Conservative Dispatch

Despite pressure from terror watchdogs, the US media continues to downplay the role of US designated terrorist group Lashkar e Taiba’s connections to the events in Mumbai.

The US media has also refused to provide any details  on any of the eight terrorists arrested by commando’s who stormed a Jewish center where the gunmen were holding people hostage.  Three of the terrorists are said to be members of the group Lashkar e Taiba.

The reasons cited for making the information about the terrorists available to the general public range from emboldening the terrorists capability by discussing their heightened capabilities in the press, to diffusing tensions between India and Pakistan, and warding off any retaliatory actions.

What’s missing though is details on the terrorist groups operations here in the United States and their well documented connections with Al Qaeda, and the charity group CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations).

While some international media are minimizing the terrorist groups international reach, some papers such as London’s Daily Mail, report that several of the eight terrorists may have at one time resided in England.

Lashkar e Taiba has been portrayed in the media as a  homegrown domestic terrorist group in India, made up of Pakistani’s who are want to see  an independent Karachi, and are protesting sectarian fighting there between Muslims and Hindu’s.

Several of the terrorists who planned and carried out attacks on 911, were trained at a now infamous terrorist training camp hosted by the same terrorist group. Experts say that some of the main funding sources for the group come from  Saudi Arabia.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/17882/

In my opinion the media’s continued apathy in demanding accountability in order to keep from upsetting our Saudi and wealthy Middle Eastern allies, and always going out of our way to smooth ruffled feathers, has only allowed the situation to imbed itself further.

It also signals the strength of the opportunism masquerading as political correctness festering in intellectual circles such as left wing think tanks, and  college universities, who are always there to offer protection to terrorists and nations who support rogue groups whenever they are criticized.

Anytime conservative journalists like myself complain about the US liberal media, liberal spinsters immediately whip out the old reliable goat getting strategies, such as talking about how the Bush Administration endorses torture.  They never state that no one has been tortured since 2001, and that there were only 3 suspects who were water boarded (the terrorists who masterminded 911).

Sorry folks, but in my mind, this is the equivalent of Entertainment Tonight running a one hour special on how someone really evil like Scott Peterson has recently decided to file a suit claiming they were neglected by prison doctors when they caught the flu.

For some reason liberals and liberal journalists seem to favor the treatment of terrorists over trying to catch them .  They write in depth articles and have long conversations about how badly terrorists are treated in Guantanamo, while our own US prison system needs overhauling. By refusing to even mention CAIR whose huge donor network is thriving in communities across the nation, we are doing ourselves a great disservice.

While Indian newspaper Khaleej Times reported the arrests of nine terror suspects taken into custody for their role in the Mumbai killings, in the days following the tragedy the US media has chosen to downplay the arrests.

The precision of the supposed warning is extraordinary, and dubious. As the Telegraph’s Rahul Bedi has it, “On November 19 the RAW intercepted a telephone conversation between the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi and someone in Mumbai that talked of “sending cargo” to the city…After collating other information, they informed the navy and coast guard that Pakistan-based terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group aboard a trawler would approach India’s west coast to launch a major strike.”

http://szamko.gnn.tv/blogs/30206/Warnings_Ignored_as_Lashkar_Statement_Emerges_and_Congress_Panics

International newspapers not only printed information about the nine arrests,  newspapers such as London’s “Guardian” newspaper are sticking fast to their story  that the Mumbai attacks  are indeed connected to ” Lashkar-i-Taibaa”, a group which has connections to Al Qaeda. In my opinion this may be an effort to play down any link between the Mumbai attacks,Al Qaeda and the well known charity group “The Council on American Islamic Relations” ( CAIR).

After intense pressure from terrorist watch organizations, the US media has finally begun acknowledging  the arrests, and Lashkar-i-Taiba’s involvement in Mumbai.

This is not the first time the group CAIR has been associated with funding Al Qaeda related operatives. A recent Department of Justice report details how a leading member of the group CAIR “Council on Islamic Relations” was recently arrested on explosives charges for his involvement with Lashkar-i-Taiba.

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/January/04_crm_030.htm

Government agencies involved in blocking terrorist financing, say that sometimes terrorist groups often change names in an attempt to avoid detection and outwit them. And this may be the case with Lashkar-i-Taiba and Deccan Mujhadeen.

The London Guardian also reports that the Indian government was given information by their agents, warning of the attacks which could have saved many lives. The Indian governments failure to act on information was irresponsible.

US warned India before Mumbai attacks. Unnamed Bush official’s statement adds to criticism of Indian governments lack of preparedness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/02/mumbai-terror-attacks-india1

What I find is most disturbing about all this, is the fact that nine terrorists were taken into custody alive. This signals a huge departure from Al Qaeda’s normal methods of using suicide bombers. After years of recruiting for suicide bombers, perhaps this is an indication that they are recruiting terrorists who are more interested in working with Al Qaeda, without necessarily being suicide bombers.

Instead of blowing up large targets with suicide vests, the terrorists in the Mumbai attacks, the terrorists chose to unleash 8 coordinated attacks simultaneously in different town centers. The terrorists launched grenades, held hostages, fired machine guns and blew up bombs without killing themselves.

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We have shot dead four terrorists and managed to arrest nine suspected terrorists,’ P.D. Ghadge, a police officer at Mumbai’s central control room, told Reuters.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/mumbaiterror/2008/November/mumbaiterror_November21.xml&section=mumbaiterror