December 19, 2008

Mark Felt’s phrase could unearth Mumbai terrorists

Sounds ridiculous? But it is true. For more than thirty years, this person named Mark Felt remained anonymous while his prophetic advice “Follow the Money” unearthed what is now known as Watergate Scandal.
If Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had not followed this famous phrase – now immortalized, they would have reached nowhere. It was one of the greatest mysteries not only in America but the entire world.
Felt leaked information of the investigation into a burglary at the Democratic National Committee HQ in Washington's Watergate complex in June 1972. This later turned to be a major controversy surrounding the White house involving a series of political spying, sabotage and bribery forcing President Nixon to resign.
Now, what has this to do with Mumbai terror attacks? Questions are asked on the identity of the attackers, their motive and their sponsors. There are different views on this and the investigations are on. We really don’t know who sponsored this costly affair of mayhem? What we know for now is that the terrorists are Muslims- which I believe is the easiest thing to identify if they happen to be men – and they are from Pakistan. The latter is being denied by Pakistan.
But it is not clear as to who sponsored it. A Russian official say Dawood Ibrahim has done this and another sections says Lashkar group has done this. So the best way to investigate this is to "Follow the money", a phrase that has inspired generations of investigative reporters and now the Mumbai police has to follow this path to get the first lead on this terror strike.
It is not important who the terrorists are, but it is more important to know who sponsored them. Choke off their finances and you will see no terrorism at all. This will be the greatest tribute to Mark Felt who died today at the age of 95.

No comments: