We remember where we were when important things happened in the world. I was cut off from the internet when Obama got Osama. So, I did not hear of Operation Geronimo until late afternoon. When I did, my reaction was to write two lines of lament on Facebook: “If only we had the political will, our commandos would have got Dawood and Azhar Masood.”

Many friends supported the core idea. The consensus was that operational capability isn’t the issue. Political muscle is. A few hours later, the air chief gloated that he and the other two defence services are capable of taking out India’s enemies. A more celebrated quip came from army chief V K Singh. The good general laced it with an “if” of political clearance. But the media ran with the “yes, we can” bit.

Not surprisingly, some assertive anchormen saw all this as an opportunity. Patriotism plus jingoism is a heady cocktail for television ratings. Hours of airtime went into what was obviously a totally academic discussion; in our hearts we knew all the clearance would never come. We also knew that our commandos match up only on the yardstick of audacity and guts. Their equipment is sub-standard, new procurements is obsolete when it is finally bought; and ground-level intelligence to support a Geronimo-like operation is flaky, not to mention our lack of stomach for a full-scale war that Gen. Kayani threatened almost immediately after Gen. Singh’s relatively nuanced remark.

We are back now to our pathetic entreaties before the US and the world about the compelling evidence we have against the perpetrators of 26/11. We know that we can’t fight our own war. We expect the US to do that for us. The world knows this. And while it is too polite to say this on our face, it diplomatically substitutes our ineptness and impotence with India’s commitment to global peace.

Clearly, my tuppence on Facebook leaves me uneasy. In fact, I am uneasy about the facile argument I made albeit a little ahead of the networks. Was I terribly wrong? Surely, we don’t have it in us to take out Dawood and Azhar Masood. We did, once upon a time several summers ago. Sadly enough, the chiefs of some police organisations developed a good plan to get Dawood, but one of them, tasked to brief then home minister L K Advani, was firmly instructed to call off any such nonsense. It was never explained what the reservations were. An earlier regime, headed by the harmless I K Gujral, had already started the defanging of RAW’s counter-operations. Advani’s decision proved the last straw on the camel’s back.

As more details of Op Geronimo are released, some of them airbrushed without doubt, the sheer patience, resources, secrecy and audacity with which the Americans were able to execute their all-consuming commitment to terminate bin Laden, leaves me embarrassed as an Indian. There is an implicit trust in the US president’s decision that he had in his people: I think he knew he’d be forgiven even if the Seals failed. If that’s a tough ask, at least he didn’t remain paralysed in inaction.

But look at Advani or Gujral. Or other leaders in our polity who would take the chance that Obama did. You won’t see anyone!

Unfortunately, zero capacity for pain isn’t the hallmark of great powers. For all our wishful thinking of being one in the making, for all our self-deluding competition with China, I know that my prime minister isn’t interested. He’s just waiting for the noise to subside. He will never think of sending our boys on an Op Geronimo, or before that ensure that our intelligence chiefs stop quarrelling and the defence minister equips our boys with proper equipment. The PM would much rather send out cricket passes to his Pakistani number. Should we then support Digvijay Singh, clearly one of the close advisors of the heir apparent? He refers to Osama as “Osama-ji” and gets away. What’s left for us, “Dawood-ji” and “Azhar-bhai”, I guess!