Was Bush the problem in the War on Terror

We saw a lot of talk about this subject through the last few years, as well as in the recent campaign. Now we read some interesting articles about the aftermath of the Mumbai massacre. A piece of which is quoted below:

Asked what was different about the victims of the incident, another doctor said: "It was very strange. I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was yet traumatised. A bomb blast victim's body might have been torn apart and could be a very disturbing sight. But the bodies of the victims in this attack bore such signs about the kind of violence of urban warfare that I am still unable to put my thoughts to words," he said.

Asked specifically if he was talking of torture marks, he said: "It was apparent that most of the dead were tortured. What shocked me were the telltale signs showing clearly how the hostages were executed in cold blood," one doctor said.

The other doctor, who had also conducted the post-mortem of the victims, said: "Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again," he said.

Corroborating the doctors' claims about torture was the information that the Intelligence Bureau had about the terror plan. "During his interrogation, Ajmal Kamal said they were specifically asked to target the foreigners, especially the Israelis," an IB source said.

It will be instructive to see how the president chooses to deal with this. Some actions portend a serious approach. Others are more worrisome. Still other issues are being cited as having put so much pressure on the new president-elect as to lead to some worrisome physical challenges. Whether we voted for him or not, all Americans should want the new president to succeed. However, as President Bush saw in his terms, facing external threats did not inoculate one from harsh criticism of one's actions.

Late Addition: 24 hour news outlets are being used by people like the Mumbai terrorists to seek out their victims. We know that the terrorists were using Blackberries to communicate with each other. It now appears they were also using CNN to track down tourists who had escaped their roundup. Hostage emptor.

Last Addition: The best summary of the attacks is here at the Wall Street Journal.