Hennessy's View

Is Mumbai a test run for an attack on the United States?

Al Qaeda is out of practice.  The terror organization has been quite since 2001, pinned down inside in Iraq where our heroes destroyed their efforts to establish a beach head.

The coincidence of the horror in Mumbai with the FBI reports of a serious, legitimate threat to the NYC subway system seems coordinated to me. 

Since 9-11, the US, UK, and Israel have trained and developed anti-terrorism techniques jointly with many nations, including India.  The joint terrorism training provides all nations with new insights and better coordination.  For instance, India and Israel have dealt with Islamofascism longer and more directly than the US.  They can provide us with tactics and maneuvers that we’d never have developed on our own–absent long, bloody attacks from Al Qaeda.

If bin Laden were planning ground invasion of the US, he would want to anticipate the American response and tactics.  The Mumbai operation–handled, it seems–deftly by the Indian NSG–provides terrorists with the American game plan. 

Was this what Joe Biden meant when he said Obama would be tested hard?  Would Obama respond as decisively as India has?  Or would he negotiate with the terrorists as they systematically murdered their hostages? 

You asked for it, America. 

UPDATE:  Minutes-old photos of commando drops onto roof of Jewish center.

UPDATE:  Reports are a Rabbi and his wife have been killed.  Reports from Twitter.

UPDATE:  Ed Morrissey also noticed that the coincidence is ominous. 

Popularity: 2% [?]

Vietnam was the first televised war.  Film from the morning was flown one-stop to California allowing Americans to witness action within 24 hours of its occurrence.

The Gulf War upped the ante with live, streaming video, 24 hours a day on CNN.

September 11 and the liberation of Iraq came with live blogging from people feet from the action.

But reading text messages on Twitter from people on the streets of Mumbai as events unfold is truly bizarre.  The interaction between people in Mississippi and citizen journalists on the streets of Mumbai provides a level of personalization unimaginable only 3 years ago.

Look at this, all from within the last 60 seconds:

Realtime results for #mumbai

6 more results since you started searching. Refresh to see them.

• 

  thecomicproject: #mumbai – @himandi: That was so necessary wasn’t it? Where do you idiots come from?

  less than 20 seconds ago · Reply · View Tweet

• 

  Mumbai: #mumbai Nariman House home of Jewish organization known as Chabad. A rabbi and his wife said to be hostage inside to terrorists.

  less than 20 seconds ago · Reply · View Tweet

• 

  sujeet: The IBN Live video feed is like watching a movie. Fingers crossed!#Mumbai

  half a minute ago · Reply · View Tweet

• 

  shonali: Comic relief, my American husband is practising saying "aamchi #mumbai" LOL

  half a minute ago · Reply · View Tweet

• 

  maddiekp: commandos plant at positions on rooftops and surrounding buildings ibnlive #mumbai

  less than a minute ago · Reply · View Tweet

• 

  shloky: #mumbai Important to note that this is is a full daylight raid. Rare in this business.

  less than a minute ago · Reply · View Tweet

• 

  HappiestIdiot: following live updates on #Mumbai

  less than a minute ago · Reply · View Tweet

• 

  sujeet: Rs. 50,000 worth of groceries? That means they were settling in for a while… #Mumbai

  1 minute ago · Reply · View Tweet

  Remarkable is all I can say.

If you need live video, click here.

Continuous updates on HotAir.com

More continuous news on NYTimes.com

UPDATE:  ND&P Blog reports on a CNN report on Twitter’s impact.

There are reports on Twitter that terrorists are waving white flag, but Indian commandos (NSG) fighting on.   Fight on, brave soldiers, fight on.  Give no quarters.  Take no prisoners. 

A new website dedicated to reporting on the events [click].  Hat tip drishtikone.

Fresh photos on Flicker.

Popularity: 2% [?]