More on the Mumbai attacks

To reiterate and expand on what Alysi said, Mumbai, India is currently a chaotic scene. With 125 dead, and over 327 wounded, two Mumbai hotels, the Oberoi and the Taj Mahal are surrounded with fear and panic. Officials are currently trying to seek out the remaining gunman and hostages still located in the hotels. Authorities were also able to find and secure 8 kilos of RDX, "one of the most powerful kinds of military explosives," suggesting that the gunman may have wanted a more dramatic ending to their terror spree. Gunmen also wreaked havoc in a building known as the Chabad House, where several Jewish families live ad the Cama Hospital for women and infants, though this fourth location has been secured and resolved.  

But who is responsible for such violence? Indian news outlets were contacted by a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen. Analysts know very little about this group, and are not yet sure on whether it is a break-off from a current terrorist organization, or if it is completely new. Indian Prime Minister Singh has suggested that the attacks were conducted by people from outside the country, with subtle finger-pointing at Pakistan. But regardless of the location of the group's origination, intelligence organizations believe the group was also responsible for the two significant terrorist attacks on India in the past. 

But what is their motivation for such attacks? "The group has declared open war against India in retaliation for what it said were 60 years of Muslim persecution and the country's support of U.S. policies." The group even made an effort to pick out and kill Americans and British. When I read that a terrorist group is motivated to kill hundreds of people justified by India's support of the U.S., I get a little nervous. This emotion likely spawns from the next logical step- to attack to U.S. 

Both Bush and Obama have made statement condemning the terrorist acts, and Obama was quoted saying, "The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks. We stand with the people of India, who democracy will prove far more resilient than the hateful ideology that led to these attacks." It seems Bush has fully handed the reins over to Obama on this issue. Though Bush is still the official president until January 20, 2009, the news has certainly treated Obama as the man in charge. Obama's quote was right at the top of the page, with Bush's much further down and shorter. Also, when searching for the U.S.'s response to the India attacks, articles about Obama were plentiful, while statements of action or opinion by Bush were much more difficult to find. This makes sense, Bush is an extremely unpopular, lame duck president, who likely won't start any grand global expeditions in his last months of office. Thus, Obama is left the current co-president, and man of action.