For a nation so grossly aroused by confrontation, the U.S. does a fine job sweeping semi--important secrets under the rug.
The New York Times reported this weekend it received information from a senior administration official that the FBI had a record on file for the terrorist responsible for leading the deadly attacks on Mumbai in 2008 that killed at least 163 people in the second most populous city in the world.
According to the source, a Moroccan woman warned American officials in Pakistan less than a year before the horrific attack. She believed her husband, David Headley, was plotting a terrorist act to incite future violence between the nuclear powerhouses of India and Pakistan.
And years before that, American officials in New York were also warned of Headley’s potential involvement with a terrorist organization.
For a country so distastefully enraptured by grief, it did nothing.
American knowledge of a potential future attack revitalizes still-bleeding sentiments from the Sept. 11 era and makes us question the very notion of safety and who’s watching out for whom.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, several American officials, including Condoleezza Rice, admitted they had received official security briefs warning that Osama bin Laden was planning attacks on America.
We’re not defense experts, but perhaps a red flag should have been raised with a security brief like that.
Especially after 2001, perhaps even a note in passing of the slight possibility of someone planning to incite nuclear war should pique our interest.
