Americans Need To Pay Attention To The Cowardly Acts In Mumbai

Anyone who has been keeping up with current events in the last few days knows that a series of disgusting, cowardly acts has grabbed hold of the city of Mumbai, India over the last 61 hours.

In a well-coordinated siege, at least ten sites in the city formerly known as Bombay were terrorized in a nightmare of bullets, fire, blood, and hostage-taking. Over 160 are dead, and nearly 33o injured at the last count. Of that dead, five Americans and 1 Briton are among that count. Other Americans and British are among the injured.

The radical cowards took hostage two landmark five-star hotels, the Taj and the Oberoi, and the Nariman House, which is a Jewish outreach center. They also blasted the landmark Leopold Cafe with gunfire, where at least ten people were hit by the bullets. Ten people were killed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, which is one of the busiest railway stations in India, after gunfire was sprayed there, and grenades were lobbed. Two other attacked sites were that of Mumbai Police Headquarters, where at least three high-level officers were killed by gunfire, and the Cama Hospital, where women and children are cared for.

A previously unknown group calling itself Deccan Mujahideen has reportedly claimed responsibility. However, terrorism experts are cautioning that it is still unknown whether this group exists, as it could just be a front group to that actual organization to blame. It is widely believed, however, that militants in Pakistan are responsible, regardless of what organization they are with.

It is now midnight on the East Coast of the United States by the time of this writing, and late morning in India. It now appears that the final standoff at the Taj Hotel is over. Just within the last couple of hours the hotel was caught in a major fire that blazed through its lower floors. The fire is now under control, and one more gunman is reportedly dead and another captured. Indian media are mostly reporting the situation seems to be under control.

America needs to watch this situation closely. This could very well be a precursor attack to another act of violence in a Western democracy. It is only a matter of time before our extremist enemies attempt an act of evil on our shores again.

We need to remain vigilant, now more than ever.

Britian Again A Target

On top of yesterday's planned twin bombing in downtown London, came a plot to kill hundreds at the Glasgow International Airport in Scotland Saturday.

Today, two South Asian men rammed an SUV into the entrance of the main terminal. Thank God, though, that no one was killed, and the only known injury is that of one of the two South Asian men who was engulfed in flames after exiting the vehicle. The SUV was stopped by barriers, but part of the front of the vehicle did enter through the doors. If the vehicle did get into the terminal, authorities say there would have been likely hundreds of casualties. Both men were arrested afterward. Now, just in, is word that the United Kingdom has raised their security alert to 'critical', indicating a likelihood of more imminent attacks. U.S. officials, also, raised security at airports, but not the threat level.

Yesterday, two Mercedes-Benz cars were found in downtown London. Each contained hundreds of pounds of fuel, and at least one had 20 boxes of roofing nails. The one with the roofing nails was found in the popular Piccadilly Circus entertainment district, the other car was found near Hyde Park. Both bombs had the ability to create shockwaves over 400 yards, and create a huge fireball, which would have likely killed hundreds, if not thousands. Al-Qaeda looks to be the blame for this.

One thing we know from this is that acts of violence will continue to be something we have to prepare for, and deal with, for the foreseeable future. Also, it will be interesting to see how new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is able to handle this. It looks like he will be tried by fire right from the beginning of his administration.