Why Israel's bombardment of Gaza neighborhood left US officers 'stunned'

Al Jezeera ^ | Mark Perry

[CondorFlight]

“had pumped at least 7,000 high explosive shells”

And if they didn’t kill at least 7000 people, then that firing
was obviously either very incompetent or it wasn’t aimed at killing people (but maybe at making “noise” to force them to withdraw).

When the Russians went into Chechnya they fire 8000 shells and rockets per hour into a city and killed 25,000 civilians.

If Israel didn’t achieve similar results, then obviously they weren’t trying to do so.

[Paine in the Neck]

Military sources say Pentagon's assessment of Shujaiya shelling alarmed even Secretary of State John Kerry

The violence of a kitten fight would alarm John Kerry.

[nuke rocketeer]

Israel’s response was absolutely disproportionate.”

I call BS on that. There is no such thing as "disproportionate" in war. You go in to kill your enemy. That's like stating the amphibious invasions of Normandy and Iwo Jima were "disproportionate" because the Army/Navy/Marines had battleships/cruisers/destroyers doing artillery support and had more troops/tanks than the Germans/Japanese defenders had.

BTW....a LOT of French civilians were killed at Normandy.

[Zhang Fei]

Anonymous is the twin brother of Fictitious. I’m supposed to believe that Al Jezeera doesn’t make crap up?

They tend to quote a lot of left-wing sources. Some of the guys quote head up left-wing think tanks.

[Netz]

Good point:

Force Hamas to fear its own population, that is the beginning of the end of a guerrilla operation.

The ONLY reason the HAMAS folks are a wee bit scared is that they can't pay their 40,000 Public Servants (Army, Police, Militias and facilitators for Terror) and are afraid of a coup.
The summary executing 20 residents (or more) by claiming that they aided the Israelis is not going to help their cause in the long run.

[bert]

You have stated the party line but......

The article was written to describe the engagement in detail describing the amount of death and destruction in the total battle. The piece describes in detail how Hamas was severely defeated in mass.

So far as I know there is no other article describing how the IDF found and then destroyed a massed Hamas force. The idea of a massed Hamas force is seldom expressed because Hamas doesn’t mass its forces.

If the intent was to defame the IDF, describing the win and how it was accomplished in detail the author did a poor job.

[ThunderSleeps]

You're right, the objective is to kill the enemy. Or at least render them combat in-effective. I read this as the IDF found a high concentration of Hamas fighters in the area. The best way to kill ground troops wholesale is with artillery, suddenly and violently. Typically it only takes seconds to find some cover, and a couple of minutes to find good cover. Firing a lot of rounds from a few guns would take time. That time would allow Hamas fighters that were out preparing to engage ground forces time to reach good cover. Using a lot of guns to fire the mission in a short amount of time increases the likelihood of catching them in the open.

Military sources say Pentagon's assessment of Shujaiya shelling alarmed even Secretary of State John Kerry

I think a couple of kids with cap pistols could alarm Kerry.

[captain_dave]

They’re supposedly amazed at the amount of artillery used, 11 battalions. Equivalent to that used by two manouver divisions. So what? Since when is using overwhelming strengh a bad idea. Besides, the IDF had to cover a large area. Also, by using so many guns, they’re able to keep all the crews well trained without wasting ammo at the range.

Kerry is such f&@%ing fool.

[Jack Hydrazine]

How can Hamas fear its own op when 75% or more of Palies are for destroying Israel?

[Jack Hydrazine]

“Hamas merely taunts them.”

Like the way Brown taunted Officer Wilson?

[DManA]

People keep wondering why the left keeps partnering with islamists but it’s really simple.

The enemy [islamists] of my enemy [Western Civilization] is my friend.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Just another anti-Semitic hit piece on Israel.

[Jeff Head]

The IDF warned the citizens that they were going to attack...which means they also warned the enemy.

When Israeli forces ran into have resistance, losing numerous of their own personnel, they eliminated the threat.

I am sad that innocent civilians were caught up in it, but that is either because:

1) They chose to stay after being warned, or,
2) They were forced to stay by Hamas fighters.

I am willing to bet that it is a lot more of the latter.

Israel is fighting craven animals with no regard for human life. I not only support their methods...I applaud them.

They need to do as much damage to Hamas as possible, eradicating them completely if possible.

Almost everyone of the people quoted in this hit piece were not there, and are relying on written reports, which themselves most probably carry some bias.

So what that Israel had that amount of firepower at their disposal? I for one m glad they did. It allows them, when faced with heavy resistance, to bring maximum fire power to bear.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Everybody is going to be stunned how Israel acts if a war gets really hot in the region.

[Wyatt's Torch]

“If the figures are even half right, Israel’s response was absolutely disproportionate.”

Who gives a shit? Since when is war “proportional”? What is “proportional” to evil? This is such a lazy argument. None of these jokers would have had the temerity to do what was done in World War II.

[bert]

-—— innocent civilians-—

If they were there, they were neither innocent nor civilans

[armydawg505]

Why are they “stunned”? What is it about Israel that made them think they were not in this for keeps? Maybe our military has become such a puppet for Obama that firing for effect is a forgotten art in the US military?

[nathanbedford]

By energizing the 25%.

No one is more condemning of Islam that I am but only a fool will deny that the war on terrorism (now belatedly coming to be understood to be an existential war against militant Islam) will only be won by rational Muslims defeating the crazed Muslims not for love of Israelis, Americans, Western civilization or even basic human values but for their own survival.

I do not like the odds of making war against 1.6 billion Muslims, especially as a Western society incapable of accepting casualties. Let the Muslims sort each other out. Let us be wise as were the British in India when Clive conquered the subcontinent with about 900 Brits or as wise as Cortez who conquered millions of Mexicans with a few conquistadores and their horses.

Set one tribe against another, use their ideology against them, avoid fighting their war.

[Jeff Head]

I have no doubt that Hamas would force, at the point of a gun, its own civilians to remain in a combat area so they could die and be blamed on Israel. It is one of their documented strategies.

That’s the type of animals Israel is fighting...and so are we. It just hasn’t come home here yet like it has in Israel. But they want it to, my FRiend.

[EQAndyBuzz]

I quit reading after it said Al Jazeera.