Had enough?

Forty-eight hours after bombs ripped through Mumbai, the needle pointed to Pakistan. Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the “mastermind” of the blasts that killed about 200 people.

The Mumbai Police, meanwhile, identified the trio who planned and executed 11/7: Rahil, Zahibuddin Ansari and Faiyaz, linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Of them, Rahil had reportedly made an abortive bid to trigger a blast at Byculla railway station on March 11 — the eve of the anniversary of the 1993 Bombay blasts.

The agencies, which briefed National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi, said the blueprint for Tuesday’s blasts was made by the ISI while the “plan” was executed by “local Indian operatives”.

A senior intelligence officer said the synchronised explosions had the “hallmark” of an ISI operation. Militants operating in Kashmir were not capable of such meticulous planning and could only carry out fidayeen attacks or plant bombs in crowded places like markets.

More on "D-Company:" ... who are Cint W. Taylor's suspects, although, really, they could all be guilty.

There are two main suspects in Tuesday's train bombing. Either way, one man will bear some responsibility for them. And it is possible the country that has harbored him will pay as well.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is a radical Muslim terror group with ties to al Qaeda. It has also received heavy funding from an Indian crime lord named Dawood Ibrahim, another suspect in the bombings and a terrorist in his own right. Ibrahim is regarded as the mastermind behind Mumbai's 1993 bombing that killed 257. His gang, called D-Company, planned the first attack and smuggled in the RDX explosives from Pakistan. (I discussed his operations for The American Spectator online here and here.)

Both Lashkar-e-Taiba and D-Company are suspects in the 7-11 bombing as well. Ibrahim also has close al Qaeda ties, according to our Treasury Department, and it is likely no coincidence that this serial attack took place on the 11th of the month. I suspect that Osama bin Laden and the leadership levels of al Qaeda were not involved in this attack, but that it was carried out by home-grown terrorists (with Al Qaeda's advice and approval) as occurred in London a year ago.

For the sake of peace in the region, however, it doesn't matter which group was behind it -- both are supported by Dawood Ibrahim. And Ibrahim (and possibly elements of L-e-T) are helped by Pakistan's Intelligence Service, the ISI. Ibrahim is widely reported to live like a king in Pakistan today, controlling his criminal empire and immune from extradition to India. (Pakistan denies that he is in the country.)

Whoops! There's Pakistan's ISI again.

Anyone have any humane solutions to offer?

I will say right now I have no solutions, except some truly terrible ones.

And I will sleep just fine afterwards.

It is as of yet unknown if there are any rogue "young, bearded men" in Pak ISI. We all wait with bated breath for Pakistan's internal investigation into the allegation.

Posted by: Ace at 04:24 PM | Comments (75)
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1) If it's halfway interesting, it should be a post.

2) If it's not halfway interesting, you're wasting time in the comments (which relatively few people read) that you could be spending time posting new entries (which many more people read).

3) All you succeed in doing is pissing off your readers.

...

That's why I only occasionally get into the comments, and usually just in a banterish way. Every time I've broken the rule, I've recognized it as a mistake. I'm out of the arguing-in-the-comments game again for a long, long time.

Posted by: Ace at 03:59 PM | Comments (69)
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I'll take it where I can get it.

Posted by: Ace at 01:19 PM | Comments (20)
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On Fox. I wasn't aware of this. I don't know if this is breaking news or I just missed it.

There you go.

If true, Iran will have solved many of our problems for us.

Incidentally, getting back to the "total war" debate:

What if Israel now bombs Teheran to the ground?

Is such a tactic acceptable, as long as we don't dirty our virgin hands with such terrible barbarism?

Got My Answer: I'm told that Israel can only attempt attacks on purely military targets, despite the fact that Israel's enemies are free to attack population centers.

Because Israelis should be "better."

I'm thinking Israelis right now aren't terribly concerned about being "better." I think they're more concerned with survival.

We're Not At War With A "Nation-State:" Better tell Teheran. They've announced that an Israeli attack on Damascus would be considered an attack on the "entire Islamic world."

Posted by: Ace at 12:37 PM | Comments (197)
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But in the British-controlled areas, which are pretty much the Lolipop Forests of Candyland Iraq. I don't see similar good news for the US-patrolled areas anytime soon.

Still, today I'll take whatever good news I can.

Posted by: Ace at 12:30 PM | Comments (10)
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On fighting a "moral war" or "honorable war:"

It's not easy being the better people. -- rho

It's easier being the worst people alive than the best people dead. -- Dave @ Jen's big mommysacs

Yes, it's a bumper-sticker kind of sentiment and rebuttal. But it's a good one. And sometimes the truth isn't really all that "nuanced" at all.

Posted by: Ace at 11:35 AM | Comments (28)
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I think this is, yes, the proper moment for the Glenn Reynolds put-down.

I sure am happy that British cops have captured or expelled all terrorists and ended all crime in England. Must be nice. Now they can focus on the few last remaining problems: traffic congestion, noise violations, and shitface-drunk barflies showing their pooters as they lay on the floor in a pool of their own slobber.

It's also nice to post something that doesn't have to do with Armageddon today.

Preach It:

Her shirt says "No enemy." Her haircut says "No waxing."

As Jon Stewart says: Your moment of Zen.

Thanks to yls.

Context and Nuance Update: She's exhibiting her solidarity with Maine Muslims after a hate crime, where a guy tossed a pig's head into a mosque.

She's not necessarily saying she's in solidarity with, say, Fallujah Muslims.

I mean, sure, she probably is, but that's not the point of her sign.

I think the most surprising thing about the photo is that her armpits are shaved.

I honestly, truly, did not see that one coming.

Posted by: Ace at 11:28 AM | Comments (50)
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I don't know where IreneFingIrene is getting this, but I assume she's not making it up. I'll find a link for it or else retract it.

Nothing on Drudge yet.

Posted by: Ace at 10:41 AM | Comments (50)
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Posted this in a comment. Not sure if I buy it, but it seems to be at least worthy of mention, and maybe debate:

In a way, the Muslims are really the ones practicing true warfare. A case can be made that it is we who have attempted to artificially and futilely sanitize warfare. And that it is our rules that are deviant, not theirs.

Let's face it, "rules of war" are a fairly modern invention. For 100,000 years of human history armies gleefully slaughtered civilians, took slaves, raped the living shit out of women (and boys).

Whether that's bullshit or not, and it probably is, I'm not sure I see the value in restraint any longer.

The "rules of war," to the extent they're helpful, are only helpful on a compact basis. You observe these rules (more or less), and so will I (more or less). (And WWII was a good case of America sliding towards the "less" side of that formulation, albeit in a truly desperate struggle against evil.)

But why should we continue honoring half the compact when the other side plainly doesn't? Just so we can say "we're better"?

I don't think I need that to feel morally superior. I feel morally superior just in knowing my culture, my nation offered these terms to the enemy, and was more than williing to abide by them (as always: more or less). The enemy refused these terms.

As far as I'm concerned, honor was served by simply offering honorable rules of warfare. I don't see the need to go the extra mile and actually observe rules of honor when the other side mocks them with their vicious cruelty.

A Hypothetical:
more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:59 AM | Comments (171)
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I guess I speak for everyone when I say, "Huhhh??!!! Young, bearded men you say?! But that can't possibly be! I'm not sure if the world makes sense anymore if young, bearded men of undisclosed nationality have somehow gotten themselves mixed up in violence!"

Authorities named two suspects Thursday in the Bombay commuter train bombings that killed at least 200 people.

The government's Anti-Terror Squad released photos of two young, bearded men it identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz. Their nationalities were not provided.

We're all on tenterhooks about their "nationalities." It's such a befuddlement.

Police earlier detained about 350 people for questioning amid suspicion that Kashmiri militants could be linked to Tuesday's bombings.

Yeah, I remember when 19 "Kashmiri militants" crashed some airplanes into the WTC and Pentagon.

Conflating Nationality with Religion: Some will say I'm doing that above. To which I say: nonsense. I'm not the one conflating religion with national identity; they are.

Almost all Muslims are citizens of the Grand Caliphate. Period.

Posted by: Ace at 09:28 AM | Comments (28)
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