52 percent of Israelis: IDF failed

Ynet ^ | August 14 2006 | Ilan Marciano

[libstripper]

So true. See: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681379/posts

[Jeff Head]

...but not enough. They and the civilian population that either hides, supports, abetts, or gives them sanctuary need to be humbled and pacified with extreme prejudice to the point where they literally BEG to be able to offer their unconditional surrender and disavow the Hizbollah, radical islamic mind set for many generations.

[avacado]

Thanks for the link. Perhaps a coup d'etat is the only way. Something needs to be done other than what is going on now.

[DannyTN]

"I don't want to say that the IDF failed but rather hope that the IDF is not finished! "

Exactly. People are defining a less than perfect outcome, whatever that is, to be a "defeat" or "failure" instead of a win that could have been even better. And that lanquage emboldens our enemies.

[Ancesthntr]

How do they know, it is not over? There are 30,000 idf soldiers in Lebanon waiting for Hezbullah to break the cease fire (which they will).

"the IDF was not allowed to win: the political leadership failed them and Israel."

While Olmert and his band of appeasing incompetents is in charge, the IDF will continue to be chained up, it will not be allowed to fight to win. The real answer to the question of whether the IDF failed or succeeded is that the IDF did fine, wonderfully well, in fact - within the very narrow confines of what its political masters allowed it to do.

[papertyger]

...the civilian population that either hides, supports, abetts, or gives them sanctuary need to be humbled and pacified with extreme prejudice...

The local girl thanking "the guys" (i.e. hezbollah) for "looking out for them" IIRC on Fox news was a real eye opener.

[libstripper]

The really good thing about the article is it shows how Olmert pulled a bait and switch on Bush. Bush thought the Israelis were going to do the job quickly and right. Then Olmert cut the feet out from under the IDF and Bush, giving us the present fiasco.

[Centurion2000]

the majority of Israelis (52 percent) believe the IDF was unsuccessful in its Lebanon offensive

Those 52% need to remember EXACTLY who is in charge of the military. Olmert is responsible.

[GadareneDemoniac]

The IDF did not fail; the gutless, weasel politicians (UN, US, and Israeli) failed.

[thiscouldbemoreconfusing]

Why is it that when ever the politicians interfere and mess up, the troops get the blame?

[finnigan2]

"IMHO, it was their politicians who failed...by not letting the IDF do the job the way it must be done."

- However, IMHO what caused the failure was the fact that the Israeli's found out to their surprise that Hezbollah had been equipped by Iran with the latest anti tank TOW missiles and they were using them to knock out Israeli armor at an alarming rate. If Israel persisted in it's armor spearheaded battle plan attack, their losses would have been politically and militarily unacceptable.
There is no doubt. Hezbollah won round one.

[familyop]

Bush Says Israel Defeated Hezbollah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1683562/posts

[Jeff Head]

I disagree. There were a few tanks hit, but the IDF was not blunted by that in the leat IMHO, and if the IDF had gone in with 40,000 troops supported by tanks and helos, and if they fought it like a real, full scale war...they would have taken Hizbollah out. That is what they must do.

The pols and their fear of international opinion kept that from happening. Until it happens, Hizbollah will not be defeated and they will gain strength as a result of the perceptiont that they can or have fought the IDF to a standstill when they did no such thing.

[jocko12]

The IDF did not fail.The Israel leader ship failed.

[Jeff Head]

The post I was responding to was in response to my post number 8. Read my post number 8 on this thread and you will see that we agree completely.

[Cheburashka]

I don't want to say that the IDF failed but rather hope that the IDF is not finished!
---
The IDF did not fail. The political leadership failed.

The Hezbos think they won. The Israeli people think they lost. With the power available to the IDF it should have been the other way around.

The Israeli people have work to do. If they do it properly a week into the next round the Hezbos will be squealing like pigs for a ceasefire.

[FreeReporting]

It's Olmert who failed all the way.

Any guy who thinks he's fooling the public with his comb over is fooling himself first. He is the biggest patsy.

He is a crowd-pleaser. His first speech was criticised for being too introspective, not being Churchillian and not including the big names that made Israel what it is. He went home and did his homework on all these superficialities but since nobody told him how to win he couldn't do that.

WE DESERVE BETTER

[A CA Guy]

A Globes-Smith survey published on Monday showed that the majority of Israelis (52 percent) believe the IDF was unsuccessful in its Lebanon offensive, as opposed to 44 percent who believe the army did well.

That is because they fought a PC war with military targets instead of the kind of war you really win. (nation versus nation)