Whenever there is a terrorist attack in the world, the basic questions always arise whether in the media or the world’s intelligence agencies: Who, what, how, when and why? So goes the processing of the terrible attacks in Mumbai, India and the answers to the questions may not be what we, the general public, would expect.

The what and how of these atrocities are clear and will become clearer over time. The answers to the other questions are perhaps the more troubling. At this point, the who is, from all indications, a coalition of terrorist groups each with its own agenda, but linked to al-Qaida, which is important to the why and the when.

With the coming inauguration of a new administration in the United States that has sworn to destroy the terrorist network by force, improve diplomatic relations and to bring its leaders to justice, it would seem reasonable for al-Qaida to instigate an attack before this administration is in place, partially answering the when and the why.

The difficulty with the why of this tragedy is that, here in the United States, our loyal opposition party representatives have stated on numerous occasions that the incoming administration would face an international crisis and would be unable to handle the situation. Clearly, the terrorist leaders are aware of these charges and yet they decided to preempt the inauguration and make their attacks now. I posit that they did not believe the assessment of the loyal opposition, but rather believed Obama’s promises of retribution. By attacking the Indian financial capital, westerners, and Jews and utilizing Pakistani and Indian terrorists, al Qaida hopes to destabilize the Middle East and the countries surrounding the Indian sub-continent.

It is imperative that President Bush take appropriate action but not act the cowboy at this juncture. He must use extreme caution and not overreact with unnecessary force. Our country is on the brink of financial collapse as is the world and it would take very little to tip us all over. Let us hope that Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama can develop a rational and effective strategy in these truly troubling times.

John Chaplik
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 5:53 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.