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Mumbai's Dangerous Amnesia
Gurinder Osan / AP Photo
Washington’s response to 9/11 may have been over the top, but it sent the right message. India’s sleepy reaction to the terrorist assault on Mumbai a year ago today is an invitation to another attack, says M.J. Akbar.
Delhi: The ebb from outrage to rage, its decline to umbrage, and then a drift to amnesia is the narrative of the 12 months since the terrorist assault on Mumbai. America’s immediate response to 9/11 was over the top; India’s phased reaction might more justifiably be described as under the table. But a message went out from Washington: You provoke America at your peril, no matter what the collateral damage. Since the attack last year that shook India and startled the world, Delhi has played piped music before one trapped cobra and called it an opera. Then it fell asleep at its own show.
It is both easy and pointless to blame the government. Every government in Delhi keeps a thermometer in its holster and calibrates its decibel levels according to ground temperature. If it’s warm, it will blow hot, as Delhi did so vigorously between November and January. If it has cooled, Delhi will cool it as well. It is meaningless to blame our opposition. The Indian opposition has become impotent without ever turning potent. A politician will only be as resolute as the citizen, and Indian sensitivities have been dulled by a culture of complacence. Even trauma has been reduced to television drama; once the scenes are played out, our bluster slowly splutters into silence.
Click Image to View a Gallery of the Mumbai Terror Attacks
The lean and lissome Obama has learned to slap with a long hand.
Obama did not have a word to say, incidentally, about the latest revelations from Pakistan’s rogue nuclear scientist, Dr. A.Q. Khan, on Chinese help in fuel and technology for Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, a clear instance of illegal proliferation. Do not be surprised, however, if India gets a lecture or two on nuclear proliferation.
War is not the only definition of strength. This fallacy has been promoted in India to disguise a policy of inaction. We have been cheated by this argument, as it is obvious that war can have attendant consequences capable of deadly havoc. But there is a whole array of diplomatic and economic instruments that can be mobilized, nationally and internationally. India had the world’s sympathy a year ago. It was squandered by inaction. Pakistan maneuvered its way out of international condemnation with some brilliantly painless promises. Islamabad bought the time that Delhi sold for a pittance.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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Well known Indian journalist M.J. Akbar is the editor of Covert, a fortnightly magazine of current affairs, a blogger and the author of many books, most recently Blood Brothers.
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Well known Indian journalist M.J. Akbar is the editor of Covert, a fortnightly magazine of current affairs, a blogger and the author of many books, most recently Blood Brothers.
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Well known Indian journalist M.J. Akbar is the editor of Covert, a fortnightly magazine of current affairs, a blogger and the author of many books, most recently Blood Brothers.
sonofloud
Sorry MJ but some of us have problems killing innocent people, even in an act of revenge. Try reading a little US history and you will discover the American government has been spreading terrorism for decades, from the Middle East to Central America to Asia.
isabella
You have no problem with the killing of innocent people as long as they're Americans, or people friendly to America, like Indians.
With your rudimentary knowledge of history you probably blame the victims of the Mumbai massacre for their deaths at the hands of Pakistani Muslim terrorists.
Like you, the Obama administration wants to pretend Islamic terrorism doesn't exist. The elaborate performance at the White House this week in honor of the Indian Prime Minister adds strength to Akbar's argument, even if the President didn't honor PM Singh with a low bow or s'alaam, as he did when meeting the Saudi king and the Japanese emperor.
KarenF444
Fewer than 3,000 were killed in the 9/11 attacks. What the US has done since then has been worse than 9/11, for civilians here in the US, for the US soldiers killed and maimed and for the uncounted numbers of dead and wounded in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and the millions made refugees. "Washington's response to 9/11 may have been over the top" - thats quite an understatement.
gameon
What a simpleminded coward you are.We killed tens of thousands of "innocent" people during World War ll and the cold,hard truth is it had to be done.The reality of life is that the innocent die when they get caught in the struggle between freedom and fascism.The fact that you can't discern who are the fascists and who's the liberator is a sign of your own selfishness and stupidity.
Ask a French person if we're evil for bombing civilians to liberate their country,i'm sure the unpleasant answer would be that yes,it was a necessary evil done for the greater good of mankind.
You're a weak person who's only concerned about yourself and your own liberal fantasies.Your "if it feels good,go with it approach" to everything is immature and based most likely on marijuana,not reality.Americas enemies know that you're weak,and they manipulate you with propaganda that you are ever so willing believe due to your own insecurities and self-delusions.
Perhaps you should read a little world history,then you might gain a little appreciation for this country that's given the world so much.Or,better yet, you could just leave the U.S.,which is what I would prefer..
Dingoangst
I am commenting on an article I did not read. The first sentence was so sickening and stupid that I chose to stop right there. The U.S. response to 9/11 was so thoroughly "over the top" that it was criminal. And it did not send anyone the right message. I think our response may have ruined this country forever.
crypto
"Fewer than 3,000 were killed in 9/11 attacks, no problem. The US response was so over the top". Maybe if we apologized to the attackers for trying to protect ourselves and told them we would never do it again they wouldn't be mad at us. I can only hope when the terrorist return that some of you are standing under the hammer.
dontBugMe
You sound like a typical Saudi funded shyster who rakes in Moola for creating fake news profiles for terrorists so they can attack us again. What is criminal is your treasonous conduct and endangering Americans with your support for terror.
Your type will try to free a child molester for being tortured just because the arresting cop bruised his skin while cuffing him in a struggle. Get a life Traitor.
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