SocraticGadfly: Right, left hands incommunicado in Mumbai

December 06, 2008

Right, left hands incommunicado in Mumbai

Indian police have arrested two men for buying mobile phone cards used by the Mumbai terrorist attackers. One problem. One of the two is allegedly an undercover counterinsurgency cop.

His superiors claim he was on assignment and want his release.

Several problems here.

First, is the guy worth that much to publicly ask for his release? Haven’t you just blown his cover and his operation, even endangering other agents? Or, is that part of the plan>

Second, what if he has actually become a double agent? Or isn’t always sure where his lines are drawn?

That’s what happened in late Tsarist-era Russia. The state secret police, the Okhrana, sometimes not only had right and left hands ignorant of each other, but different fingers on the same hand operating differently.

No comments: