Posted on 08/14/2006 12:52:24 PM PDT by jmc1969
A Globes-Smith survey published on Monday showed that the majority of Israelis (52 percent) believe the IDF was unsuccessful in its Lebanon offensive, as opposed to 44 percent who believe the army did well.
According to the survey, 58 percent of the public believes Israel achieved few if any objectives in the war, up from 16 percent 11 days ago.
The survey showed that only 3 percent of Israelis believe that the country achieved most or all of its pre-war objectives, down from 33 percent a week ago.
According to the survey, were the elections held today Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima party would receive less than 20 mandates (as opposed to the 29 it received in the March elections), while Defense Minister Amir Peretz’s Labor party would receive only 12 mandates (as opposed to the 19 it obtained in the recent elections).
66 percent: Ceasefire agreement not good
Overall, 60 percent of those who voted for Kadima and Labor said they would not vote for them, with most becoming undecided voters at this time.
The picture emerging from the new survey is fundamentally different from the one prevalent during the month of the war in the North, where the public expressed its support for both the government and military – positions that can be characterized as "patriotic."
Only six percent of respondents said they thought the Security Council resolution that ended the fighting is good and achieves most of Israel's objections. Meanwhile, 66 percent believe the agreement is not good – only a quarter of those said this is the best agreement that can be obtained under the circumstances. Overall, 38 percent said the deal is not good but Israel had no choice but to accept it.
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
So true. See: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681379/posts
...but not enough. They and the civilian population that either hides, supports, abetts, or gives them sanctuary need to be humbled and pacified with extreme prejudice to the point where they literally BEG to be able to offer their unconditional surrender and disavow the Hizbollah, radical islamic mind set for many generations.
Thanks for the link. Perhaps a coup d'etat is the only way. Something needs to be done other than what is going on now.
Exactly. People are defining a less than perfect outcome, whatever that is, to be a "defeat" or "failure" instead of a win that could have been even better. And that lanquage emboldens our enemies.
"the IDF was not allowed to win: the political leadership failed them and Israel."
While Olmert and his band of appeasing incompetents is in charge, the IDF will continue to be chained up, it will not be allowed to fight to win. The real answer to the question of whether the IDF failed or succeeded is that the IDF did fine, wonderfully well, in fact - within the very narrow confines of what its political masters allowed it to do.
The local girl thanking "the guys" (i.e. hezbollah) for "looking out for them" IIRC on Fox news was a real eye opener.
The really good thing about the article is it shows how Olmert pulled a bait and switch on Bush. Bush thought the Israelis were going to do the job quickly and right. Then Olmert cut the feet out from under the IDF and Bush, giving us the present fiasco.
Those 52% need to remember EXACTLY who is in charge of the military. Olmert is responsible.
The IDF did not fail; the gutless, weasel politicians (UN, US, and Israeli) failed.
Why is it that when ever the politicians interfere and mess up, the troops get the blame?
Bush Says Israel Defeated Hezbollah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1683562/posts
The pols and their fear of international opinion kept that from happening. Until it happens, Hizbollah will not be defeated and they will gain strength as a result of the perceptiont that they can or have fought the IDF to a standstill when they did no such thing.
The IDF did not fail.The Israel leader ship failed.
The post I was responding to was in response to my post number 8. Read my post number 8 on this thread and you will see that we agree completely.
It's Olmert who failed all the way.
Any guy who thinks he's fooling the public with his comb over is fooling himself first. He is the biggest patsy.
He is a crowd-pleaser. His first speech was criticised for being too introspective, not being Churchillian and not including the big names that made Israel what it is. He went home and did his homework on all these superficialities but since nobody told him how to win he couldn't do that.
WE DESERVE BETTER
That is because they fought a PC war with military targets instead of the kind of war you really win. (nation versus nation)
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