They Like to Kill

Austin Bay thinks the Mumbai attackers are deliberately trying to incite a war--or at least a crisis--between Pakistan and India to end Pakistan's offensive against the Taliban in the frontier areas.

This is possible. It certainly occurred to me. But just because the effect might be to lessen pressure on the jihadis in Pakistan's frontier areas doesn't mean this was the original goal of the terorrists.

Remember, India has a long history of jihadi attacks coming out of Pakistan and we can't say their purpose was to save the jihadis in the frontier. Besides, this ploy requires India to know the attackers came from Pakistan. But for the lone terrorist survivor, would we know that so soon after the attacks when passions are at their highest? Wouldn't the jihadis have left obvious clues about their identity if they wanted Pakistan blamed? An inquiry completed in 2011 that concluded from forensic evidence that the attackers came from Pakistan would not spark a war.

I often think we try to over-analyze the deep thinking abilities of people who genuinely seem to enjoy killing. Understanding them should be for the purpose of killing them more effectively, as far as I'm concerned.

Still, if this doesn't spark war, I think we can safely assume that the jihadis will strike India again in order to try for what was probably just a result of a coincidence of timing and events.

Besides, they enjoy killing.