Pentagon commander says US special forces in India

[fujiyama]

13. I think a big problem with what happened in Mumbai

was the lack of a SWAT team readily available to respond to such an attack. I believe they had to actually get the team in from Delhi. This added to a lot of confusion and chaos - and ultimately lost time and likely lost lives. I thought I remember reading that the local police was so ill equipped, many of them wore sandals, and of course were unarmed, or were inadequately armed (the terrorists had AKs and grenades, among other weapons).

Now of course the scale of the attack was unprecedented in its coordination and considering how densely populated that city is it made the logistics of response all the more difficult. I think the targets were on different parts of the city and if anyone knows how bad traffic is in India, especially in a city like Mumbai - it's an absolute freakin' nightmare.

My hope is the country learned valuable lessons on preparedness - especially in funding their local police departments and adding much needed SWAT teams with the necessary armor and weaponry. I seriously doubt it though. The police in India are paid next to nothing and like most institutions is incredibly corrupt. And local ministers likely eat away at any central (federal) funding they receive. Bribery isn't just rampant - it's endemic - and basically a way of life. Ask any Indian and they'll say the same thing. Corruption is either eating away or has completely consumed just about every institution and it makes the country's ability to combat terrorism all the more difficult.