An Expert Speaks?
You are not going to win the War On Terror™ or any other conflict with people like this guy in the Australian Broadcasting article: Mumbai gunmen probably still on the loose: US experts
David Kilcullen, who has served as a senior counterterrorism adviser to US General David Petraeus and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said he agreed that were probably more attackers.
…The fighters had high-level professional training, Mr Kilcullen said.
They entered the city by sea, launched diversionary strikes, and seized two hotels and a Jewish centre, where they held off authorities and rampaged for three days.
“A SEAL team would have had trouble mounting this operation,” Kilcullen said, referring to US Navy commandos regarded as among the most skilled special forces.
These guys might have completed the equivalent of Advanced Infantry Training, but with 50% casualties against the under-armed and uncoordinated response they faced in India, if they had attempted the Ranger School, they would still be wandering in the woods.
McClatchy details How India fumbled response to Mumbai attack, and it was so obviously bad that CNN reports that India’s top law official admits Mumbai ‘lapses’.
The professionals would have left timed explosives on their trail to take out any pursuit. They wouldn’t have used equipment that was tracable, like satellite phones. They wouldn’t have talked about the mission at any time close to its execution. They would not have trapped themselves inside of buildings, like the hotels and Jewish center. They would have killed a lot more people in a lot less time and destroyed, not damaged, landmarks.
2 comments
I would find it hard to even imagine the destruction in Mumbai if you had given a Navy SEAL team three days. These guys were marginally trained cowboys who didn’t have enough sense to know better. A SWAT team from any major American city would have taken them out in the first couple of hours. An Army Ranger team in an hour or so.
A SEAL team would have blown up half the city before the Mumbai police force could react, and they would not have had anything approaching a 50% loss ratio. This “expert” has no idea what a real trained force is like.
I was certain that there were more than 10 attackers, and that some of the team were already in the city when the others showed up in their rubber dinghies.
If they had walked into Grand Central Station, like they went into the Mumbai terminal, the NY Transit Police would have taken them out almost instantly. I’m talking about the regular officers, not the storm troopers with the submachine guns.
Apparently, even with all of the terrorist activity in India, they still don’t understand what they need to do. It’s amazing.