"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.
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.