Tragedy in Mumbai

I don't know about you but thanksgiving seemed a little darker this year with the news that came out of Mumbai, India. A well planned and executed terror attack on a seemingly unsuspecting city left hundreds dead or wounded and created another potential catalyst for an increase in the cycle of violence between two countries that already don't trust each other.

When I was a lowly college student working on my degree in Nuclear Policy, one of the senarios we developed for a Nuclear War simulation called "Firebreaks" involved a nuclear confrontation between Pakistan and India. In the 1970's, it was already assumed that the next major conflict would happen there. There have been tensions for decades and yet, scenes like we saw last week, tend to fan the flames of hatred even more.

The images today of that 2 year old boy crying for his mother while surrounded in the synagogue in Mumbai tell the story of this tragedy. He will never reallyknow his parents and his grandparents, who will have the priviledge of raising him, will also have the constant pain of their own child's death at the hands of terrorists.

The hundreds who are scarred from this will feel for years to come the effects of terror on the mind. And the world will remember these days as dark and ominous clouds continue to roll in from those who chose the barrel of a gun over dialogue and discourse.

Yes, as we sat at our thanksgiving tables eating from our bounty, we needed to be reminded of that passover phrase ... 'until all are free, none are free'.