A landmark burns.It has been almost a year since "India's 9/11", the terrorist murders in Bombay – a fitting description considering the similarities.  Both attacks were perpetrated by low-level foot soldiers of larger extremist Muslim conspiracies, spreading out in small teams to maximize the carnage inflicted on the population to achieving the goal of massive destruction and loss of life and paralyze the respective countries with fear.  

The level of technological sophistication employed in organizing and carrying out the attacks was striking.  The terrorists used modern gadgets to coordinate their violence.  Blackberries, anonymous email accounts, GPS tracking systems, and satellite phones all contributed to the methodical precision with which the attacks were executed. A few months after the attack, the Indian government released the transcripts of cell phone conversations between the terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan.  These conversations raise tough questions about the ease with which these attackers were able to enter the country undetected, aided only by common technology and the chilling instructions of their handler.  How difficult is it really to carry out a terrorist attack like the one in Mumbai?

To enter the country, the 10 terrorists hijacked a fishing trawler off the coast of Mumbai, killed the crew, and, guided by a GPS device, made their way to shore in a rubber dinghy. They split into two groups and made their way to the respective targets, including the world-famous Taj Hotel.  Using satellite phones and cell phones that contained SIM cards purchased weeks before, the men were able to receive instructions for the attacks and updates about police activity.  Using guns and grenades, they killed 174 people, injured more than 300, and started an incident that could have escalated into a calamitous conflict between India and Pakistan.  What could’ve been done to stop them?  Short of maintaining a vigilant watch on every mile of coastline in the city, how can these men be prevented from entering the country?  It isn't difficult to find funding for the meager capital and technology necessary, so the only hurdle is finding young men that are willing to die for the cause.  If that is the limited agent, the cell phone conversations highlight a very grim reality. 

The attackers were young men in their twenties from desperately poor areas of Pakistan.  Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist captured alive following the attack, hailed from Faridot, a village in the Okara District of the Punjab province.  Most of the villagers are uneducated, and jihadist graffiti lines the walls of some buildings.  The Guardian describes it as an area rife with Lashkar-e-Taiba, the organization behind the attack.   In the article, a villager interviewed discusses the influence of the organization:

A villager, who cannot be named for his own protection, said the village was an active recruiting ground for Lashkar-e-Taiba. 'We know that boy [caught in Mumbai] is from Faridkot,' he said. 'We knew from the first night [of the attack]. They brainwash our youth about jihad, there are people who do it in this village. It is so wrong,'

The calls from the handler reveal the extent to which the organizers of the Bombay attack were able to convince their soldiers of the righteousness of their mission:

Pakistan handler: Brother, you have to fight. This is a matter of prestige of Islam. Fight so that your fight becomes a shining example. Be strong in the name of Allah. You may feel tired or sleepy but the Commandos of Islam have left everything behind. Their mothers, their fathers, their homes. Brother, you have to fight for the victory of Islam. Be strong.

These words sound almost cliché when trying to understand the motivations behind the terrorist attack.  Is that really all it takes to get someone to commit mass murder?  The most revealing of all is the conversation between a member of Indian intelligence and the wounded and recently captured Pakistani following the attack:

Unidentified male: Didn't you ever ask, won't I feel pity for these people I'm killing?

Kasab: Yes, that's true.

Unidentified male: Well, did you ask?

Kasab: I did but he said you have to do these things. You are going to be a big man and get reward in heaven.  I asked, have you done these things, too? He said he had. I thought, well he's done it, I should do it, too.

These are impressionable young men that, for one reason or another, fell under the spell of manipulative religious zealots intent on destruction in the name of holy cause.  They are the real weapons of mass destruction in the war on terror, and they are aimed indiscriminately by the real evil of radical Islam.   The handler on the other end of that line have not been found, and never identified. His name is Wasi, and for now, there are no shortage of poor and impressionable young men to brainwash into carrying out the terrible visions of men like him.  This is not to say that these men are blameless – they are brutal killers that coldly carried out an act of mass murder.  Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker captured alive, was a petty criminal who committed armed robbery before joining with LeT.  But without their handlers calling the shots, it is hard to imagine that these 10 men would’ve ever made it to the shores of Bombay in the first place.