HEZBOLLAH 3, ISRAEL 0

NY Post ^ | 8/17/2006 | Ralph Peters

[Dark Skies]

ISRAEL'S rep for toughness in tatters. Hezbollah trium phant. Iran cockier than ever. Syria untouched. Lebanon's government crippled. An orgy of anti-Semitism in the global media. Anti-Americanism exploding among Iraqi Shi'as inspired by Hezbollah.

Thanks, Prime Minister Olmert. Great job, guy.

The debacle in Lebanon wasn't even a war. It was only round one of a war. And Israel's back in its corner, dazed and punch-drunk.

Israel got in a gut jab, but Hezbollah landed three ferocious haymakers:

* Despite the physical damage the Israeli Defense Forces inflicted, Hezbollah's terror-troops were still standing (and firing rockets) when the bell rang.

[rock_lobsta]

No touchdown... the hesbos had to settle for the field goal.

Only the first quarter...

[Truth29]

Olmert will use his new investigative panel to try and shift all of the blame on to the IDF. He will also use the treasury to bribe the minor ruling coalition partners to continue to support him IMO. I am not sure that his government will fall any time soon.

[NonValueAdded]

Peters nailed it. Defeat has been saved from the jaws of victory. Our Administration is strangely complicit in that outcome. The real aftershock is that the public will turn to the other party, when the real problem was not enough will-to-win, something our democRATs use only for elections. Israel's change of government will at least bring them to the right; ours will go in the opposite direction unless a real miracle occurs, and right soon. A democRATic administration will be Olmert writ large. This is a cluster-flop of the first magnitude.

[pissant]

Ralph, you are sounding like a drama queen

[Mac94]

To make a counter against the optomistic tone of the article, while Hezbollah was wounded and did suffer losses, those losses are replaceable. Men and material can be replaced, esp in the light of Hezbollah's newfound "glory" in the Arab world.

As for the buffer zone. The author is assuming that the Lebanes Army and the U.N. will execute resolution 1701 flawlessly. Since whne has the U.N. even pulled of what they say they are actually gonna do? Do you really link that the U.N. is gonna put 15,000 troops into the area? Do you really think that they are gonna lift a finger to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding in the south?

The author makes great pains in the early part of the article to describe how Hezbollah fighters can blend in with civilians yet ignores this in the assumption that the U.N. will actually do anything in the south. How is the U.N. gonna stop these "civilians" from moving back south to their homes?

Israel publically stated three aims in this conflict:

1) the return, without condition, of its soldiers.
2) the disarming of Hezbollah
3) South Lebanon in control of the Lebanese Army/a robust international force.

Israel failed on ponts one and two and item three is shakey at best with it's fate in the hands of the French and Kofi Annan.

Yeah, some victory.

[Bosco]

Another Ezekiel 38/39 watcher...

[jveritas]

Israel never said that it will disarm Hizballah, i.e. take all their weapons away, it is an impossible thing to do since Hizballah can simply melt in the civilian population and hide their arms all over Lebanon.

In regards to the two soldiers, Israel has captured at least 15 Hizballah fighters including some High Assets people as Israel Foreign minister mentioned two days ago. So Israel will have the upper hand when negotiating on getting the prisoners.

[tobyhill]

The longer Olmert stands around twiddling his thumbs the longer time the Hezbos have to rebuild their arms. He should just go ahead and declare Lebanese violations of the cease-fire for the soldiers not being returned and get on with round two.

[railroader]

"Correct! See Ezikiel 38 & 39 which refers to that coming battle."

Probably not yet.

[Tolik]

Ralph Peters:

...Politicians and generals everywhere, repeat after me: "Air power alone can't win wars; you can't defeat terror on the cheap with technology; and (in the timeless words of Nathan Bedford Forrest) War means fighting, and fighting means killing."  

...You can't win if you won't fight

...All this is heartbreaking. I wish it were otherwise. I wish I could back up our president's surreal claim that Israel won. I wish Israel had won. I wish it had the leadership the Israeli people deserve.

And that's what's tragic: Israel's politicians turned out to be even more profoundly out of touch with their people than the pols in Washington. Israelis were willing to fight. They wanted to win. The rank and file of the IDF would have done what needed to be done. And their leaders failed them.

There will be consequences. Iran's convinced it's on a winning course. Syria got away with murder (literally). And Hezbollah will come back more determined than ever.

Oh, I almost forgot those two IDF soldiers whose kidnapping triggered all this. But I can be forgiven, since Israel's leaders forgot about them long before I did: The U.N. resolution Olmert welcomed makes no binding and immediate demand for their return.

And the world is going to let Iran build nuclear weapons.

Get ready for Round Two

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[.cnI redruM]

>>>>And the world is going to let Iran build nuclear weapons.

Not that Chirac or John Kerry would do anything to stop them if they used said weapons...

[tobyhill]

To win against these terrorist requires fighting a lot dirtier than they fight. What happened to the good old fashion assassin teams that could make a hit of a top terrorist leader and send their whole organization in disarray?

[Rummyfan]

And the world is going to let Iran build nuclear weapons.

Ummm..... that would be very bad.

[NonValueAdded]

The author makes great pains in the early part of the article to describe how Hezbollah fighters can blend in with civilians yet ignores this in the assumption that the U.N. will actually do anything in the south. How is the U.N. gonna stop these "civilians" from moving back south to their homes?

Even worse, there will be 15,000 "Lebanese" soldiers stationed there, ostensibly armed and in the open. The Hezzies won't just blend in with the civilians, but also with the "Lebanese" army, armed to the teeth and in the open. A "legitimate" Lebanese military will of course get the support of UNIFIL for having defensive weapons protecting their southern border. Look for the new Iranian dual-purpose ground-to-air / ground-to-ground missile launcher, coming to a Lebanese neighborhood real soon. And the UN won't do a dammed thing about it.

[Mac94]

Actually, Israel did go in with one stated war aim being the disarmament of Hezbollah in accordance with the prior U.N. resolution.

As for the release of the soldiers, the original aim was for their release without condition, meaning no prisoner swap or negotiations as had been done in the past.

[justa-hairyape]

So Hezbollha forces in Southern Lebanon suffered 600 casualties from 2,000 total (30 %).

What amazes me however is how quickly the MSM Conventional Wisdom drastically changed. There were 3 weeks of Katrina-like 'Israelis are killing Lebanese' stories where 'victims' were 'crying and begging for Israel to stop'. So Israel stops. And a few days later the MSM is now running stories about how little damage the Israelis did. And just like during Katrina, the MSM got it wrong every time.

Fortunately for some of us, our heads simply cannot spin that quickly.

[NonValueAdded]

No touchdown... the hesbos had to settle for the field goal.

The problem is that the game is soccer, not American football, and three to zip is one heck of a lead.

[70times7]

Some interpretations of Scripture suggest that Israel’s enemies will try to nuke them. I read this article and see a time in the near future when we may indeed back away, perhaps w/ the election of a democrat pres and house we will no longer have the testicular fortitude to do what is right. Iran and Syria and the whole of the Middle East will come against Israel. Russia will honor its treaty w/ Iran and back them. At that point they will be alone and the nukes will fly. God, Himself will save them. And then it will be time.

Many have been watching, and predicting and prognosticating (obviously me included). Is this the "start" of that course? Who knows - I don't, but it's a possibility.

None-pre-mid-post? Don't know that either, but I sure do hope it's pre.

[xkaydet65]

The gist I get from Peters is that we had given the "blank check" and the Israeli gov't was unwilling and the IDF unable to cash it.

For the last couple of years I taught with a Math teacher, like me in his 50s, who lived in Israel till he was 22. He served in the IDF and then he found a position in the Army reserves to avoid the VietNam draft. He would always boast about the vast superiority of the training he received in the IDF and the way its units outclassed anything the US possessed. He's retired now and I've lost touch, but I'd lke to ask him what he thinks of Peters' article. In an earlier piece, Peters was even more harsh. The IDF reserves. he believed, would have crumbled if faced with a Fallujah or a Ramadi. As they say in the movie of the same title, Things Change.

[jveritas]

I do not think Israel ever mentioned that they are going to implement resolution 1559 for the Lebanese by disarming Hizballah.

In regards to prisoners exchange it is Israel who sets now the conditions not Hizballah.