Blaming the Victim

The terrorist attack on 11/26 in Mumbai was horrifying and there certainly was no dearth of media coverage. CNN and BBC has had it on a loop for days, blogs and message boards were all over it, and there were even first-hand footage coming in viaFlickr.

As much sympathy as the event generates, it's hard not to feel angered by the seeming incompetence of the Indian authorities, especially the non-elite police forces. The total number of attacks is unclear for almost a day; buildings that are described as cleared subsequently report gunfights and hostages; victims fleeing the hotels are not screened to see if they might actually be perpetrators; and commandos complain that the media are hampering their operations. The fact that the head of the city's Anti-Terrorism force was one of the first responders and was killed is a testament to his personal bravery but also demonstrates the lack of any kind of structured response. And does anyone really believe that if terrorists took hostages in the New York Ritz and the authorities decided to assault not negotiate, it would take over 72 hours to clear the building? Or that the equivalent of Navy Seals would be complaining about feeling their way through the hotel in complete darkness?. The irony is that night-vision goggles were probably being sold at some fancy malls within a few blocks of these luxury hotels.

I could (and maybe I will) talk about the systemic failures that made this possible, but I mostly agree with Sadanand Dhume's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

... India's perpetually squabbling leaders have failed to put national security above partisan politics. The country's antiterrorism effort is reactive and episodic rather than proactive and sustained. Its public discourse on Islam oscillates between crude anti-Muslim bigotry and mindless sympathy for largely unjustified Muslim grievance-mongering. Its failure to either charm or cow its Islamist-friendly neighbors -- Pakistan and Bangladesh -- reveals a limited grasp of statecraft. Finally, an inability to modernize a 150-million strong Muslim population, the second largest after Indonesia's, has spawned a community ill-equipped to seize new economic opportunities and susceptible to militant Islam's faith-based appeal ...

... the reflexive Indian response to most every act of terrorism is to apportion blame rather than to seek a solution that will prevent, or at least minimize, its recurrence

Entire article here Can't say I find too much to argue about.

Pro-Choice?

Here's an issue that I didn't really care about until .. oh around three months ago. There's also a refreshing lack of extremism about the debate with the 'right' simply demanding vouchers that are a fraction of the true cost per child.
However, I don't think the focus on private vs public is the real issue. I heard Georg Lucas talk about his foundation last year and simply having more choice within the public school system would be an excellent start. If kids had the choice* of going to Bronx High's or a school based on Integrated Studies then then the fight over voucher may become moot.**


* 'choice' in this case clearly means 'opportunity to compete for' but that's the laws of supply and demand for you.
** Sorry, the choice doesn't extend to parochial institutions. I could debate if this is fair, but for now I'll just hide behind the First Amendment. Go change it, if you don't like it.