Khakra

Monday, December 22, 2008

Conspiracy theorists around the Mumbai blasts

Noises still come from the Mumbai blasts. The muted sounds barely envelope tragic events of that day. Some friends had a close call, locked up at home as the drama played out next door.

For some, it was too close. A couple my parents knew perished in the Taj, shot close to the lobby, and their two young children are now orphaned. I shudder thinking what life will be like for those kids.

There will never be closure for those kids, as they have to live with this tragedy for the rest of their life. But, hopefully, in time the case will be resolved and India will be better equipped to deal with attacks like these. A timeline has emerged and Indian authorities are solving the mystery.

Sure, the government will cover up some stuff to save their a**. But there are other crazies trying to make hay of it. Among them is a conspiracy theorist who wrote this article for Rediff.com on why US doesn't want India to get a hold of Dawood.

The author goes on with a windy (yawn) and disjointed explanation of how Dawood Ibrahim is a CIA asset, which is why the U.S. doesn't want him in Indian hands. The stories is so full of holes that it makes me cry.

The biggest hole: the author presumes Dawood is a U.S. friend. Sir, the U.S. Department of State has assigned him as a global terrorist. The U.S. is *looking for him*. The author talks about him as if he were some garden-variety criminal having a siesta in a park on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Organized crime conducted by guys like Ibrahim is merging with terrorism, and the U.S. government is fighting it, not supporting it. Ibrahim not being sought by the CIA would have been a great 1980s story, but it is irrelevant now. Ibrahim's story draws parallels with the arms dealer Viktor Bout, who arrested in Thailand and could be extradited to the U.S.

The article also shows how deluded the author is. He seems to belong to a group of people who believe 9/11 was Bush's fault. Well, if your view is tainted right from the get-go, cracks emerge in understanding government, the system and ultimately, the viewpoint.

So the author fancies himself an editor of a website journal that publishes stuff from the who's who of nightmare wannabe foreign journalists. Other raggedy scum articles he has written read like cinema verité.

He's not studied foreign policy academically, nor has he spent professional time in the field. Other than writing for no-name websites, his most legit qualification is receiving a thanks in a book as a research assistant.

It's totally ok for him to fulfill some kind of pipedream or midsummer revival. But it burns to see him feeding people the kind of crap that should be toilet-bound. Indians have lived through the tragedy, the guy's just cashing in by blowing more smoke.

Thanks, but no thanks. Indians don't need that.