stupid liberals" who founded this country should have all their monuments torn down and we should coronate King George II?

I love it how conservatives think they're actually patriots when they say stuff like this.

[iPolitics]

The head of a small fishing community along the coast of Mumbai says he warned Indian police about terrorists smuggling powerful explosives months before gunmen entered through the harbor and launched a deadly siege against the city. --CNN

Reminds me of B*n L*den to Strike US memo

[xtiangodloki]

If I read correctly some 9 terrorists killed at least 20 professional elite Indian soldiers. Without some real type of professional military training I doubt this would of happened. The use of advanced technology to coordinate attacks and narcotics to boost stamina is something the US military would do.

[Ping]

Cocaine LSD and steroids.

[robotkiller]

Using hostages as human shields helps

[MagisterLudi]

"20 professional elite Indian soldiers."

1. most of the KIA were policemen armed with WW1 rifles.
2. Except for the 3 gunned down in their car, most pros d-ied taking barricaded ambush positions.
3. Hand gre-nades.