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The Mouse That Roared

Hal Lindsey 01/30/02 Yasser Arafat has now openly threatened the United States. His response to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's warning to reign in terror or face an array of American sanctions was, "If the United States cuts ties with the Palestinian Authority it will cause an earthquake in the region that no one will be able to stop."

This threat reveals something far beyond merely the threat of the PA. It reveals a confidence in other Muslim nations coming to Arafat's aid, for he is not able to carry through on such an enormous threat alone.

This was in effect a warning of all out war against the United States as well as Israel. The threat is beginning to look like it is not an empty one.

With Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran joining forces and issuing warnings to the US to reign in Israel and release Arafat from Ramallah, it would appear that an attack from Saddam and Iran may be imminent.

Intelligence sources warn that the Palestinians are preparing to launch hidden Qasem missiles into the heart of Israel's population centers.

The next two weeks will be critical in the future of the Middle East conflict. We will soon see what Arafat may know that we don't.

As mentioned in the article..the IDF has discovered that it can do the street thing...the critical mass of engaging the territories is the movement of military assets...the IDF is concerned of getting hit while in transit...they will work this out.
The existance of weapons stores...and their deployment by the P.A. is the next concern...things may be quiet for a bit..as Intel locates the cashes and formulates stratedgy to neutralize them.
Anti -tank missiles and ground to air..are the focus..
In past skirmishes we have only seen a few helicopter gunships and a few target package air strikes by the IDF.. When this op really rolls..chaos will break out for the P.A. as they will experience munitions of high order detonation that will paralize them as they act to respond...
Apache helicopters will vector towards movement..and the streets will be littered with rubble and bodies..it will be way to much for even the BBC to handle...
Israel has adopted the American form of rapid reaction...rapid reaction is based on com link..and superior fire power...shatter revealed resistance in values magnified..creating chaos..and shattering response co-ordination.
Israeli military doctrine is to press and press...we see the odd firefight..but this is like a boxer fighting with only one arm..the P.A. has yet to see the modern IDF in its theatre wide capablity.
The soldiers on the ground will have to have fire in their hearts..or determination...as anyone moving toward them is a potential combatant..in the streets..this is hard..as it is chaotic..and some who are fleeing and screaming might appear beligerent....my heart goes out to these men..they will see and do terrible things we cannot imagine..but this is the reality of city warfare....picture Stalingrad..or Vietnam..this will be the reality of the P.A. mini-war.. many young men will be mentally scarred from experiencing it...

Yasser Arafat has now openly threatened the United States. His response to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's warning to reign in terror or face an array of American sanctions was, "If the United States cuts ties with the Palestinian Authority it will cause an earthquake in the region that no one will be able to stop."

Sounds like Dubya's cue to cut ties with the Palestinian Authority. Then Israeli should reoccupy the territories, boot the PLO, and dismantle Hamas, Islamic Jihad, et al. It won't be pretty, and I'm not eager to sell the Palis get stomped (much as I am disappointed by their intrasigence toward peace making), but this has to be done, if only in the long term interest of peace. We can't waste more time or lives on Arafat, or squander the vanishingly small remaining resorvoir of mutual trust. Time to reshuffle the deck and create conditions where a more responsible, courageous and forward looking Palestinian leadership might emerge. The longer Israel and America wait, the harder and more dangerous it will be.