Posted on 08/06/2006 5:29:55 PM PDT by Shermy
The Israel Defense Forces plan to ramp up their offensive in Lebanon in response to Sunday's rocket attacks on northern Israel, which killed three civilians in Haifa and 12 reservists near Kfar Giladi.
A senior General Staff officer told Haaretz that for the first time since the fighting began, Israel plans to attack strategic infrastructure targets and symbols of the Lebanese government.
Other than bombing the Beirut airport to prevent arms transfers to Hezbollah, Israel has hitherto not targeted Lebanon's infrastructure, insisting that it is only at war with Hezbollah, not with the Lebanese government or people.
However, the officer said, "we are now in a process of renewed escalation. We will continue hitting everything that moves in Hezbollah - but we will also hit strategic civilian infrastructure."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz will meet with senior defense officials this morning to discuss the continuation of the operation.
... ...
If Hezbollah has not ceased its fire by this weekend, they added, the IDF will recommend an additional significant expansion of the operation, including the conquest of most of Lebanon south of the Litani River, including the area around Tyre, and a significant increase in air strikes on infrastructure targets. "It could be that at the end of the story, Lebanon will be dark for a few years," said one.
... ...
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
They just can't sit troops in the valley. They'd be sitting ducks. Air power is limited, but enhanced with intel. On the ground intel is invaluable, and I think the war needs to be expanded.
I've read reports of IDF being repelled by fierce defense. This should not happen. If IDF find themselves in a jam air power and fire bombs should open things up for them. Hezbullah are some mean, hardcore guerillas and will shoot to the last bullet and use the last grenade on themselves. They are also smart, mobile, and low key.
Air power to shoot any truck, any mule, any carvan crossing over can work to prevent rearming them. At this rate it may take a while, but some more ground troops seem to be in order, as well as some better intel (which should come from some more troops) but dropping them into Bekka without a supply line or even a place to retreat is a recipe for ambush.
sez it all
OK, so you should have said "Israel needs to stop the rockets AT VERY HIGH, DESTRUCTIVE AND BLOODY COST..."
Maybe, but I would add 'to the Hizbos, in, or out of uniform..."
I think that this is a mistake, on several levels.
First, the thinking behind it seems to be faulty - it is not so much the great majority of the Lebanese people, or its government, that is directly responsible for this war and the rocket attacks on Israel - it is Syria and Iran. Everyone in the world knows it, but for some reason holding them responsible is off the table. I just don't understand that.
Second, there is no reason to destroy infrastructure. That, in and of itself, won't get rid of Hezbollah. Israel needs to bite the bullet and do what it should have done during the first week of this crisis - send 50,000 men and 500-700 tanks over the border to wipe out the SOBs, not only in South Lebanon but also (and maybe especially) in the Bekaa Valley. Stop this killing of a dozen here and there, and massacre the b@stards by the hundreds. This whole conflict would have already been finished if Olmert had any guts...and it still could be. It is a simple order - tell the IDF generals to wipe out Hezbollah wherever they are in Lebanon, and let THEM decide what resources to use.
Third, this is a PR nightmare. War is Hell, but purposely targeting infrastructure of a nation that is generally not hostile to you is a huge mistake. Why can't this be done to Syria?
Fourth, it leaves the real source of the problem untouched. I cannot emphasize enough that Syria - at least - should be paying a very high price for what has happened. Syria is the country that should be laid waste, not Lebanon.
Fifth, the half-hearted and weak response by Israel has created a monster. Israel no longer has much credibility. I remember the Israel of the 70's and 80's, which went to the far corners of the earth to exact revenge for the murder of Jews, which hit hard and mercilessly against its enemies, so that no one "f'd with the Jews." Well, now 1 1/2 decades of softness, of trying to fight battles on the cheap and the "kind and gentle" way have come home to roost. A crappy little terrorist organization is holding the "mighty IDF" at bay, which can only embolden Syria and Iran. Now there are even voices in Egypt militating to rip up the treaty with Israel...the sharks sense blood in the water. Israel had better wake up fast - and really kick some Arab arses in a BIG and FAST way, or this little war will only be the beginning.
The whole problem here is that Israel has a leadership without guts, without any faith in G-d. They have this secular dream of sitting in cafes in Tel Aviv and drinking coffee, like it is Paris or something. They seem incapable of even discussing, let alone understanding, that most of the world hates Israel just for existing - and this is absolutely true for all of its neighbors. Acting "nice" like a liberal European nation won't impress or assuage the Arabs - because NOTHING will. Liberals in Israel - just like libs here - cannot grasp the concept of an implacable enemy, of the idea of kill or be killed. It may not be anyone's picture of an ideal world, but it is reality.
Israel needs to do now what its ancestors did - to go "Biblical" on its enemies, to grind them into dust, to make their names only a memory, to show NO MERCY. Do that once or twice, and the rest will still hate Israel...and leave it alone. THAT has to be the goal.
Folks, the short term solution to Israel's problem is simple: SYRIA DELENDA EST!
Listen, Mr. Publisher, owning a thesaurus and looking at the world through your rectum may yet make your fame as the only person even a lawyer wouldn't represent.
Since you are oblivious to history, Carter served from 1977-1981, the war in Vietnam had ended and recruitment needs were diminished. So, the Armed Forces did not need to accept "anyone."
And to close, the only reason I might reference a Thesarus is to find a non-obscene alternative word to replace lawyer.
Squeamish, are you? I should think the word rectum oddly soothing for a hemmorhoid.
BTW, Mr. Semi-literate Publisher, rectum is a word, not a phrase. And it is clinical, not vulgar. Look it up in that Junior Scholastic dictionary of yours. Now, since I must educate you, "pi$$ off" is vulgar, got it? That would make you a dumb hypocrite by your own definition.
My knowledge of history is fair, but certainly unequal to the task of figuring out how the military could have produced you, in any era.
Hatred for lawyers makes you so special. And original. Yawn.
Now you make an obtuse reference to the Junior Scholastic dictionary, I thought you had some undercurrent of resentment toward Rogets Thesarus.
I don't hate lawyers at all, I have a fine barrister that's a partner in another business.
What annoys me is engaging in mind games with mental midgets that attempt to elevate their transparent stupidity with the use of lofty titles and vaccuous responses.
By the way, in your closing sentence you stated And original,that is not a sentence.
For your sake I do hope you do not write your own petitions to the court.
That's it? Tedious.
You were a lot more fun when you were drunk.
It is the object of what?
Are you, as an officer of the court impugning my character and, in a public forum, accusing me of having been drunk at any point during this particular archived thread?
I'd suggest you provide proof.
Satire is not lost on you, nosiree. Look, its been fun, but I have to do something comparatively interesting now, like count pixels on my monitor.
I've no idea why you must count pixels on your monitor, simply reference the box in which your monitor was packed.
Your accusation was not satire and cannot be construed as such. You made a direct statement of fact without any physiological evidence confirming that I, at any time during this online exhchange have been under the influence of alcohol.
Decide whether your career is in the penning of satire or the law.
Queue psycho music: You are trapped in a thread with a man who takes himself way too seriously. Between delusions of grandiosity and sputtering insults, he believes you care what he thinks. You've just entered (Da Dum Dum) the Hilltop Zone.
See ya', uh, or maybe not.
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