Galbraith 'horrified' by attacks
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By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 28, 2008
Former diplomat Peter Galbraith, an expert on Iraq and former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, said Thursday he was horrified by the attacks in Mumbai – formerly Bombay – India.
The attacks, assaults by gunmen on hotels and a railway station in the country's industrial and commercial center, show a new level of coordination and sophistication by terrorists in the country, said Galbraith by telephone Thursday from his home in Townshend.
"It has all the hallmarks of being an al Qaida or (other) Islamic fundamentalist operation," Galbraith said.
Although the death toll, which has climbed to more than 100, is much lower, Galbraith said the attack on some of the most prominent sites in the Indian city was reminiscent of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City.
"I know this area well and of course Bombay — I am old fashioned I don't use Mumbai — is the New York City of India," Galbraith said. "It is of course the world's largest democracy and soon to be the most populous country."
The attacks, and possible backlash by Hindu nationalists in India, could put a severe strain on the relationship between India and its next-door neighbor, largely Muslim Pakistan, Galbraith said.
"They know full well something like this will likely stir up reaction from the Hindu nationalists, the Hindu extremists," Galbraith said of those, still unidentified, who launched the attacks in India. "It is very dangerous in terms of Pakistan."
The new government of Pakistani Prime Minister Asif Ali Zardari – the widower of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, a close friend of Galbraith's before her assassination – has made the struggle against Islamic extremists its top goal. But there remain in the military and in the Pakistani intelligence service elements that support such attacks, Galbraith said. Indeed, it may eventually be discovered that some in the government may have aided the attacks in India, he added.
"It is well intentioned, but it does not control the state. It does not control the military or the intelligence services," Galbraith said of the new Pakistani government.
"It makes the task of Pakistan's government in terms of fighting terrorism, which is what we want it to do, much more difficult," he said of the Indian attacks.
"For the United States it reinforces President-elect Obama's message from the campaign that Pakistan should the top focus of the war on terror," Galbraith said. That is an idea that he agrees with.
For too long the United States gave Pervez Musharraf, the former head of the country, a pass and concentrated instead on Iraq, Galbraith said.
"We are paying the price of not standing up to Musharraf all of these years," Galbraith said. Top officials in Pakistan under Musharraf contributed to the spread of nuclear technology and to other problems, he said.
"They created and sponsored the Taliban," Galbraith said.
As for his own future, Galbraith declined to say if he was considering a spot in the Obama administration.
"I have a firm rule, I don't accept or reject a job I haven't been offered," he said. "If I were, I certainly wouldn't say."
And, Galbraith added, "it would take a lot of get me to want to leave Vermont."
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