Lord of the lies

As if in response to the hammering they've got, CNN-IBN's Vishal Thapar the great, of Chemical Goofups and lifafagiri fame, has come up with a great way to put down the Navy's test of the Brahmos Land Attack missile variant last week. Looks like Vishal-bhai wants to create issues where none exist. This time, its Environmentalism.

Check out his report of March 5th: (CNN-IBN Report link)

Indian Navy flexes its muscle, tests Brahmos missile
Vishal Thapar / CNN-IBN
Published on Wed, Mar 05, 2008 at 23:05

New Delhi: For the first time, India has used the Andaman Islands as a missile target. A Brahmos cruise missile was launched from a warship at sea on Wednesday to destroy a target on an uninhabited island.

But the missile test could also open up an environmental debate.

On Wednesday, India sought to validate its navy's land attack capability by pulverising a target on an uninhabited island in the North Andaman.

The weapon was a Brahmos cruise missile, and the launch pad a Rajput class destroyer 300 km away in the Bay of Bengal.

"The naval capability must acquire enough muscle to be able to significantly influence the battle on land," says defence analyst Commodore C Uday Bhaskar."

Never before has India actually tested a naval missile against a target on land.

The problem was the lack of availability of an uninhabited stretch on the mainland.

Hence, the choice of the Andaman as many small islands there are uninhabited and is a place where a missile hit poses perhaps the least visible collateral impact.

And there are international precedents. But even military analysts concede that there's an ecological cost.

"It would be incorrect to suggest that delivery of ordinance will have not have an environmental impact. It always does," Commodore Bhaskar adds.

The Andaman seems set to get a more military colour. It's not just about a missile firing range or a test bed for military doctrine and equipment.

The island territory could well emerge as India's Diego Garcia.

I cant even start talking about the holes in this story (the story in this hole more likely). For one, look at how he shoots everywhere but at the target. FYI Vishalji, we want information about BRAHMOS. Not Andamans, not the environment, but Brahmos. Considering that this was the first and primary report about the test, the amount of information (or lack thereof) of meaningful information about it is astounding. Then, there are the misdirections.

Look at the opening line

For the first time, India has used the Andaman Islands as a missile target.

So guess what, the important thing here is actually the fact that Andaman Islands has become a missile target, not the fact that the Brahmos was tested (which isnt even the main focus here).

Then, the next paragraph, which consists of the single line (which Thapar deigns to be of critical importance):

But the missile test could also open up an environmental debate.

Could, eh. Not has, not will, but could. So basically, there isnt a debate now, and there doesnt look to be one forming, but it could. Laughable. For one thing, rather than tell us whether the test was even successful, or give more information about it, Thapar goes on to highlight a non-existing controversy, probably in the hope that it would actually be formed.

And finally, after giving only 3 lines of obvious detail, which I've put below:

India sought to validate its navy's land attack capability by testing a Brahmos cruise missile against a target on an uninhabited island in the Andamans. The missile was launched from a Rajput class warship in the Bay of Bengal, 300 km from the target. This is the first time that The Navy has tested a missile against a land target.

As you can see, not a lot of useful information. Thapar goes on to conclude as follows:

The island territory could well emerge as India's Diego Garcia.

So after skirting Brahmos, or forgetting to mention how important this test has been for the Navy's strategic reach, and instead, talking about the effect of this test on the seagulls, he finally concludes with something totally out of context. Absolutely brilliant reporting, isn't it.

Now, coming to the actual environmental impact, its minimal. First of all, the Brahmos has such a high accuracy that it can actually hit a 1m x 1m size spot with no error. Second, most Brahmos tests are conducted without a warhead, which minimizes to a large extent the damage to the surrounding areas. Third, the actual target was placed in an open area on a sand dune, which will absorb a lot of the destructive power. All in all, the environmental impact of such testing is negligible. Its not zero, but the closest thing to it. As always, Thapar has taken a quote from the interviewee, spun it out of proportion and made a faluda mix out of it. Good for him; bad for truth.

If you read this report and felt totally unsatisfied with the information given, I suggest you check out this report from The Hindu instead.

Chemical Imbalance

The electronic media is at it again. This time, its India's chemical weapons arsenal. One general statement from Army Chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor, and Vishal Thapar has created a story out of thin air. This is pure sensationalism, or worse. Not only is the story full of holes and mistakes, but the basic premise itself is a fallacy. Here's why.

This is the report on CNN-IBN. (Story link). The video is embedded below:



To say that the report is full of holes would be an understatement of monumental proportions. What Thapar has done is to take a single sentence of Gen. Kapoor, remove the context, add unreferenced information, add his own conclusions, all cooked with a good bit of mirch masala to create a news story thats frivolous at best.

Firstly, India's Treaty obligations that was referred to is the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Its administered by an independent body, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (homepage). Its heartening to note that unlike other treaties, this is almost universally accepted, and has been ratified by 182 states (see list), and signed by another six.

Now, lets be clear. India's cache of Chemical weapons is no secret, contrary to Thapar's assertion. After ratifying the CWC in 1997, India has diligently fulfilled all its treaty obligations, dismantled over 80% of its weapons, and is on course to complete disarmament by 2009. The 2006 Annual report of the OPCW states much the same thing. And it should be an indicator of the sagacity of our administrators that the Armed Forces were kept out of the loop, thus reducing the risk of a WMD escalation in the subcontinent. It was a wise decision and not a blot on India's strategic culture.

This is what the OPCW says about India's commitments:

India has received an extension to 28 April 2009 of the deadline by which it must destroy all of its Category 1 chemical weapons stockpiles India has already destroyed 80% of its category 1 CW stockpile as well as 100% of its declared Category 2 and 3 chemical weapons.

Under the treaty (Part VI, Verification Annex), states are allowed to produce upto 10 kg of Schedule I chemicals annually. Any production over 100 gms must be declared. It would be laughable to call this production an "arsenal". Such production serves the purpose of improving Chemical Weapon protection and understanding of the Physiological effects of these chemicals. If dear Mr. Thapar wishes that we cease even this critical production in an effort to better protect our soldiers and people, there is nothing to be said.

Another allegation that Thapar immaturely makes (without offering any substantiation) is that the Army continues to be doctrinally committed to Chemical Weapons. That is a very serious claim, but no further explanation is offered. Why is that? Is it because it is too embarrassing, is the source confidential, was there a lack of time, or was it simple because there wasn't any proof?

The only bit of the article (which is as flimsy as a bamboo hut in a hurricane) that Thapar didn't make up, misquote or fib was the single sentence of the CAS that he used as a keystone to build around. Analyzing what Gen. Kapoor said,

“The chemical weapons aspect is still in the domain of discussions going on at an international level,” Kapoor said.

This is vague, but its hard to see how its even close to the conclusion that Vishal Thapar has drawn. And it certainly wasn't forced out of the Chief's mouth, like Thapar claims. Most likely, the Army Chief was referring to the CWC treaty and the disarmament process. Either way, its hard to know the context of his reply unless the whole quote was included. Unfortunately, the reporter has deigned that objectivity unimportant compared to his expert "findings".

The best indicator of Vishal Thapar's intentions is this statement, inserted at the bottom of the report, and not included in the Video.

For the record, Pakistan has declared a zero stockpile.

Well, for the Record, India ratified the CWC seven months before Pakistan did (India ratified on 29th Apr 1997, while Pakistan ratified on 27th Nov 1997).

Its not unlike Vishal Thapar, who never misses an opportunity to cock a snook at the Defence Establishment, whether it be this report, or his previous one about the Missile tests. The smear campaign is not worth responding to, but the serious and fraudulent claims that he has made are. Hopefully the Army or MoD will come forward to rubbish this slander campaign.