Posted on 08/24/2006 5:51:35 AM PDT by goldstategop
It was a war Israel was more afraid of winning than of losing.
It was a war whose battlefield strategy was based on posturing – on acting as if Israel were conducting an actual all-out war.
It was a war in which Israel attempted to defeat the enemy by not defeating him.
It was a war of the make-pretend.
Let us be clear. Every war has its share of mishaps, glitches, and human errors, and this one was no exception. But this war was fought after many years of massive budget cuts for the military. Convinced that the era of peace was anon, the politicians had conducted a sort of fiscal hari-kari on the army in order to allocate far more funding for nice things like social spending and pork projects.
The result was tanks going off to battle without basic protective electronics, and troops marching off without medicine, ammunition and food.
But the real problem in this war was that the political elite decided to prevent the armed forces from really fighting. As a result, Israel failed to achieve any of the declared goals it had set for itself. It failed altogether to stop the Katyusha blitz on northern Israel. The day before the “cease-fire” went into effect, 250 rockets hit Israel, the largest number of any day in the war, demonstrating that Israel had not even put a crimp into the terror machine of the Hizbullah savages.
Despite early talk of disarming Hizbullah as part of the cease-fire, within days it was revealed that Hizbullah would in fact keep all its arms but would not parade about too openly with them.
The military tactics imposed on the Israel Defense Forces by the politicians were guaranteed to create failure. At times it seemed that the strategy of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz consisted of hoping that if Israel waited long enough, Hizbullah would just run out of rockets.
For the first 32 days of the fighting – five times the period of time it took Israel to defeat the combined Arab military machine in 1967 – Israeli ground troops and armor were still huddled en masse inside the Israel-Lebanon border or camped just a short distance across it.
For the first 32 days of the war Israel tried to defeat Hizbullah by bombing empty buildings, empty bunkers and “infrastructure” across Lebanon. It may well be that the air attacks on Hizbullah’s buildings failed to kill even a single terrorist.
It was only after those 32 days, and with a UN cease-fire stopwatch already ticking, that a half-hearted “ground offensive” was launched. With the government announcing that Israel was driving for the Litani river in the final days, the ground troops made it less than a third of the way there. Bravado by the generals in announcing a massive paratroop landing at the Litani itself, or commando raids behind the enemy lines in the Baalbek Valley, proved to be nothing more than empty grandstanding. They achieved nothing. Olmert was trying to knock out rockets with a 40-mile range by taking one or two kilometers of Lebanese territory.
The air campaign was a waste of time and resources. The film clips of empty buildings being blown to smithereens were designed to give the Israeli public little morale boosters, but not to defeat Hizbullah.
The Olmert government, which had gone to war to win the release of the kidnapped soldiers being held hostage by the terrorists, signed a cease-fire agreement in which it gave up the demand for the soldiers’ immediate and unconditional release.
The cease-fire was a complete capitulation by Israel, which got a promise of a few more UN troops to sunbathe in Lebanon. But UN troops have been “patrolling” the south of Lebanon since 1978 and have yet to stop a single Katyusha or mortar attack, or even a single stone from being thrown over the border fence. As Haaretz’s Avi Shavit asked sarcastically, “Did we go to war so that French soldiers will protect us from Hizbullah?”
Throughout the war, the near-total failure of Israeli intelligence in Lebanon was obvious. But this was the direct consequence of Israel’s 2000 unilateral capitulation, in which Ehud Barak ordered all Israeli troops out of south Lebanon in what amounted to a Monty Python version of Dunkirk. As part of that capitulation, Israel abandoned its networks of informants and allies there, many of whom were murdered by Hizbullah.
At the time of the Lebanese retreat, it was argued that the move would at least unite Israelis behind any future military retaliation should Hizbullah misbehave. But Hizbullah had been misbehaving ever since, such as when it kidnapped and murdered three Israeli soldiers soon after the withdrawal.
Up to a point, a closing of ranks in Israel did indeed take place, with polls showing near unanimity among the general Jewish public in backing massive military retaliation. But as the days dragged by with no serious progress, the Peace through Surrender forces came back into public view. Small demonstrations led by communists were reinforced when Peace Now and Meretz joined in demanding an instant Israeli withdrawal.
The Israeli Literary Left and much of the chattering classes had backed the war at first, but toward its end they reverted to their gut instincts, with many denouncing Israel for “war crimes” and calling for “talks” with Hizbullah. (Olmert’s own daughter was among those denouncing Israel’s actions as criminal.)
The real problem is that Israel has been captive to the Peace through Surrender mindset for so long that it is now second nature. The open terrorist aggressions by Hizbullah, combined with the near unanimous public support for serious military action, were insufficient to put fire into the bellies of the politicians. They meowed their rage at the terror.
The day the cease-fire went into effect, Hamas fired rockets, including a Katyusha, into Ashkelon from Gaza. So we now know where the next front will be. In the middle of the fighting Olmert announced that the war was designed to create conditions under which he could go ahead with his “contraction” plan, which in effect would turn the West Bank into a new Katyusha base for bombarding Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Who says the Wise Men of Chelm is just a fable?
Unless Israel’s pusillanimous leadership is replaced with people possessing vision, willingness to fight, and determination to deal effectively with the genocidal Islamofascist terrorists, Iran’s president may yet get his wish.
( No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
Modern emasculated males dominate the ruling elites of the world. The leftist hippies have taken control.
"Brutality" is a word that has accrued the same taboo overtones as "holocuast" and "racism".
We have been at peace for so long (a peace won by brutality) that we have completely forgotten how to win a war. We have taken the toy guns away from the boys, and told over and over again that violence never solves anything. sheer utter suicidal nonsense.
Wars are won by the most brutal. Victory always belongs to the force that is able to terrorize its enemy into submission, or destroy the enemy.
In the case of the Islamofascists they cannot all be destroyed since we are unwilling to destroy their supportive cifvilian populations withion whom they hide.
That leaves only the other option, terrorize them. Make thwem so fearful of attacking that they will not attempt it. They are no afraid of death so the only option appears to be to deny their goal of reaching heaven.
It sounds like the answer a "bubba" would shout at his TV set, but it may be the only answer available: Bury the terrorists with pig entrails...and deny them their prize, a trip to heaven on martyr wings.
Deny them heaven, or decimate their citizens. There are no other choices.
Liberal lawyer with no military experience telling an air force general how to run a ground war. Yeah, right.
Israel also squandered US support for a military decision will not likely come again. The mud from Olmert's pusillanimous leadership will also splash on to the US. Condi Rice's backpedaling on even the weakened UN resolution language is only the first result. Iran is emboldened and our return to the UN for further resolutions in the Middle East make us appear ever weaker and ineffective.
Wars are not fought by armies, they are fought by nations. Essentially every civilian becomes a member of the forces fighting the war.
I have never yet heard the one statement that puts all of this into proper perspective. Olmert should have said
"Hizbollah, and Hizbollah alone, as the ruling force in South Lebanon, is responsible for the lives of its civilian population. Israel does not take responsibility for any civilian deaths. If Hizbollah does not wish their families killed then they must not incite a war with Israel, that can not be won. If Hisbollah makes the slightest provocation against Israel then we have no choice. The men, women, and children of Lebanon will die by the thousands, and their blood will be on the hands of Hisbollah only. So I tell the world today, Hizbollah you make the choice. Do you care enough for your civilian population that would allow them to live in peace and prosperity? or would you cause them to be decimated in a war that is doomed to failure before it begins? You decide. The world is on notice. Hisbollah, what is your decision?"
All you need to do is change a few of the nouns in this quote and it accurately describes the Hezbocrats' reaction to 9/11 and the WOT.
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also
2006israelwar or WOT
..................
Ping!
"never again" on the Web:
* nevermore: at no time hereafter.
And I must add: "Never again" has meaning only while the referenced event remains in memory. These people forgot the most important lesson of their lives.
Israel needs a new oath of office and a new national flag, with "Never Again!" the central message of each.
In World War 2, The British started bombing civilian populations in retalliation for the Nazi bombing of civilians. The U. S. just bombed strategic targets at first.
Good speech. Too bad that neither you, I or anyone else will hear such a speech come from FoOlmert's lips in this lifetime. Israel DESPERATELY needs a whole new government, as well as a very fast examination and correction of the shortfalls in the IDF's strategy, weapons and supply chain. Round 2 is coming, and Israel cannot afford to have Ehud Chamberlain at the helm again (let alone Benedict Peres). Israel needs a Churchill, and the closest electable person they've got to him is Bibi. I'd ask for a Joshua, but there don't appear to be any on the horizon, so I'll settle for a Churchill.
It's also a speech we won't hear from the mouths of any modern leader, including Bush.
(I've written talking points before, (Congressmen) usually well recieved by the public.)
Robert McNamara lives even today...............
Should sound very familiar to Americans as well as Israelis.
WW-II was not won by the most brutal, but rather the ones with the best logistics. We buried our enemies in tanks, airplanes, ships, bombs, bullets and beans.
That never happened. The Germans fought on right through having the Red Army fighting street to street in Berlin.
The Japanese *people* never demanded that the fighting stopped, their Emperor did. Now it was because we convinced him that, 1) They could not win, 2)We would and could kill them, military and civilians alike, by the millions. But the people would most likely have gone on fighting if he'd asked them to.
The major reason, especially in Germany, but against Japan as well, that we bombed their civilians was that it was all we could do, our target was not the civilians per se, but rather their war industries and support infrastructure. We were going after their ability to wage war, not their will, against at least as the primary objective.
In war one must be hard hearted and not shirk from doing hard things, but one need not be brutal for it's own sake. Today we'd much rather eliminate their ability to wage war by use of precision weapons. It's faster and more effective. We might still have go in and dig them out, but we won't be going up against their heavy armor or aircraft when we do. Their Command and Control will be by runner and carrier pigeon. We'll still have to pay with the lives and bodies of our grunts, but not nearly so many.
wrong. After the initial conquest (once the territory was occupied) only a small group of Werewolves (Nazi) saboteours continued on with an insurgeny operation. it lasted for several months and consisted of much the same type of things asd in Iraq, but smaller scale and for shorter period.
After the conquest the german people wanted to recover. They, as a people, were exhausted and despairing far more so than the people of Iraq.
Nope. Wars are not won by removing an enemies weapons. They are won when you can exercise your political will over the people. That requires far far more than simply disarming them.
They must submit to your will and abide by your laws, no matter how martial or extreme those laws may be.
Yes. That is what we told ourselves to sanitize the nature of killing 10's of thousands of "civilians".
But the civilians, and their war factories, WERE the enemy and were the deliberate targets. civilians were the primary war infrastructure. This was certainly true in the USA where the vast majority of civilians were involved in the war effort.
A nation goes to war, thus a nation becomes the target.
truman knew that japan was preparing to surrender BEFORE he dropped the bombs. Only they were going to ask for a conditional surrender and Truman wanted it unconditional.
Truman made it all seem palatable to the American citizens by targetting a military base, in a heavily populated area. For 1 base he knew the entire city would be destroyed.
his speech;
"The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction."
It was very clear what Truman was warning japan about. Surrender or we wil destroy thousands of your citizens...and it will conitnue unytil you do surrender, or nobody is left to fight.
If Hisbollah or Al Qaida are embedded in a civilian population that supports them the civilian population cannot be considered a shield against attack.
It must be remembered that if Hisbollah is not destroyed that many more times the number of lives will be lost at the hands of Hisbolah than number of civilians lost by decimating the towns Hisbolah is lodged.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.