Only one terrorist was taken alive after the attacks in Mumbai, but he's singing like a bird:
The Pakistani connection would have been almost impossible to prove if not for the lucky break -- the capture of Mr. Kasab alive, at a roadblock on Mumbai's Chowpatty beach after a long shooting spree Wednesday night. Mr. Kasab, who is cooperating with the investigators, is providing leads for the additional main directions of inquiry, such as how bombs got onto two Mumbai taxis that exploded that night, and what additional attacks may be planned against the city, Commissioner Maria said.
Most of what Mr. Kasab has said so far has proven accurate, the commissioner said. After his capture, the young man had become resigned to helping the Indian police, said Commisioner Maria: "He knows -- the game is up for him." The key piece of evidence provided by Mr. Kasab: information about the hijacked fishing vessel that ferried the terrorists from near Pakistan to waters off Mumbai.
On the fishing trawler, investigators discovered --- just as Mr. Kasab said they would do -- the slain lead crewman who had been thrown in the engine room, a satellite phone, and a global positioning device for navigational purposes. Another GPS unit recovered in Mumbai suggested that the terrorists planned to return to the vessel if they survived the attacks, Commissioner Maria said.
Mr. Kasab also provided the names of his comrades-in-arms, but these were noms-de-guerre rather than genuine identities, Commissioner Maria said. Commissioner Maria said Mr. Kasab has admitted to being a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani militant groups with links to Kashmir, the disputed region between India and Pakistan. He said Mr. Kasab told interrogators that all the terrorists were members of the group.
Is it possible that the Indians may have coerced Mr. Kasab? This is about as close to the ticking time-bomb scenario as we've seen since the last season of 24. "As unlikely as that is, it would be absurd to say you couldn't, I don't know, stick something under the fingernail, smack him in the face. It would be absurd to say you couldn't do that."
Kasab was in a position to know about ongoing and future attacks. He possessed and perhaps still possesses information that can save lives. As the Indians tell it, the suspect broke as soon as he was captured -- an unlikely story. Perhaps the Indians used intimidation or physical violence or some combination of the two. And yet the information provided was apparently reliable and timely. So wouldn't it be absurd to say they couldn't do that?
