"I wonder if Israel's failure to eliminate Hezbollah was directly related to support from the United States. It is in the midst of other countries that wouldn't bat an eye, if it no longer existed."
It was actually a wonderful moment, at the start of the war, when the US refused to do the knee jerk thing, when Bush made clear that a ceasefire that didnt fix the underlying problem was not a useful solution, and we didnt condemn Israel's "lack of proportionality", nor send Condi off for talks, etc. We gave Israel enough room to act - at first... only after the PR about death toll did international pressure mount.
srael had about 3 weeks in which they could have changed the realities on the ground.
There was a phobia about putting ground troops into Lebanon that hobbled the strategic actions of Israel. Despite that, Israel seriously weakened Hezbollah's infrastructure, but whatever it gained militarily was lost in the PR war, which the Lamestream media handed to Hezbollah by being ass-kissing terrorist PR fronts.
There was only ONE strategy that the Israeli Government could take that would meet their objectives while dealing with the international constraints of impatience etc., and that was precision war combined with 'shock and awe' overwhelming force. The Israelis should captured bridgeheads instead of bombing them. They should have surrounded All of
Lebanon south of the Latani river and liquidated Hezbollah units one by one.
And they should have killed Nasrallah.
And they should have won the PR war, by getting the MSM to focus on Israeli civilian deaths and debunking the false news that Hezbollah put out.
Very interesting and informative read. It all makes perfect sense, as these thoughts crossed my mind throughout the turmoil. Regarding the MSM, I don't think they have enough brains to clean the gutter, much less help anybody's PR(not that they shouldn't have done this). With their irresponsible techniques and adherence to the talking money machines, they will quite willingly cause our country to fall...