What Hamas planned to do with the terror tunnels - UPDATED
The IDF has not yet located and destroyed all of Hamas' terror tunnels, but the consensus about the intent behind them is quite clear. This is Jonathan Dahoah HeLevi of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Ismail
Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, delivered a revealing speech on
March 23, 2014, in which he stressed the strategic importance of the
Hamas attack tunnels, which, he argued, have changed the balance of
power with Israel, when taken together with his organization’s military
build-up. In the meantime, the IDF’s war against the tunnels continues.
On Monday IDF forces thwarted another terror attack after two groups of
Hamas operatives (numbering about ten) infiltrated from Gaza to Israel
through a tunnel, apparently on their way to carry out a mass casualty
attack at Kibbutz Erez and/or Kibbutz Nir Am.
Since Operation Protective Edge began, IDF forces have foiled several
other attempted attacks by Hamas near Kibbutz Sufa and Kibbutz Nirim
that also made use of attack tunnels, while uncovering and blowing up
dozens of tunnels in Gaza along its border with Israel. These tunnels
penetrate deep into Israeli territory, sometimes reaching a length of
2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles).
...
The
attack tunnels create a new equation in the power balance between
Israel and Hamas. They give Hamas an ability to infiltrate Israel and
carry out strategic attacks involving mass killing, along with an
ability to launch missiles from locations concealed within civilian
population centers that serve, in effect, as human shields. Should Hamas
retain in the future 20 tunnels, and dispatch 50 operatives in each,
they could deploy 1,000 men behind Israeli lines. The tunnels would
allow Hamas to wreak havoc if they are left in place.
Hizbullah’s tactics, learned from Iran, have been replicated in Gaza,
particularly the use of the tunnels to provide “breathing space” in
waging the military campaign. The Hamas-Hizbullah-Iranian aim is to
cause as much harm as possible to the civilian population and weaken
Israel by damaging its economy. Like Hizbullah, Hamas in the current
round has tried to strike strategic targets in Israel and inflict mass
casualties, including the nuclear reactor in Dimona, the chemical plants
in Haifa, and Ben-Gurion International Airport.
Despite the reconciliation agreement with Fatah and the establishment
of the unity government, one of Hamas’s objectives in the war is to
ignite another intifada on the West Bank aimed ultimately at the
toppling of Palestinian Authority rule and instituting a Hamas takeover
of the Palestinian national movement. This current round of fighting
highlights the importance of continued Israeli security control of key
areas of the West Bank to prevent a Hamas takeover of the Palestinian
Authority, and the maintenance of minimal defensible borders should a
Palestinian state be established.
Then there's this assessment from Times of Israel's David Horovitz.
The prime danger, the second half of the
terror strategy that has required us to send our troops into Gaza, has
turned out to be Hamas’s cross-border tunneling, the scale of which was
not publicly known until the last few days. Labor Party leader Isaac
Herzog spoke Tuesday of the “unimaginable” mega-terror attack Hamas is
believed to have been planning — sending hundreds of terrorists swarming
through those tunnels to massacre Israelis in the Gaza-envelope
kibbutzim and moshavim. Netanyahu said Sunday that the intended Hamas
attacks on kibbutz kindergartens, homes and dining halls would have been
“catastrophic.”
Five times in recent days, trying to use those
tunnels before the army finds them, well-armed terror gangs have made
their way through — entering them from beneath homes in the Gaza
neighborhoods a few hundred yards from the border, and emerging inside
Israel. An estimated 20 Hamas gunmen have been killed in the subsequent
confrontations; so have six IDF soldiers. Kibbutzim and moshavim close
to Gaza have been placed on shutdown for long hours while the army
made sure there were no more killers on the loose. Troop deployments on
the Israeli side have been significantly bolstered.
But those are defensive measures. The real
battle is taking place in those Gaza border neighborhoods — Shejaiya,
Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and others — where thousands of Israeli solders
are searching, house to house, for the tunnel entrances. Dozens of
openings have been found — multiple entrances to the underground
passages that also have multiple exits on the Israeli side. Time after
time, Hamas gunmen have sought to surprise the Israeli soldiers by
rising out of the earth from these openings, and firing. They’ve been
largely unsuccessful. Ten Hamas gunmen were shot dead attempting the
feat from one tunnel opening inside a mosque on Sunday, military sources
said — just one of numerous such incidents.
Israel says some 210 Hamas fighters have been
killed; more than 20 have been captured and are providing intelligence
on the tunnels.
And finally there's this - long on details that I have been unable to confirm and short on verification or even a source (the person who posted it on Facebook did so without a link and has refused repeated entreaties to post one). Even if the details are all wrong (and they're probably not - lots of information that the army doesn't release gets disclosed around the water coolers at Israeli workplaces), it is a concrete example of what HaLevi and Horovitz are discussing above.
From
the 48 Hamas prisoners that have been captured, the intelligence have
been interrogating them and the most terrifying, and horrific picture is
being built.
They are being investigated about the many tunnels
that have been found and dug under many kibbutzim that surround Gaza.
The most terrifying detail is being uncovered that Hamas had a plan to
attack all the settlements and kibbutzim in the area this year on Rosh
Hashanah with an invasion of over 200 terrorists into almost all the
settlements in the area. The tunnels went under the kibbutzim under the
kindergartens and dining rooms and other areas within the kibbutz
perimeters. They planned to occupy the whole area and kill as many
Israeli as possible.
This could have been the worst terror attack
in the history of terrorism. Thousands of people, including women and
children would have been slaughtered in this planned attack.
I
think now we start to understand how dangerous these tunnels really are.
They all have to be destroyed and we cannot leave even one undetected
or unattended to. These tunnels are more dangerous than any rocket or
any other weapon .
Maariv has now confirmed the date - Rosh HaShanah - about two months from now (link in Hebrew). They are also confirming that the plan was to send 200 terrorists per tunnel into six different 'settlements' near the Gaza border to murder or kidnap as many Israelis as possible. The tunnels are not straight, but intersect at various points. I will have more on this in a later post.
Five years later: Interview with hero nanny of Mumbai
Five years have passed since Moshe Holzberg was saved from Islamic terrorists by his nanny, Sandra Samuel. Here's an interview with Sandra - who is still helping to raise Moshe - five years later.
India warned Israel about terror plot against Israeli tourists - Mumbai attack against Israelis an 'error'?
The Hindustan Times reports that India's intelligence agencies warned Israel last month about a plot by the Indian Mujahideen to attack Israeli tourists. More interesting, the Times reports that after the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai - in which the Chabad House in the city was a key focal point - the Pakistanis sent a message to Israel via the Turkish army (which generally opposes Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan - or did in 2008 before all its high-ranking officers were arrested) that the Israeli deaths in those attacks were 'an error.'
The home ministry carried out a joint security review of Pushkar,
Jodhpur and Jaisalmer — all popular tourist destinations for Israeli and
other foreign tourists — with the Rajasthan police. The Israeli embassy
was briefed by Indian counterterrorism officials, but did not issue a
warning to tourists “beyond the normal.”
The existence of a Rajasthan IM module was revealed by the
investigation that followed the recent arrest of IM co-founder Yasin
Bhatkal. He revealed that IM has split on ideological lines.
A Brahma temple in Pushkar was cited by Bhatkal as being particularly
popular among Israelis. This temple had been considered by
Lashkar-e-Tayyeba scout David Headley as a terror target.
The IM cluster led by Iqbal Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal and Mohsin
Choudhary takes its cue from the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence
agency. The ISI wants the terrorist group to remain focused on mainland
India.
The Pakistanis are also nervous about putting Israeli in the
crosshairs given the Jewish state’s policy of violent retaliation
against terror attacks. Sources have claimed that after the Mumbai 26/11
attack, the Pakistan military sent an unofficial message through the
Turkish army to Israel claiming the Israeli deaths were an error.
These concerns led the ISI to raid a Defence Housing Authority house
in Karachi where IM cadres were being housed and took away
communications equipment and weaponry in June.
Holzberg lawsuit thrown out, Pakistani intelligence granted immunity from prosecution for Mumbai
On Wednesday, a New York Federal court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the families of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivki Holzberg against Pakistani intelligence officers, after being told that two former heads of ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency (equivalent to the CIA) were granted immunity from prosecution, and could not be prosecuted for the Mumbai terror attacks in the United States. The CIA and the US military cut the deal.
The US summons had deeply upset the Pakistani military establishment,
which was of the view that the spy chief of a friendly country should
not have been treated like this. On December 16, 2010, shortly after the
issuance of the summons, the Islamabad Police had moved to register a
murder case against the then CIA station chief in Pakistan, Jonathan
Banks, who was supervising the deadly drone campaign in the tribal
areas. The complainant was a resident of North Waziristan, who wanted a
murder case to be registered against Jonathan for the killings of his
son and brother in a drone attack in December 2009.
The standoff had pushed the CIA and ISI into an eyeball-to-eyeball
confrontation, compelling the military leadership of the two countries
to hold a secret moot in a third country to resolve the crisis. The
Pakistani side made it clear that any understanding to improve the ties,
including the release of Davis, would include the withdrawal of the
summons against the ISI chief. Subsequent to the clandestine deal,
Raymond Davis was set free on March 16, 2011 by a Pakistani court after
the families of the two killed men were paid $2.4 million as blood
money. The CIA agent was immediately taken out of Pakistan.
Almost a year later, the US State Department has informed a New York
court that the defendants in the Mumbai attacks case — Ahmed Shuja Pasha
and Nadeem Taj — are immune from the law suit. The State Department
also pointed out that its determination was not subject to judicial
review. The US court had issued summons in November 2010 to Lt Gen Ahmed
Shuja Pasha, Lt Gen Nadeem Taj, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Zakiur Rehman
Lakhvi and five serving and retired Majors of the Pakistan Army for
their alleged involvement in the Mumbai attacks, asking them to appear
before it. The court was hearing a
law suit filed by the relatives of Gavriel Noah Holtzberg, an American
Jew and his wife Rivka who were shot dead at the Chhabad House in Mumbai
during the 2008 terror strikes. Their son, Moshe, was saved by his
Indian nanny.
Filed on November 19, 2012, the 26-page lawsuit stated: “The ISI has
long nurtured and used international terrorist groups, including the
LeT, to accomplish its goals and has provided material support to the
LeT and other international terrorist groups.
The Mumbai attacks were planned, trained for and carried out by
members of defendant, the LeT. Defendant ISI provided critical planning,
material support, control and coordination of the 26/11 attacks,” the
lawsuit alleged.
...
As the US State Department has extended amnesty to two former ISI
chiefs in the 26/11 case, India has reacted sharply, saying the American
decision was a matter of deep and abiding concern as it contradicted
Washington’s public commitment to bringing those responsible for the
Mumbai terror attacks to justice. Six Americans were among the 166
killed in the Mumbai attacks. India’s National Investigation Agency
(NIA) has already secured an Interpol Red Corner Notice against five
officers of Pakistan Army for their alleged role in the Mumbai terror
strikes.
They include Major Sajid Majid (named by David Headley, an American
terror accused being tried in the US), Major Mohammad Iqbal (an ISI
official and Headley’s alleged handler who faces terrorism charges in
the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks), Major Sameer Ali (an ISI
official accused of having worked with Headley), Major Syed Abdul Rehman
alias Pasha (accused of carrying out recruitments for the
Lashkar-e-Taiba) and Major Abu Hamza (one of the alleged handlers of the
Mumbai attackers who was on phone with the terrorists who carried out
Mumbai attack). The warrants were issued on the basis of claim made by
Headley that these people had worked in close coordination with him in
executing the Lashkar-e-Taiba plans for carrying out the 26/11 strikes
in Mumbai.
It took two days of persuasion for Headley to waive his right to silence
under the US law and detail every meeting he had with his LeT handlers,
including Hafiz Saeed and the ISI officials in Muzzaffarabad and Lahore
before the 26/11 attacks. He told the NIA team in Chicago in the
presence of US prosecutors, FBI agents and his lawyers, that his
reconnaissance missions and its results were closely and jointly
monitored by the LeT and ISI before he received fresh instructions. The
11th dossier, which India had handed over to Pakistan on June 18, 2010,
contained every statement by Headley, which shows the ISI as a central
player. “An ISI brigadier served as handler for Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi who
is also close to DG ISI. The ISI funds LeT and shields Hafiz Saeed from
interference,” so said the 11th dossier while quoting Headley.
Read the whole thing. For those who have forgotten what happened in Mumbai, here's a 50-minute long Indian television special from 2011 that recaps the investigation results.
Let's go to the videotape.
The decision not to prosecute thePakistanis is nothing short of disgraceful, but unfortunately very typical of the Obama-Clinton State Department. Will we see similar decisions relating to 'Palestinian' terror groups in Obama's second term?
There is some justice in the world: The Mumbai terrorist is no longer part of it
There is some justice in this world after all. The sole surviving terrorist of the Mumbai terror attack four years ago is no longer part of it.
The sole terrorist to survive the 2008 Mumbai attacks was executed Wednesday. Pakistan-born Mohammed Kasab was hanged in prison.
The
2008 attacks killed 166 people. Among the targets was the Chabad House
in Mumbai, which fell victim to a brutal terrorist siege. Several
Israelis and Jews were killed, among them the Chabad emissaries, Rabbi
Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg.
British Lord offers £10 million bounty for Obama and Bush
On Sunday, I saw and retweeted a survey in the Sun that indicates that 48% of Britons would rather live elsewhere. While the rise of Islam was not one of the factors named in the survey, perhaps that's because the British media are too politically correct to name it as an option for why you want to leave. If I lived in Britain (God forbid), stories like the one I am about to post would make me want to leave.
A British Lord - that's right, a member of the House of Lords - has offered a £10 million bounty on the heads of former President George W. Bush and current President Barack Hussein Obama (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
During a recent visit to Pakistan, Lord Nazir Ahmed, a member of the British House of Lords who originally hails from Pakistani Kashmir, announced he was putting up a bounty of £10 million for the capture of U.S. President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush. The announcement, made at a conference held in the Pakistani town of Haripur, came in response to a recent U.S. announcement offering a $10 million reward to anyone providing information leading to the capture of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of the Pakistani jihadi organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and emir of LeT's charity arm, Jamaatud Dawa.[1]
Stressing the seriousness of his offer, Lord Ahmed said he would back the bounty at any cost, even if it meant selling his house. Qazi Muhammad Asad, minister for education in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, was among those present at the conference at which the announcement was made.
Read the whole thing. Lashkar-e-Taiba was responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks in which more than 160 people were murdered in November 2008. Among those murdered were Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holzberg HY"D (May God avenge their blood), who were murdered with particular brutality.
Labour party lawmaker 'Lord' Ahmed has been 'suspended.'
Lord Ahmed, 53, who in 1998 became the first Muslim life peer, was reported to have made the comments at a conference in Haripur in Pakistan.
A Labour Party spokesman said: "We have suspended Lord Ahmed pending investigation. If these comments are accurate we utterly condemn these remarks which are totally unacceptable."
According to Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper Lord Ahmed offered the bounty in response to a US action a week ago.
The US issued a $10 million reward for the capture of Pakistani militant leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, who it suspects of orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people died as terrorists stormed hotels and a train station.
The British peer reportedly said: "'If the US can announce a reward of $10 million for the (capture) of Hafiz Saeed, I can announce a bounty of £10 million (for the capture of) President Obama and his predecessor, George Bush."
...
Speaking from Pakistan to the Press Association he challenged the Labour Party to provide evidence for the suspension.
He said: "They have suspended me? That's a surprise to me. I did not know.
"I never said those words. I did not offer a bounty. I said that there have been war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan and those people who have got strong allegations against them - George W Bush and Tony Blair - have been involved in illegal wars and should be brought to justice.
"I do not think there's anything wrong with that. If the Labour Party want to suspend me I will deal with the Labour Party. They will have to give me some evidence."
'Lord' Ahmed should be expelled from the Labour party and from Britain and sent back to Pakistan where he belongs. Maybe then Britain could make it back into the 21st century.
The recent mysterious disappearance of a suspected Israeli pilotless reconnaissance plane from the radar screen of the French UNIFIL battalion in south Lebanon has raised speculation that Hezbollah has found a way of electronically jamming and disabling drones. Information has been circulating for over a year that Hezbollah has been exploring – and may have discovered – a means of jamming the data link between a drone and its ground control base or interfering with the guidance system of drones on pre-programed flight missions in order to crash them. There is no confirmation yet that Hezbollah has acquired the ability to jam and destroy Israeli reconnaissance drones, but there is no question that its highly secret electronic warfare and communications capabilities have advanced tremendously over the past decade and will play a critical role in any future war with Israel.
Later in the article, Blanford quotes a member of Hezbollah calling these efforts a "war of brains." (Blanford followed up with an article in the Wall Street Journal, Hezbollah waits and prepares.)
One of Hezbollah’s main lessons following its success in the 2006 war was the establishment of as many arms depots as possible in urban areas and in non-residential regions. As result of this combat doctrine, Hezbollah is attempting to rebuild its weapons depots, under the noses of UNIFIL and with the quiet backing of the Lebanese army. This is being done as part of the preparations for the Third Lebanon War. ... Israel, which wishes to prove its claims, published about a year ago the intelligence files of some Lebanese villages; the photos prove the scope of the weapons being stored there. Simultaneously, in the past two years, some of these arms depots started to explode under mysterious circumstances, like a knife in Hezbollah’s heart.
A well known anti-Israel blogger has claimed that the drone was a Trojan horse attack against these arm depots. Whether or not the drone was part of these attacks is impossible to know at this time. If it's true, it would be a huge achievement for Israel; a victory in this "war of brains.'
I'm skeptical of claims that Hezbollah has the ability to disable the drones electronically. Hezbollah has long bragged about its proficiency in fighting Israeli intelligence operations. It has claimed to have hacked Israeli drones showing that Israel was responsible for killing Rafiq Hariri. It has claimed to have discovered Israeli spy equipment. It has claimed to have caught spies in 2009 and again last week.
Whether or not that means that the drone was a Trojan horse, I can't tell. But if Israel's having success striking at the arms depots, Hezbollah needs to claim victory elsewhere, whether or not it's true.
Mr. Fayyad noted that since the Europeans were facing their own fiscal crises and the Arabs had not come forward with pledged donations, it made little sense to assume either would come to the rescue now. In the past two years, the authority has set up institutions as part of its ambition to be ready for statehood, and that has made fiscal reliability all the more important. “If we can’t meet our contractual obligations, that has a chilling effect on the private sector,” Mr. Fayyad said. “This undermines confidence in the Palestinian Authority’s capacity to function, which has a debilitating effect on investor confidence. Like a family, a government can make do with less — but not a drop of two-thirds.”
Private Palestinian investment in Israel, as of 2010, amounted to $2.5 billion in a conservative estimate, and according to a more optimistic estimate this investment possibly even amounts to $5.8 billion. For purposes of comparison, private Palestinian investment within the West Bank, as of 2011, was only $1.5 billion. This is the surprising conclusion reached by Issa Smeirat, who for his master's thesis in economics has done the first research of its kind into this phenomenon, its extent and its implications - issues that until now have not been discussed in the professional literature.
I find it odd that despite Fayyad's efforts, the Palestinians Authority is still largely dependent on foreign donations to function. To be sure, the article, which is written by Amira Hass claims that the study shows how the restrictions Israel places on the Palestinians discourages investment in the PA. Despite this charge, the final paragraph tells us:
Smeirat asked the subjects of his study whether they would want to go back and invest in the areas of the West Bank. Of his respondents, 35.3 percent replied in the negative, 28.9 percent said they would go back if the PA manages the economy better, and 35.8 percent said they would go back if conditions were improved (such as better infrastructure and loans ).
These responses suggest that it is the Palestinian management of the economy that is the problem. While Fayyad has been praised for introducing transparency into the handling of foreign aid, it isn't clear that he's managed to foster a private economy. According to this survey, only those seeking better infrastructure could possibly be attributed to Israeli actions; the others see a failing of the PA.
In all, 164 people were killed in Mumbai and 308 were wounded. What stands out in the horror of those days is the particular viciousness of the attack on the defenseless people inside Nariman House. The Holtzbergs—a young couple, emissaries from the Chabad-Lubavitch movement—along with four other Jewish visitors were all killed. But Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife Rivka were first tortured, the details of which are too gruesome to recount. (Their 2-year-old son was rescued by his Indian nanny, who grabbed the blood-spattered child and ran outside when the attackers weren't looking.) Why did the attackers specifically target Chabad and why with such viciousness? Lashkar-e-Taiba, or the Army of the Pure, is South Asia's largest and most militant terror network. It is based in Pakistan, where it reportedly received planning assistance for the Mumbai operation from Pakistan's secret service agency. The group's founding aim was to reclaim the disputed Kashmir region for Muslims, but in recent years Lashkar has expanded to global scope, with particular animus toward India and Israel, declaring Hindus and Jews to be enemies of Islam.
It's a reminder that when people say they consider Jews (or Israel) to the enemy they really mean it and may act on their feelings. This reminder is especially important when newly ascendent Islamist movements are gaining power or poised to gain power across the Middle East.
Indian media: Bin Laden was killed in an ISI safe house
Indian media is reporting that the hideout in which Osama Bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals was an ISI safe house. The ISI is the Pakistani intelligence service.
Quoting Pakistani officials, a number of media reports state that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden could not have hidden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad (where he was killed) without the knowledge of the Pakistani military, especially its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The website of the leading Indian weekly magazine India Today published a report from its Pakistan correspondent titled "Osama Dead: Pak May Have Known About His Presence in Abbottabad." The report noted growing speculation that Osama bin Laden was killed at a safehouse operated by the ISI. Two more reports were published by the websites rediff.com and timesofindia.com that indicated that the ISI knew bin Laden's whereabouts.
It should be noted that the website of the Urdu-language Pakistani daily Roznama Jang reported earlier today that Pakistani army forces did not participate in the operation to kill bin Laden.[1] The report quoted a statement of the Pakistani Foreign Office as confirming that Osama bin Laden was killed in the operation but the "Pakistani security forces did not take part in the operation."
The Pakistani military's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is known to be the most powerful player in Pakistan, virtually dictating Pakistan's foreign relations with Afghanistan, India, and the United States. It has been known over the past several decades for its support to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Last month, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated in Islamabad that the ISI continues to support the Haqqani Network, the second largest group of militants among the Taliban in Afghanistan.
...
Following are excerpts from the India Today report:[2]
"A senior Pakistan military official has told India Today that it was impossible for the army to have not known that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was in Abbottabad. This has further fuelled speculation that Osama was killed in an ISI safehouse. Bin Laden was killed in the operation late on Sunday night at a mansion in Abbottabad, 80 kilometers north of Islamabad.
A report titled "More Shame and Retribution Heading ISI's Way" and published on the Indian website rediff.com also noted that Osama bin Laden could not have lived in Abbottabad without the knowledge of the Pakistani military. Following are excerpts from the report:[3]
...
"Nothing in the Af-Pak region goes unnoticed by the ISI, and if bin Laden managed to play hide-and-seek with the world all this while, it was only thanks to ISI's patronage. Although the U.S. has claimed that Pakistan was not in the know of this operation, terror groups would not believe so.
"They are aware that nothing is possible unless there has been a certain degree of support from the establishment. Moreover, Osama was living in a place close to the army headquarters in Abbottabad, about 70 kilometers northeast of Pakistan's capital Islamabad. This is not a fact that would have gone unnoticed by the ISI.
...
In a report, a correspondent of The Times of India newspaper filed a report from Washington under the title "Hiding bin Laden: Finger of Suspicion at ISI." Following are excerpts from the report:[4]
...
"The finger of suspicion is now pointing squarely at the Pakistani military and intelligence for sheltering and protecting Osama bin Laden before U.S. forces hunted him down and put a bullet in his head in the wee hours of Sunday. The coordinates of the action and sequence of events indicate that the Al-Qaeda fugitive may have been killed in an ISI safehouse.
"U.S. analysts uniformly suggested that the Pakistani security establishment's claim of a role in the operation is clearly aimed at ducking charges of its military's possible role in hiding bin Laden…
"In fact, top U.S. officials have openly suggested for months that the Pakistani military establishment was hiding bin Laden. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came closest to publicly exposing Pakistan's role last May [in 2010] when she accused some government officials there of harboring Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. 'I am not saying they are at the highest level...but I believe somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda and where Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Taliban are,' Clinton said on May 10 last year, adding, 'We expect more cooperation (from Pakistan) to help us bring to justice capture or kill those who brought us 9/11.'
"Taken together with President Obama's pointed reference to President Zardari and leaving out any mention of Pakistani forces' involvement, it would seem that Washington believes that Pakistan's military intelligence establishment, including the ISI, was sheltering bin Laden. The ISI was accused as recently as last week by top U.S. military official Admiral Mike Mullen of having terrorist links, and named as a terrorist support entity by U.S. officials, according to the Guantanamo cables.
Hmmm. Yes, I believe the ISI would have sheltered Bin Laden. I doubt that the ISI was in on the operation, because the US would have feared that they would tip Bin Laden off.
For more on the Headley case (Headley was one of the planners of the Mumbai massacre; Indian media have accused the ISI of being involved in that too), go here and here and here and here and here.
Will the terrorists of Mumbai be brought to justice?
Will the terrorists who are responsible for the deaths of 166 people in Mumbai be brought to justice? That's one of the many questions posed by this article on what really happened at Mumbai two years ago (Hat Tip: Ronald G).
On Nov. 26, 2008, Mir sat among half-a-dozen militant chiefs in a safe house in Karachi tracking an attack team as its dinghy approached the Mumbai waterfront. The Lashkar-i-Taiba terrorist group had made Mir the project manager of its biggest strike ever, the crowning achievement of his career as a holy warrior.
The 10 gunmen went ashore and split into five teams. His voice crisp and steady, Mir directed the slaughter by phone from his command post, relaying detailed instructions to his fighters. About 10:25 p.m., gunmen stormed the Chabad House. They shot the Holtzbergs and the visiting rabbis, took the Israeli grandmother and Mexican tourist hostage and barricaded themselves on an upper floor.
Mir told his men to try to trade the hostages for a gunman who had been captured. Mir spoke directly to the Mexican hostage, 50-year-old Norma Rabinovich, who had been preparing to move to Israel to join her adult children.
Mir soothed the sobbing woman in accented but smooth English.
"Save your energy for good days," Mir told her during the call intercepted by Indian intelligence. "If they contact right now, maybe you gonna, you know, celebrate your Sabbath with your family."
The prisoner swap failed. Mir ordered the gunman to "get rid" of Rabinovich.
"Stand her up on this side of your door," he said. "Shoot her such that the bullet goes right through her head and out the other side...Do it. I'm listening...Do it, in God's name."
The three-day siege of Mumbai left 166 dead and 308 wounded. Twenty-six of the dead were foreigners, including six Americans. The attacks inflamed tension between Pakistan and India at a time when the nuclear-armed foes were trying to improve their relationship. The repercussions complicated the U.S. battle against Islamic extremism in South Asia and thrust Lashkar into the global spotlight.
More than two years later, Mir and his victims are at the center of a wrenching national-security dilemma confronting the Obama administration. The question, simply put, is whether the larger interests of the United States in maintaining good relations with Pakistan will permit Mir and other suspects to get away with one of the most devastating terrorist attacks in recent history.
Despite the diplomatic sensitivities, administration officials say they are pursuing those responsible.
"The U.S. government is completely determined to see justice done in the case," said a senior U.S. counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of pending prosecutions. "Sometimes it takes time."
The Washington Post has a blow-by-blow description of the massive Mumbai terror attack two years ago, including this description of (Nariman) Chabad House (Hat Tip: Daily Alert).
The six-story Jewish center known as the Chabad House was attacked about an hour after the assault began.
Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, the red-bearded, 29-year-old director, and his pregnant wife, Rivka, 28, had entertained visitors in the second-floor dining room that night. Two rabbis from New York, Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum and Ben-Zion Chroman, had stopped in to say goodbye as they wrapped up a trip to India to certify kosher food products.
When Holtzberg heard shots and screams, he grabbed his cellphone and called a security officer at the Israeli consulate.
"The situation is bad," he said.
Then the line went dead.
The gunmen shot the Holtzbergs and the visiting rabbis. The Holtzbergs' son, 2-year-old Moishele, wandered among corpses and debris until the next day, when his Indian nanny crept upstairs, grabbed him and escaped.
News that one of his men had been captured reached Mir in the command post. Mir decided to try to win his release by using the two female hostages who were still alive at Chabad House: Yocheved Orpaz, an Israeli grandmother, and Norma Rabinovich, a Mexican tourist.
Mir told a gunman to hand Rabinovich the phone. He ordered her to propose a prisoner exchange to Israeli diplomats. She reported back to him after her conversation with the Israelis, addressing him as "sir."
"I was talking to the consulate a few minutes ago," she said, her voice shaking. "They are calling the prime minister and the army in India from the embassy in Delhi."
Mir's serene tone made him sound like a helpful bureaucrat.
"Don't worry then, ah, just sit back and relax and don't worry and just wait for them to make contact," he told her.
Hours later, Mir gave the order to kill her. A gunman named Akasha sounded reluctant. Mir turned icy when he learned the two women were still alive. He demanded: "Have you done the job or not?"
Akasha executed the women as Mir listened, according to the transcript. The gunfire echoed over the phone.
The next morning, helicopter-borne commandos swooped onto the roof. Mir gave real-time orders as he watched the gunfight on television. Akasha reported in a hoarse, strangled voice that he had been wounded in the arm and leg.
"God protect you," Mir said. "Did you manage to hit any of their guys?"
"We got one commando. Pray that God will accept my martyrdom."
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
