WATERLOO, Ontario — Mumbai is remarkably resilient in bouncing back to a semblance of normalcy within days. We've been here before — in 1993 and again in 2006 — when terrorists killed more than 200 people each time. Each time the government expresses shock, promises resolute action against the heinous perpetrators and blames a foreign country — meaning Pakistan — for arming, financing and training the terrorists, then retreats into complacency and inaction until the next big attacks.

This time the attacks were ratcheted up in intensity and targets. Five-star hotels and hospitals have not been targeted like this before, and Americans and Britons have not been singled out. At least 195 people are dead, including 14 police officers and 22 foreigners. All of the nearly two dozen terrorists are believed to have been killed or captured.

The first task was to bring the situation under control. On Saturday, police, commandos and military troops slowly took back control of the city, the central business district and the two hotels, rescuing trapped guests and flushing out terrorists room by room.