Posted on 07/15/2006 2:34:10 PM PDT by Woodstock
The deadly game is on. We now know what they'll do. What will we do?
The cards finally seem to be on the table. Hizbullah and Hamas have made good on their promises and threats: to kidnap IDF soldiers and batter the Israeli mainland with rockets. They've "won" the first round: heir combined kidnappings and attacks have left IDF soldiers in their grips, soldiers and civilians dead and injured, and communities in the bomb shelters.
What to do now?
Crush them and then make a serious effort at crushing their handlers.
The harsh words aren't just from me. If there is anything possible that will unite the vast majority of Israelis, it is serious attacks on the IDF and thousands of civilians in the North and South.
Hizbullah and Hamas have changed the rules of the game. What have the rules been? They hit us, we hit back a little; they hit us again, we hit back a little. Occasionally, we hit them a bit harder to push them back a bit. Then we turn our backs on them.
It's sort of the Red Light-Green Light game. Only this time, we kept our backs turned too long and have paid a hard price. Now it's their turn to pay a price.
Israelis are sympathetic to the possibility of causing civilian damage, so much so that the Army and Air Force often turn down targeting opportunities because of the way Hamas (particularly) wraps itself around the Gaza populace. According to some reports, Gaza citizens are forced at gunpoint to participate in Hamas activities. True or not, thousands of Gaza citizens have rallied not for peace, but for further resistance.
In Lebanon, entire communities and neighborhoods are controlled and lived in by Hizbullah members. So, the IDF dropped a thinly veiled threat that even Hizbullah leader Nasrallah should look over his shoulder next time he steps out his door or even sits down to dinner.
It would be disingenuous to claim that Hizbullah and Hamas have not seized the upper hand in recent weeks. Our relatively new, relatively inexperienced government has fumbled its responses.
But this new situation in the North, with Katyushas raining down in Nahariya and other large communities seems to have hardened the government's resolve and helped it clarify its response.
Thankfully, the official response has been briefer than previous statements. Talk softly and wield a big stick, to paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, has only rarely been our modus operandi. There is a lot of swaggering and boasting and blabbing in the government. But as of last night the blabbermouths seem to have shut up, at least for the moment.
The less said the better.
There is no question we can keep the heat on Lebanon; the questions are how long we can continue to do so before Arab whining pressures the international community to pressure us, and whether we will stop there.
We rattled the windows in Bashar Assad's palace recently. Can we do more? The answer is obvious: yes we can. Will we? Stay tuned. Prediction is a dangerous game, and Israel isn't the only country with something at stake here. But this time may just be different.
Blow the terrorists to h3ll, attack Syria and Iran, but, the Lebanese people don`t deserve this. (guess which of the three, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria, doesn`t have a military?)
I suspect there's about to be a market run on Doe Eyed Virgins.
The world should be impressed with the expertise of the IDF in this operation. When they can fire a missile into the fifth floor of an apartment building housing the Hezbollah Defense Ministry in Lebanon, leaving the floors above and below it intact, that's some very good shooting! They need to make every bomb count, destroying valuable infrastructure as quickly as they can, before the whining, cowardly, stupid Arabs beg the venial UN to intervene and make them stop, because we all know that only Israel must obey UN resolutions. The tyrants of the world ignore them.
I totally disagree. The Syrians went into Lebanon in 1958 and never left. Every terrorist group known to man operates out of Lebanon.
Iraq's WMDs probably ended up in Lebanon.
Lebanon: 3.8 million people. Syrian "handlers": 100,000. No way can that happen without the complicity, or at least the cooperation of the local population; At least in the "muslim" controlled areas, which is where most of the current action is.
Excellent piece...thanks for posting.
Lebanon is like a Blue State. The bad guys hold power, but there are lots of good guys who live here. You cannot "punish" Lebanon any more than you can "punish" Massachusettes, without hurting innocent people who are on our side.
The IAF is trying to "discriminate" with its precision strikes. Yet civilians still die in their strikes. It is inevitable.
As for WMDs, I suspect they reside in Syria, where convoys went prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. If you have any evidence that they entered Lebanon, I suggest you put up or shut up. Conjecture of that sort is criminally irresponsible in the current environment.
Syria seems like a reasonable spot for them. Not based on anything other than idle speculation..I alway thought they were/are in the Bekaa..
Glad you're safe:)
If reports of the convoys being escorted by Russian special forces are correct, the WMD's were only transited through Syria.
When the effen dirka-dirka, arab, raghead, donkey meat cooked over a camel schitt fire eatin, terrorist civilians are out in the streets cheering any terrible terrorist attack that is inflicted on any western nation....they deserve to receive the same punishment as the people who commited the act. The western nations need to kill arab muslims by the nation full.
Lebanon is harboring terrorists, bottom line. If Lebanon isn't up to the job of getting rid of them or making them stop for whatever reason, then Israel has to deal with them. Israel has been very specific concerning its targets and has the advanced weaponry needed to carry out precision strikes. Yes, civilians will die, but that's an unfortunate aspect to any war, especially one against an evil group who purposely puts their equipment in civilian buildings and automobiles just to get a reaction out of others when those civilians die in an attempt to get rid of real military targets.
I'm sorry you are on the ground there, but that gives you a very limited perspective, as was made perfectly clear by your statement denouncing the destruction of the runway. Those of us on the outside can see the big picture and can perfectly understand Israel's selection of targets.
In short, Israel must do what it has to do.
To clarify, I was referring to the statement made criticizing the destruction of the runway in a post made in another thread.
Are you getting updates about a plan?
Patrick, are you OK?
Until the world changes, Americans should thumb their nose at a crap load of countries and never go back there - for work or pleasure, IMHO.
Hezbollah should notice how so far, the Israelis main goal has bene destroying their escape and resupply routes.
These idiots think this is the full force of Israel.
Israel hasn't even gotten started yet. They are simply softening up southern lebannon for the ground assault.
better, if we stopped sending money to the holders of
those oil supplies...let them drink it.....
Please be safe, get to the USA embassy, and get out asap. Go with God and God be with you. My prayers for you.
There are times that separate the men from the boys and this is one of those times. This maffia logic won't cut it. "Lebanon is like a Blue State. The bad guys hold power, but there are lots of good guys who live here. You cannot "punish" Lebanon any more than you can "punish" Massachusettes, without hurting innocent people who are on our side."
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