THE SHOOTOUT IN MUMBAI….After a photographer at the Mumbai Mirror expressed his dismay that police on the scene didn’t immediately open a gun battle against the terrorists behind last week’s attacks, it became a trope in the right blogosphere that many lives could have been saved if only the Mumbai police had been more ballsy. “This whole unwillingness to shoot business is becoming a problem,” sighed Instapundit.
Today, however, Israeli defense officials had a different take in the Jerusalem Post:
“In hostage situations, the first thing the forces are supposed to do is assemble at the scene and begin collecting intelligence,” said a former official in the Shin Bet’s security unit. “In this case, it appears that the forces showed up at the scene and immediately began exchanging fire with the terrorists instead of first taking control of the area.”
I report, you decide. But if it were me, I’d probably listen to the Shin Bet folks. Via Robert Farley.
