Comments Posted By B.Poster
Displaying 351 To 360 Of 397 Comments
HUMBLED OLMERT ACCEPTS CEASE FIRE
Luc
I agree with what you say about Israeli intellegence. I also find it hard to believe that if Hezbollah had wmd they would not find out about it until after the war started. At his time, I think the conventional wissom on Iraq's wmd is correct but there are alot of unanswered questions.
I'm not sure if Israel has ever said they wantd to destroy Hezbollah. As far as I know, the official story was they wanted to create a buffer between them and Hezbollah. After the buffer was created, an international force was to move in and they along with the Lebanese army would be in charge of keeping Hezbollah away from Israel and they would ultimately disarm Hezbollah.
It appears part of the cease fire agreeemnt is Israel will get the international force. I don't think it has been decided how soon they will arive. This will apparently take some time. Also, Israel will be allowed to fire in self defense and Hezbollah is not allowed to fire at all. At least this seems to be how it is supposed to work. Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman says its a good resolution, if it can be implemented but if it cannot be implemented it is a bad resolution. Given the UN's terrible track record, I do not have any confidence that they can pull this off. I hope and pray this will work and we can have peace but I'm not opptomistic. My gut instinct is, if the cease fire is enforced now, the fighting will have been stopped to soon. I have never had any doubt that Israel would defeat Hezbollah. The only doubt I have had is would they be given the time they needed.
You mention Israel's reputation. Israel already had a bad reputation. The world media has never given Israel a fair deal. The main stream US media seems to largely range from pro Hezbollah to neutral. When it comes to public relations, the US and Israel are afraid of their own shadows. Our enemies have learned to ruthlessly exploit this to serve their interests.
Finally, a complete victory in the GWOT will require, at minimum, regime change in Iran and Syria or those regimes will need to change their behavior. If we are not able to change the regimes or get them to change their behavior, we will need to find a way to neutralize them.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 12.08.2006 @ 00:45
Drewsmom
I agree. If we are going to win the GWOT, we are going to need to get more serious. Like you, I want the US to help Israel here.
Luc
I kind of had the same thought as you about dangers not known to the public. We know that large convoys of something were transferred to Syria and to Lebanon's Bekka valley prior to the war in Iraq. These truck convoys may have contained Iraq's WMD stockpiles that the main stream media has deluded itself into believing did not exist. Many in the main stream media and within the government beuracracy have staked their careers on the fact that these stockpiles did not exist. Neither the Bush administration nor the military planners want a serious investigation into this. The most talked about objective of the Iraq war was to halt the spred of WMD. If these WMD were transferred out of Iraq, the Bush administation and the military planners look extremly bad. Because of these factors, NOBODY of any importance within the government is interested in any kind of a serious investigation. I have always said that I hope the conventional wisdom on Iraq's WMD is right. I really hope it is!! The Israelis, Americans, and others could have received intellegence that in the abscense of a cease fire these weapons were going to be used. This may be in conjunction with the date of 8/22 that the Iranian leader seems to be enamored with.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 11.08.2006 @ 22:47
Rick
I agree with you to a point. Bush and the US likely did run interference for Israel within the UN for 30 days. This is probably better than say Gore or Kerry administration would have done. Either of these administrations would have probably immediately tried to force a cease fire.
Now for where I disagree. If the Israeli Air Force wanted to simply obliterate Lebanon, they could do so in less than a day and Hezbollah would be completely destroyed. The greatest genreation who fought WWII did things like this. I'm thinking about the fire bombings of Dresden and Tokyo.
Neither we nor the US want to do to Lebanon what was done to Germany or Japan during WWII. With this in mind the only option is a surgical bombing campaign followed up by a massive ground invasion. It could be argued that Olmert was slow about committing the ground forces. The Israeli Air Force thought they could accomplish more by the air campaign than they did. Many other critiques could be made. I think they made a varation of the mistake the US made in Iraq. We and they under estimated the power of the enemy. Mistakes will be made in any war.
Given the fact that Hezbollah is a VERY powerful fighting force, without obliterating the entire country of Lebanon 30 days simply is not going to be enough time to defeat this enemy. It seems the only way to make a significant dent in Hezbollah's fighting abiltiy in only 30 days would be if every thing about the campaign went perfect. This seldom if every happens.
I'm assuming the US and Israel worked together on this. The bottom line is Israel and the US should not have engaged Hezbollah if they were not prepared to see this through to the bitter end. These actions will only reinforce Arab perceptions that the US is not serious about fighting the GWOT.
Unless Israel, the US, or both of us treated Lebanon the way the allies treated Germany and Japan during WWII, it would have probably required the IDF a minimum of six months to destroy Hezbollah and probably a year or more. In other words, if Bush and the US were prepared to hold out against world pressure for 90 days instead of 30 days, it still probably would not have made a significant difference. Btw, the complaining from the IDF about Olmert and others is probably hubris. Almost five years after 911, we are STILL under estimating this enemy. Time to jettison the political correctness and get serious about fighting this or might as well just don the burka and save our selves the trouble.
I can only hope and pray that some how some way Israel has inflicted enough damange on Hezbollah to make a difference. As you can see from the tone of my post, I'm not optimistic.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 11.08.2006 @ 20:59
IDF, OLMERT AT LOGGERHEADS; BUSH FLASHING YELLOW LIGHT
Stevie Key
I have several thoughts on the article you provided the link to, however, before beginning I should explain that my Christian faith profoundly influences my perceptions of the Israeli/Arab conflict. Evem if not for my Christian faith, I would still be very pro-Israel but I might not be as passionate about as I am.
1.) There never has been any doubt in my mind that Israel could defeat Hezbollah. The only question I had, from the beginning, is would Israel have enough time. I suspected the US would run interference for them for some time, however, given the current political realities, the ability and the willingness of the US to run this diplomatic interference is finite. In an ideal situation I would have liked to see the US run diplomatic interference indefinitely, however, barring divine intervention the ability of the US is limited in this regard.
2.) If Israel wanted to obliterate Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force could do so in less than 24 hours. Hezbollah would be completely destroyed. This would involve the kind of massive bombardment that was done to Dresden and Tokyo during WWII. Both the Israeli and American Aif Forces are significantly more powerful than any thing the Allies had during WWII. Neither Israel nor the US want to destroy Lebanon. With this is in mind, the only option Israel has is a sugical air campaign designed to strike terrorist targets and to follow it up with a massive ground campaign.
3.) From the article, it appears Olmert may have wanted a limited war. This seems to be exactly the kind of war that Donald Rumsfeld and company wanted for Iraq. Wars are not won that way. I would have thought the Israeli civilian leadership would have learned something from watching the Coaliton effort. The bottom line is both Israel and America seem to have under estimated the power of their enemies.
4.) Hezbollah is arguably the most powerful terrorist organization on earth. This organization's fighting ability is probably greater than the fighting ability of the armies of many countries, however, if the Israeli government allocates the time and the resource to the IDF the IDF would defeat them, as Israel has one of the top armies on earth. In addition, this is a terrorist organization of global reach.
5.) Given that neither Israel nor the US want to completely obliterate Lebanon, the only option is the current campaign of surgical air strikes designed to limit the capability of Hezbollah to fight. This is to be followed by a massive ground invasion that features overwhelming force.
6.) It can be argued that Olmert was slow to commit the ground forces. If Olmert really thought this could be achieved with a limited war, this is very troubling. Any number of mistakes were probably made. This happens in all wars. Humans can and will make errors. The important thing is do we learn from the errors we made.
7.) As you probably know, Israelinsder is a very pro-Israel source. They provide an excellent counter to the msm who ranges from anti-Israel to neutral. This web site seems to be very informative. That said, I'm highly skeptical that anyone seriously believed they could fully defeat an enemy as powerful as Hezbollah, short of destroying the entire country in only 10 to 14 days. If they truly believed this, this would seem to be hubris in the extreme.
8.) Given the standard bombing campaign and a ground campaign, the IDF would probably need a minimum of six months to do this job right. This is, if we assume everything went perfect. If the operation runs into snags, as almost all human endeavors will, it would probably take longer. I have no doubt the IDF would win. It just takes the will of the leadership and the citizens to see it through to the end.
9.) Instead of a coup, if the the IDF leaders are unhappy, they should run for office. Also, they should try and keep a lid on all of the sniping. If this enemy even percieves weakness and disension, this will only embolden them.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 11.08.2006 @ 22:28
Svenghouli
As a born again Christian and based on understanding of the biblical scriptures my perception of the Israeli/Arab conflict will be affected. I freely admit that.
With that said, you may be on to something with your post. Israel has been surrounded by hostile enemies since its re establishment as a nation. I would be inclined to assume that they know what they are doing. I think America's best course of action would be to stay out of Israel's way and let them take care of business.
I think more troops should have been used from the start. This probably would have given Israel a more decisive victory in a shorter period time. Israel's most ardent enemies control much of the world's oil and they are capable of terrorist attacks any where in the world. This has led many nations to calculate that Israel is expendable in order to stay in the good graces of Arabs, furthermore, much of the world media is state controlled or quasi-state controlled and, as such, they will broadcast only what the state wants them to broadcast. Israel was going to come off looking like a jerk any way. With this in mind they should do the invasion right. Job one is to protect your citizens. With a decisive victory they will still be hated by the world but at least they will be more likely to be respected. Israel, the US, and the Western world are afraid of their own shadow when it comes to public relations. Our enemies ruthlessly exploit this character flaw and use it against us.
You are correct that exact comparisons between Israel's actions and America's actions are not possible. Both are military actions, as such, you are going to need ground troops to subdue your enemy. We did not use enough troops at the beginning of OIF and we have been paying for this over sight ever since. Thankfully Israel appears to be making the appropiate course corrections. The delay may simply be the time it takes to get the appropiate forces into place. Its hard to know.
As a conservative, I am generally against such nation building operations as we are engaged in with Iraq, however, I can understand the need to remove the Baathist regime. The purpose of a military is to either subdue something or to destroy something. If you are going to remake a country, you will need to destroy its war fighting capability and you will need to subdue it. We did not commit enough troops to do either of those things. We only commited enough troops to remove the Baathist government.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 10.08.2006 @ 16:01
I've never doubted that Israel could defeat Hezbollah. The question I've always had is would Israel being given enough time to do it. This is why it is of the utmost importance that they don't dally around and get it done. This is also why it is important to us. If they don't complete the mission, they lose and we lose.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 10.08.2006 @ 14:03
Israel appears to have made some of the mistakes the US made in Iraq. We did not commit the proper amount of ground forces to the operation. Israel should have learned from this. Hopefully they can get this right now. The war has been going on less than a month and there is already finger pointing and complaining. We westerners have grown to soft. I think the greatest generation who fought WWII would be quite disappointed with us.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 10.08.2006 @ 13:58
IAF ADMITS IT WAS WRONG ABOUT QANA
This is truly a tragic mistake. It was clearly an accident. I hope and pray mercy is shown to the person who ordered the strike. Israel is truly in a fight for its survival, as is the US.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 1.08.2006 @ 18:16
I'm not sure if we know for certain that the US urged Israel to engage in a ceasefire but I think it is higly probable. As Steve aptly points out, this would be highly hypocritical. I would go a step further and state that it would be despicable for the US or any other country to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.
It would be unethical for the US or any other country to compromise the national security of Israel, a western style democracy, for their oil needs or because they fear terrorist attacks.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 30.07.2006 @ 20:06
THE CIVILIAN PARADOX IN MODERN WAR
My hope and prayer is that the push back against Qana will be successful. It will be up to the alternative media to do this. Thank God for the alternative media. Without the alternative media the Islamic Extremists and their Marxist allies probably would have won by now.
Comment Posted By B.Poster On 31.07.2006 @ 22:15
