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.

[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

[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
+ report abuse


********

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?

[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

[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.

[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.

[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).

[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.

[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]

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?

[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