India Warned Of Mumbai Attacks

CBS News: Intel Agency Said Two Weeks Ago That Pakistani Militants Might Target Indian Hotels

(CBS)  India's intelligence agency warned as recently as November 18 that Pakistan-based militants were preparing to launch an attack on Mumbai - warnings that the Indian authorities are now accused of ignoring in the months before gunmen stormed the country's financial capital, killing at least 174 people.

Indian and European intelligence officials tell CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar the information gathered was specific enough to cite threats to Mumbai's main hotels, and the possibility that Islamic militants might use boats to penetrate the city's weak coastal defenses.

The investigation into last week's attack is still developing, but law enforcement officials have said about 10 well-armed, well-trained terrorists came ashore on small boats Tuesday night before methodically ambushing guests at two of Mumbai's most exclusive hotels.

The head of an Indian fishermens' union says he warned the government that militants were using sea routes to smuggle explosives four months ago, reports MacVicar, and a captured Lashkar-e-Taiba operative told Indian interrogators months ago that he had carried out reconnaissance of both the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, or LET, is the Pakistan-based group increasingly suspected as being behind the Mumbai attacks. Intelligence sources tell CBS News that the LET is still getting some level of logistical and financial support from members of Pakistan's powerful military spy agency.

A senior U.S. intelligence source told CBS News that in mid-October, India was warned by the United States of terrorist plots against hotels in Mumbai. The U.S. had received intelligence that Lashkar-e-Taiba cells had been engaged in reconnaissance.

The one gunman captured alive after the attack in Mumbai has admitted to interrogators that he was a member of the group, according to senior Indian police officials.

It quickly became clear during the siege that the gunmen knew their way around the massive Taj Mahal hotel. They deftly maneuvered through the vast complex, drawing out a standoff with police surrounding the building for 62 hours.

"They seemed to know their way around... the back office, the back part of the hotel very well, the kitchen and so on. So, one assumes that there has been a considerable amount of detailed planning," Ratan Tata, owner of the Taj Mahal hotel, told CBS News.

Tata also acknowledged security was increased at the hotel in October, following threats, but that it was then relaxed just days before the attacks.

And, MacVicar reports, the threat may not have passed.

According to a leaked account, the lone surviving terrorist suspect, Ajmal Amir Qasab, has told police interrogators that 24 men trained for the operation in Pakistan-based camps run by LET. Only 10 terrorists (nine dead, and Qasab) are accounted for. Some Indian police sources say that on an abandoned fishing trawler, hijacked by the terrorists to take them close to Mumbai, they found 15 winter jackets, 15 toothbrushes and other supplies, strongly suggesting there may be a continuing threat from five terrorists, whereabouts unknown.

"One of the problems is that they had so many warnings that they didn't know which ones to take seriously," said Michael Clarke, a terrorism expert and director of the Royal United Services Institute.

Clarke told CBS News that India's counterterrorism apparatus is in bad shape; used to getting so many warnings that they've become "out of the habit of taking them seriously."

"If you look at the pattern of attacks there (there were two previous attacks in Mumbai) it's astonishing that it's not better," said Clarke.

Senior Indian government officials, including ministers, have already resigned, but angry protesters have been taking to the streets, demanding to know why all the warnings were ignored.

[Meg003]

While these attacks were horrifying and tragic, I keep thinking about the terrorists'' supposed goal of killing 5,000 people. The loss of life was devastating, but the Indian response seemed very aggressive and effective in preventing even more murders.

[excoachken]

C.Y.A. time in the terror protection community.

[mydiatribe]

This story substantiates a paradigm of the intelligence community. That is this: it isn''t intelligence until it is acted upon. These people mine as well not have known, since they chose to ignore it.

Evidently those processing the intelligence don''t possess any!!??

[karlo59]

So India was warned about the attacks. You mean just like the bushnazis were warned about 9/11 and did absolutaly NOTHING to stop them?

[mrmeatspin]

the problem with is intel...

LIBERALS ARE WEARY OF TERRORIST BEING TORTURED AND VIOLATED TO GET IT...


so if these happen again...we all know who allowed it to happen..

[mrmeatspin]

So India was warned about the attacks. You mean just like the bushnazis were warned about 9/11 and did absolutaly NOTHING to stop them?


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Posted by karlo59 at 10:37 AM : Dec 02, 2008
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**************

i love this..you do something..liberals bi tch
you DONT do something..liberals bi tch..

[fiteit1]

Bush was warned in January 2001 of the threat of al Qaeda, and was repeatedly warned over the next 8 months.

In July 2001, George Tenet and Richard Clarke BOTH tried to warn Bush about the threat that al Qaeda might try to hijack airplanes, and use them as weapons against us.

The intelligence is only as good as the people that pay attention to it and act accordingly.


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Posted by IwasHungry68 at 08:24 AM

They did nothing because if the attack were to occur it would bolster justification to attack Iraq and the plan worked.

[mrmeatspin]

Bush was warned for 8 months about 9/11.

How much torture did that require?


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Posted by IwasHungry68 at 11:06 AM : Dec 02, 2008
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*******

bigger question..

how MUCH ACTION would you actually allow??? perhaps throw in harsh words or two??

even so much as a ''bad UnPC statement from bush'' you guys are in an uproar calling for impeachment.

you guys are the worst..you guys WOULD ACTUALLY hinder an effort to act on an intel..PLEASE DONT EVEN ARGUE THAT YOU WOuld not

[mrmeatspin]

They did nothing because if the attack were to occur it would bolster justification to attack Iraq and the plan worked.


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Posted by fiteit1 at 11:10 AM : Dec 02, 2008
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**************
actually statements and declarations from the liberal masses indicated that even if we find osama bin laden himself..we already know that the liberal realm WILL FIGHT to make sure that he is treated well.

[pepperwood2]

That''s a good one! Nevel Chamberlain was warned that Hitler was going to attack England before Hitler signed the non aggression pac with Britian.

[leeanna58]

Bush was warned for 8 months about 9/11.

Posted by IwasHungry68

I''ve never heard that before. I''m not challenging your statement, but I would like to know your references so I can look it up myself. Where did you get that?

[leeanna58]

Wht you idiots don''''t understand is even if you''''re warned how do you defend it. Close every hotel for an indefinite amount of time?

Posted by guyfrompa49

I don''t have an answer to the question of, "How do you defend it?" However, as an American, I plan to stay home in America. I can''t imagine why anyone would want to travel in countries where clean water doesn''t run out of a tap, where consumption of the local food could result in Montezuma''s revenge, where the people hate our existence and want to destroy us. Call me shallow or anything you want to call me, but you can plan on not having to rescue me from some foreign act of terrorism. Locally, I live where it is highly unlikely that terrorists will find me first.

[newsjunky5]

See the photos? Now THAT looks like a kerosene fire!

[perceptions5]

Thanks to President Bush our intelligence capabilities are FAR better than what they were under the Clinton Administration.

One thing is for sure when Bush hands over the keys to the White House in January 2009

.........There won''t be half a dozen terrorists learning how to fly but not land commerical aircraft in the USA.

........... THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH !!!!!!!!!

But don''t look for the liberal fascists in our NAZI-like press to give our President any credit.

Afterall they been UNDERMINDING his presidency for serveral years now.............good job Nazi press you''ve made our country weaker.

We are SURE Obama won''t have the same crimminal treatment from the Goebbels News Networks here in Nazi America.

[renonv5]

Was this warning anything like the one the US received pertaining to 9/11??

[mtminds]

Opinions are like *********. Everyone has one, its just some are bigger than others. Miketotten1''s is stretched out beyond belief.

[promaclaura]

-There have been a slew of reports over the past decade of plots to use planes to strike American targets. In 1995, U.S. and Filipino authorities uncovered a plot by Ramsey Yusef, nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind Sept. 11. Yusef threatened to hide bombs on planes and blow them up over the Pacific.-

Terrorists are picking up the pace, 9/11 was a seed originally planted by Ramsey Yusef in 1995, and taken up by his uncle to completion. Six years in the planning, two presidents, and intelligence agencies trying to determine the plot and stop the attack. All failed to protect us, simply not visuallizing such "terror".

India on the other hand has seen their share of bombings in their country. Why were they so lax? Boy, you''d think they would be vigilant, especially in today''s terror environment. This is failing and then some.

[libsh8theusa]

Allah Ackbar MikeTotten1

[libsh8theusa]

AnitaY417.. If you go out of the US then I do not feel sorry for what ever happens to you..

[promaclaura]

AnitaY417.. If you go out of the US then I do not feel sorry for what ever happens to you..


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Posted by libsh8theUSA at 04:02 PM : Dec 02, 2008

A sad reality for world travel. Did you see that pirates chased a Cruise ship this time? Thank God they got away.

[mtminds]

A senior police official said that, in all, the names and numbers of five members of the Pakistani group''s (Lashkar-e-Taiba)leadership were contained in a satellite phone left behind by the terrorists on a fishing vessel they hijacked then abandoned before reaching Mumbai. Records from the phone show calls had been made from it to these five men.

Among them: Yusuf Muzammil, head of Lashkar-e-Taiba''s terrorism operations against India.
Foxnews

I guess this rules Israel out, unless it is operating a pseudo-Islamic terrorist organization out of Pakistan.

How about a flaming big opinion on these facts?

[libsh8theusa]

Well, FOX is well known as a source for infotainment, but hardly a source for reliable journalism or anything that resembles "facts".

Posted by MikeTotten1

Like any of the other media is fair and balanced.. Sure it is.. Bah ha ha.. We all saw how balanced cbs, abc, nbc were during the election.. Bah ha ha ha..


Allah Akbar MikeTotten1

[mtminds]

The chances that Pakistan was behind these attacks are negligible. - Miketotten1

BWaaaa Haaaaaaa now that is the biggest reddest flaming piece of opinion of yours yet. How do you get your buttocks to type like that? Do you have to wipe after each of your posts? Or do you just flick it with your fingers?

[au_fait]

Re: "How about a flaming big opinion on these facts?"

Posted by mtminds

Well, FOX is well known as a source for infotainment, but hardly a source for reliable journalism or anything that resembles "facts".

At any rate, your screen name, "mtminds" (empty minds), seems to describe your opinions pretty accurately.

Good pick.
Posted by MikeTotten1

and you believe any other news source is realiable. teh only reason fox catches more hell than the other and is called faux news is that it pulls more to the right than the liberal biased outlets of opinions (sorry there is no longer a site for true journalism). If you want true news of what is going on in the government, watch C-Span.

[mtminds]

au_fait = miketotten1
keep talking to yourself, you are the only one that believes what you say. And don''t forget to wash your hands after playing with yourself, your opinion is a very dirty place.

[hatesthecolt]

Well at least for a change the intel agencies are getting credited for providing the information as opposed to getting blamed for the "intelligence failures" (which, of course, they can neither confirm nor deny).

[swingset4u]

I JUST LOVE the hero mentality of some group of government. "Intel Agency Said Two Weeks Ago That Pakistani Militants Might Target Indian Hotels" But did they ACTUALLY WARN anyone???? Was the public and travel bureaus made aware so foreign and domestic travelers could plan accordingly and remain vigilant during their travels??? I love how the "we know something is up mentality comes to light to the public ONLY after it has happened.

[alphaa10000]

swingset4u said, "But did they ACTUALLY WARN anyone???? Was the public and travel bureaus made aware... I love how the "we know something is up mentality comes to light to the public ONLY after it has happened."
---

Credible intelligence is taken seriously by a credible intelligence effort. Further, according to the story, it was the US, not an Indian agency, which first warned of terrorist activity toward Mumbai.

That the Indian government did not take this warning as sufficiently serious to move assets closer to Mumbai and prepare countermeasures, is what led to the outcry from the Indian people and the resignation of India''s chief of intelligence.

That said, no intelligence or police agency investigator needs a crayon drawing of the suspect(s) to pursue likely countermeasures and investigative leads.

Likewise, Bush did not need a large PowerPoint printout, "Islamic terrorist airplane will crash here (X) on September 11, 2001" to alert government agencies. Nonetheless, September 11 was essentially a complete surprise-- except for unused (but actionable) intelligence reports. One report was with Bush and another with Rice.

So, we have no fingers to point at the Indians, and our prayers are with them.

[hatesthecolt]

Wrong liberal! Their God doesnt exist. They pray to emptyness.

Posted by lady_organs

Well, then why would you have to "define" the "right" God??? You are being completely inconsistent.

[evian_ycnan]

According to the CIA and the 9/11 commission, there were 40 other mentions of Al Qaeda or Bin Laden in the President''s Daily Briefs before 9/11. Most of those presumably came during what Dr. Rice called "the threat spike" of June and July 2001.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/pdb8-6-2001.pdf

[mrmeatspin]

According to the CIA and the 9/11 commission, there were 40 other mentions of Al Qaeda or Bin Laden in the President''''s Daily Briefs before 9/11. Most of those presumably came during what Dr. Rice called "the threat spike" of June and July 2001.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/
NSAEBB116/pdb8-6-2001.pdf


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Posted by Evian_Ycnan at 06:40 PM : Dec 03, 2008
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********

and even after years and years after it occured A LOT OF LIBERALS AND SOME MEDIA STILL THINK IT NEVER HAPPENED..or WILL NEVER HAPPEN

it could had been televised minute by minute and ANTI-BUSH liberals WOULD STILL DENY IT...

so whats the point?

[mrmeatspin]

am rather amazed that no attacks have happened at any of the American outsourcing centers.




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Posted by mortal3 at 07:08 PM : Dec 02, 2008
+ report abuse

*** because f aggots at liberal GAP paid off terrrists to make sure they remain safe..you are so full of sh*t and conspriacy