What you say seems true but Israel should have known that victory through air power is not attainable. You use air supremacy to soften the ground and then send in the troops.
Trouble is they had only half heartedly committed to the war and sort of got dragged into it without preparation. Soldiers were ambushed and kidnapped and others followed in hot pursuit. Thus, they were already committed to a ground war before they could even develoop a strategy.
Worse still, they did not have the supply lines in place so they suffered horrible losses on the ground in the early days, and had to limit and even pull back and regroup - that is when the IAF stepped up.
But we all know the rest - Hezbullah trotted out pictures of dead children, and the political pressure built and built against Israel. Secretary Rice did try to convince Israel to step it up but this Olmert is truly an incompetent and his government is simply in place for the largess. Eventually she had to pull the plug on him... 3 weeks after it started. Presumably she gave Olmert an ultimatum for one last push to succeed, which it did not.
That heads did not roll inside Israel is absolutely amazing to me. Winograd had to be whitewashed, imho.
I wonder why the US does not try to topple the Israeli government given these blunders. Maybe we do - I mean, Bush’s speech clearly was an indictment against Olmert’s failings and this new corruption scandal did originate in the USA - but it is too little too late. If elections were held today Israel would probably elect the most rightist, nationalist government in its history. A bunch of fiscal conservatives, war hawks, territorial expansionists, religious zionists and Russians!
Then again, maybe that is exactly why we doesn’t push too hard to topple Olmert’s government. Maybe Olmert acts the way he does because he is protected in that regard. The US wants a malleable Israeli government, and a corrupt Olmert regime is much better than a government more stubborn and hawkish than Shamir’s.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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Typicl DEBKA nonsense.
Our government called Israel and suggested they invade Lebanon, not on the scale of the recent skirmish, but a full invasion, driving to and, I presume, beseiging Beirut, as in 1982. Likely opposed by the Lebanese Army, probably Syria, and possibly France and the UN.
And just in case it wasn't over three days later, GWB would visit the war zone anyway.
Truely moronic.
Then again, maybe America was suggesting Israel nuke Beirut, GWB coming a couple days later. If the wind is right.