India and Pakistan have three things in common – a border, nuclear weapons, and not a lot of love for each other. This can be a bad combination. Terrorists have taken advantage of India’s inability to defend against an attack and hit two targets at once. India with it’s Muslim minority, and the West by hitting the regions largest financial center. During the transistion between the Bush lame duck administration and the inexperienced Obama one, the only thing we can do is send in Rice and see what happens. I believe timing was as much a strategic consideration as targeting. And I believe we continue to underestimate the the seriousness of this situation.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Pakistan on Wednesday to cooperate with India’s investigations into the Mumbai attacks that have sorely tested relations between the two neighbors.
Most news reports coming out of Mumbai are saying the terrorists who hit the hotels and train stations used cocaine and LSD (likely for their stimulant effects) to stay awake for the 50-90 hour seige. Further, news reports are saying they trained using steroids. This was released by an Indian government source to the international press. The government sourse stated they took blood samples from dead terrorists, and the one they captured is, evidently, talking.