Posted on 11/26/2006 6:54:29 PM PST by WestNJersey
Want to know why we (meaning the West) won't win the war on terror?
Look at Israel, arguably the toughest, least compromising of the democracies when it comes to combating terrorism. It has been fighting terrorism from the day it became a sovereign state, thanks to the UN.
Yet Israel, after failing to win the brief war with Hezbollah, is back to having to defend itself against rockets from Gaza, where Hamas rules when it isn't feuding with the Palestinian Authority.
The other day, after a rocket attack, Israel announced it was attacking the home of a suspected terrorist leader where explosives were stored. It gave the occupants 30 minutes warning to evacuate before war planes obliterated the house.
So what did the residents do? Well, not only did they not evacuate, but neighbours formed a human shield at the targeted house and, guess what?
The Israel war planes were called off. So now, every time the Israelis give the 30-minute warning which, apparently, is policy, the "human shields" of women and children head for the targeted house, secure in the knowledge that the Israelis won't attack.
This is madness -- no way to fight a war, or terrorists. And this is Israel -- the toughest democracy on the block. And yet Israel hasn't even gotten its kidnapped soldiers back from Hamas and Hezbollah, which provoked Israeli retaliation.
American, British, Canadian and NATO soldiers are even more restrained.
When the Americans had (or thought they had) insurgents in Iraq, mostly confined in Fallujah, a hotbed of enemy activity, rather than obliterate it (as they would have done in WWII) they gave a week's warning for civilians to depart before they attacked.
BAD GUYS DISPERSED
When the assault eventually went in, the bad guys were mostly gone -- dispersed to other areas to continue their slaughter of the innocent.
War cannot easily be waged peacefully. Restraints often mean prolonging the war and increasing its casualties.
Today, humane considerations are paramount. The symbol of peaceful protest is Mahatma Gandhi, the creator of passive resistance that anti-military activists like to cite as a way to thwart authority. Often overlooked, is that Gandhi's formula worked against the British. If he and his followers had lain down in front of Cossacks, the Wehrmacht or the Golden Horde of Genghis Khan, Gandhi would have become an asterisk of history rather than an icon.
A report out of Britain recalls that when American forces first went into Afghanistan, the first Taliban they caught were terrified --apparently convinced by their indoctrination that the American monsters would rip their livers out. Consequently, captives babbled like brooks and told all they knew.
Then they discovered that American soldiers feed you and generally abide by certain rules and ethics unknown to Taliban and al-Qaida.
Thereafter they shut up with no repercussions.
Remember the U.S. bombing of Baghdad prior to the 2003 invasion? Peace activists from the West pompously announced they'd be human shields around prospective targets.
Once the bombing started, these people fled -- outraged that the Americans could be so inhumane, even though none were targeted.
EX-HUMAN SHIELDS
As for Israel, if its government is nuts enough to give warnings of attacks, then it deserves what happens. The next warning should be that if human shields remain, they will quickly become ex-human shields.
One attack should be sufficient to persuade Palestinian human shields to take cover.
It's idiotic to give warning of an attack. Hezbollah and Hamas don't warn intended targets of rocket attacks and suicide bombings.
America lost the Vietnam War because it refused to do what was necessary to win -- a political decision that cost unnecessary lives on both sides, and achieved nothing.
Is that the future of Iraq? It seems so.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
BTTT
Hearts and minds
"There's a considerable sentiment of those who really studied Vietnam and, ideally, served there, that the approach to the war after Westmoreland left was on a new track," said retired Army Col. Stuart Herrington, another Vietnam veteran who has advised the Pentagon on Iraq policy. "It was a radical change in the approach to the war, and there's no question that even [former North Vietnamese] adversaries now admit that the second approach was extremely, extremely damaging to them."
Much like in Vietnam, the new strategy is being pushed after several years of large-scale combat operations that may have killed thousands of insurgents, but also alienated the local population.
Perhaps more troubling is that like the Abrams' initiatives, which ran from 1968 through 1973, the current move to step up training of the Iraqi forces comes at a time domestic support for war is on the wane and political winds are blowing in favor of a quick pullout of combat forces.
"There are certain things you just can't do in a military situation like Iraq or Vietnam, and if you violate these tenets, you're at great risk," said Herrington. "One of them is to take too long to figure out what you ought to be doing so the American public falters in its support."
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
I've been saying the same thing for years about bombing some of those funeral/terrorist rallys that we see every now and then...
Sort of like the concept of taking out a fireant nest.
Mark
"...It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world." [FReeper Retief]
"...That the totalitarian force pitted against freedom wears a religious makes this civil war among mankind all the more difficult to engage. Loving freedom as we do, it seems reprehensible to deliberate against a religion. But this is no ordinary religion as it demands absolute obedience of all to their religion at the cost of freedom itself." [FReeper Backtothestreets]
Isn't this the author of Clash of Civilizations? Worthington is correct, but not politically so. His voice will go unnoticed and we commit suicide rather than give offense.
I pity my grandchildren for the world we are passing down.
Toronto Sun, as opposed to the leftist star, is a moderate to conservative tabloid newspaper.
When the triumphant hominid wins the water hole he heaves the bone into the air and it is transformed into a space satellite.
A million years of tool making from bone implement to spaceflight suggests where our energies should be focused. I believe in O'Neills Frontier thesis and believe that this is where Bush would focus our efforts!
The first tool was a bone which helped to feed the tribe and win the water hole! I.E. WAR!
Immediately after coming in contact with the alien monolith, which apparently gave the alpha male hominid in that particular tribe a jolly good idea. .....and Kubrick let the audience know the exact moment of his realization merely by playing the opening bars of Zarathustra.
Where is GEN GRANT?
War cannot easily be waged peacefully. Restraints often mean prolonging the war and increasing its casualties.
Bingo. It also makes it very likely that you will lose outright.
Those ages which in retrospect seem most peaceful were least in search of peace...Whenever peace-- conceived as the avoidance of war-- has been the objective of a power or a group of powers, the international system has been at the mercy of the most ruthless member of the international community."
And when Israelis retaliate with deadly force against a missile strike casually "aimed" into a residential/commercial non-military "target," the MSM dutifully gives us detailed reports on the non-combatant children and women killed by Israeli attackers.
Yes!
I've read the book. Yellow highlighted!
And guess what? Nothing new to me. Jihadists have been around since Tamerlane (Timur the lame or Amir Timur).
And they have been evil and beset upon destroying anything that does not agree with their moment in time.
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