Jen & I just finished watching the documentary "Terror in Mumbai" in the HBO on Demand stash on the DVR. It was completely riveting. I had heard someone involved with the special, a director or producer on NPR last Sunday and I knew I wanted to see it.
This combination of after-the-fact interviews; CCTV footage; cell phone camera clips; news footage and intercepted phone calls between the 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists and their handlers back in Pakistan is unique.
But the one thing that really struck Jen & I was how woefully unprepared the city's police force was. The police at the train station who weren't armed or were armed with old useless guns. They kept talking about "special forces" and Jen says "More like special needs forces!" Which seems cruel, but I completely agreed. It took forever for their commandos to show up and even then, they waited.
India has experienced terrorist attacks in the past. I will concede that this was brought on a huge scale, that any police force anywhere in the world would have been hardpressed to have dealt with it. But they seemed so thoroughly inept, it was shocking. This attack went on for DAYS!
Defintely worth watching though.
I saw that too.
ReplyDeleteWell, the response wasn't surprising if you've ever been to the chaos that is India. I mean, Mumbai is a model of civility in comparison to other parts, and yet ...there are so many layers of murk and mystery there that things just work very differently.
But glad you saw it. I thought it was terrifying and riveting. Also, I read a very good account of it in some magazine ...Was it National Geographic? Maybe. I'll have to dig through.
I totally agree. I am an Indian and was ashamed of my police force, politicians, and commandos, who didn't or couldn't take control of the situation. India has seen terrorism long before US or any other western country has. Yet failed to protect their citizens and our guests from this. Yes Pakistan is to blame 100% but India didn't do it's part on protecting it's border, it's civilians like that ought to.
ReplyDeleteI would disagree that Pakistan is 100% to blame. Those were terrorists, not soldiers. Yes, those terrorists operate within Pakistan's borders making Pakistan complicit, but not 100%.
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