ISRAEL GETS READY FOR THREE-FRONT WAR

New York Post ^ | 2/11/03 | JOHN PODHORETZ

[kattracks]

February 11, 2003 -- IN the coming war, there will be three fronts. First, and most obvious, is the Iraq front, with U.S. forces attacking from land, sea and air. The second is our own home front. The nation is now on Orange Alert because intelligence intercepts and simple logic both suggest that our Islamic enemies know the best way to strike at us is through terrorism on U.S. soil.

[Joe Boucher]

So hopefully the Syrians and hizbulla jump ugly and Israel takes both entities out. That would be a good start, neutering Iraq, Syria, and the Palentinians.

[GOPyouth]

I have a feeling that Arafat and company will lay low during this war. Israel will be on high security and will be cocked and ready to deliver a 1980s style Tyson punch if they are messed with. Hussein's thugs will be getting the a$$ whooping of their lives, and I suspect that none of the other countries over there want to be on the receiving end of that.

[xm177e2]

Actually, I'm afraid Arafat will get his stuff together and hold actual peaceful protests against Israel during the Iraq war. That would be far more damaging to Israel than a suicide bomber or rocket barrage.

[ricpic]

The only thing anyone can honestly say about the upcoming war is that nobody knows what the fallout will be.

Of the three fronts mentioned by Podhoretz, probably the surest one is Iraq itself. The US military will go through the Iraqi defenses like the proverbial knife through butter.

But how many missiles the Iraqis or Hezbollah will get off against Israel, if any, who knows?

And the same for the home front here. Pure conjecture.

[sd-joe]

Israel would be wise to do a pre-emptive attack on those rockets. It is obvious that the only purpose of the rockets is to attack Israel. Although they are inaccurate, they could do a lot of damage because there are so many of them.

[Bug]

Israel would be wise to do a pre-emptive attack on those rockets.

I'm certain that our Special Forces have been in the area of these rockets and have a bead on them. They'll be taken out during the first shots of this war.

[sd-joe]

You could be right.

But I had not heard that our Special Forces are in Lebanon, or that we were actively engaged in the Israeli mess.

Certainly we are in Iraq, but do you have any information that we are in Lebanon?

[E Rocc]

Argh....this analysis sucks out loud. It neglects the fact that Jordan was neutral in the 1991 war but is committed to backing the US in this one. It neglects the fact that Jordan and Israel have a peace treaty that is in reality a mutual defense pact. It ignores the fact that the Syrians won't want to be on the wrong side of things and at the very least will sit it all out.

-Eric

[ImpBill]

All of these hand wringing analysis by the press suck and are quite predictable. What they fail to realize and accept is that we are talking about war with ARABS. Either a short check or detailed check of history will find that the ferrocity of Arab fighters is in "their minds", certainly not in their deeds.

[Coop]

What if the Syrians, acting on Saddam's instructions, have given chemical and biological agents to Hezbollah to give those rocket attacks an extra, genocidal zing?

Once the rocket attacks start, Israel will have to respond with overwhelming force by reoccupying southern Lebanon - massively redeploying its armed forces.

This is rather nonsensical. Rockets with WMD coming from Syrian territory would not result in Israeli troops wandering on over. Syria would be counterattacked quickly with WMD (read: nuclear) weapons, with the Israeli troops still back in the West Bank.

Syria's government is not that stupid.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Arabs hate the Jews but they are afraid to confront them directly. They prefer sneak, faceless, terror attacks, not man to man combat. Not only would the Arabs not destroy Israel, that's typical boasting and wishful thinking by the Arabs, but Israel would end up controlling Lebanon, Syrai, and all areas ajacent to Israel until talked into giving it back by the United States. I would say let them keep it. Spoils of war.

However, that is why no one, with the possible exception of a soon-to-be-dead Saddam, will attack Israel.