[Publius6961]

The only thing "humbling" about Israeli troops is a combination of being forced to fight with one hand tied behind their backs, the unconscionable pressure from spectaror coward states, and the absurd introduction of that mindless phrase, "proportionality".
To say nothing of giving credence to the competence of the Mindless Mass Murderers on the other side.

Israeli leadership was the sole cause of non-performance. Let's not blame the victims dying for their country.

Trading lives for "attaboys", I thought, was the sole property of the U.S.

Overwhelming force underwhelmingly applied against a murederous primitive enemy, is criminal.

[chilepepper]

Almost exactly.

The Israelis encountered stiff defense and unexpectedly effective Russian and Chinese weapons which did real pain to its tank force -- but this is what happens in war. The antidote to unexpected opposition is overwhelming force, which will if sophisticated enough always win the day. The IDF is far better than just "sophisticated enough".

with Olmert sending in a tiny fraction of Israel's might during the first four weeks, the "humbling" was inflicted by Olmert/Peretz/Halutz/Livni incompetence of Carteresque proportions.

the analog to the Israeli incursion into Lebanon was _jimmuh's puny attempt to rescue our 444 embassy hostages in Teheran with five helicopters. Compare this to the IDF use of DOZENS of helicopters when they made they (only partially) successful raid on the Bekaa valley "hospital".