The doctors who conducted the post mortem said the bodies of the terrorists were beyond recognition. “Their faces were beyond recognition.”

There was no way of identifying them,” he said. Asked how, if this is the case, they knew the bodies were indeed those of the terrorists, he said: “The security forces that brought the bodies told us that those were the bodies of the terrorists,” he said, adding there was no other way they could have identified the bodies.

it does seem rather odd they would mutilate the bodies beyond recognition. doesn’t that make identification a trust issue?

who is most interested in the destabilization of pakistan? did the attack further goal?

look at who comes out ahead from the attacks, that should give one insight into who caused them.

General James Conway, the head of the Marine Corps, who told the Wall Street Journal this week; “Iraq is now a rearguard action on the part of al-Qaeda. They have changed their strategic focus not to Afghanistan but to Pakistan, because Pakistan is the closest place where you have the nexus of terrorism and nuclear weapons.”

who stands to gain by india joining forces w/the US to further engage in the WOT? follow the money.

That said, I do think that the tone of your blog entry is somewhat uncharitable to everyone who is so dreadfully upset about the Mumbai terrorist attack. You claim that those above a certain income bracket — “the socialite set was when the local trains were bombed in 2006 – fleetingly sympathetic but largely unperturbed.” Now I’m no member of the socialite set but I did know people who were in the Oberoi. I also traveled and most of my friends traveled on the local trains, the same lines and during the same times that they were bombed. I was very upset at that time as well.

I think you’re right about there being more outrage at these attacks than the train bombings. I think its because these were so very personal. The shootings, bombings and the fires lasted for three days. It’s unprecedented in Indian (indeed global) history. In contrast, the train bombings, although they did a lot more collateral damage, were fleeting in the imagination of the public. We’d seen too many like them. I don’t think its wrong for people to feel anguish or fury at them, even if they are socialites.

I hope you aren’t offended by my comment and will accept it in the spirit in which it is offered — as a dialogue. Keep writing.

Thanks for being so articulate as I still struggle to find the right words…