Posted on 09/19/2006 5:41:23 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
New assessment says Hizbullah lost up to half its fighting force
JERUSALEM — Hizbullah was badly damaged in the war against Israel and will need at least two years to recover, a leading Israeli military analyst said.
Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror, a former senior military intelligence officer, said Hizbullah lost up to half of its combat force in the 33-day war with Israel.
Amidror, highly regarded in the intelligence community, said he does not expect Hizbullah to initiate a major conflict with Israel for at least another year. __ Full Text, Subscribers See Story Focus Iran
U.S. warns Iran's continued advance will render its production of nukes invisible _ Full Text, Subscribers See Story Middle East Report
Al Qaida provides most sober warning yet of major attack __ Full Text, Subscribers
'Azzam the American', a convert to Islam who speaks English and 'can employ idiomatic phrases' warned Americans to either convert to Islam or share the fate of the 9/11 victims. AFP
See Story Northeast Asia Report China hungry for command and control tech, renews pressure on EU to lift arms ban __ East-Asia-Intel.com See Story
Focus on Counter-Terrorism New electronic jamming system answers roadside bombs, new generation IEDs __ Full Text, Subscribers See Story
Military Technology Worldwide demand for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) seen tripling by 2015 __ Full Text, Subscribers
Bad news for democrats.
No, the Israeli killed 800 "civilians" and no Hezbollah terrorists, according to AP, al Reuters, AFP, ABC, NBC, and CNN.
Headline I want to see 'Hizbullah loses 100% of their fighting forces.'
Hey, they may be dead, but that doesn't mean they can't vote!
The fact that they will be able to attack again in a year, or two years, is unacceptable. They should have been totally destroyed. PC will kill us all.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
also Keywords 2006israelwar or WOT [War on Terror]
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And Iran is fuding their replentishments
Israel had 30 days to launch a concerted, effective attack on the Hezbo fighters, most of whom were right across their northern border, but for some reason they failed to get their act together.
The US (Prez Bush) stepped aside and gave Israel ample time to make a move, but one never came.(so please dont blame Pres. Bush, as I've seen occasionally here on FR)
To me, someone who supports Israel always, it was totally frustrating to watch the Israel leaders flailing around like a bunch of Democrats.
half enough
Absolutely agree with you 100% on this.
The cure to militant islam = Saltpeter. Tons of it.
Can't read? Can't understand what you read? Where in my comment does it say anything about Bush? The first thing you might want to do is look over my original comment and see if you can find the word "Bush" somewhere in the content. If you can't, perhaps you can find something else that led you to think I was trashing the Prez. I doubt it, but evidently you either saw something I didn't say or you are extremely paranoid when it comes to the President.
Should of made it a 66 day war.
Because Israel has it's "cut and run" faction, just like the US does (and that includes the current Prime Minister). Hopefully, that faction will be out of power after the next Israeli election.
Yeah, Israel should have taken care of business (no doubt about that). But Bush went wobbly big time--in no small part due to the influence of Miss Rice and the State Dept.
I was just making the comment to the general readership, not you personally.
Bush gave Israel a green light to go into Lebanon and clean house, (not that Israel necessarily needs US permission, but it always helps).
But for 30 days, Israel sat there like a skinny female soccer player facing a pack of NFL line-backers.(I know it's easy for me to criticize, cause it's not me or my kids who would face death)
But Israel only sent in small excursionary forces, which met with strong resistance from Hezbola villages. IDF forces thus retreated.
Israel apparantly thought they could destroy the Hez-barbarics with air power alone, and without taking casualties.
When the IDF saw the deep fortified bunkers, and realized that Hezbo-terrorists had powerful Iranian anti-tank weapons, they got cold feet. (Recall the large number of Israel tanks that were destroyed while entering a Hez-barbaric village. That had never happened before on such a large scale.
After 30 days of defacto stalemate, the US (in late July) saw that Israel was not going to launch the necessary ground invasion, and in essence said, "Shit or get off the pot."
Israel got off the pot.
GWB, I am certain, was as disappointed as me at this lack of tenacity from a country and a people that I love and admire.
I just pray that the IDF, backed by the US, is formulating a new plan to turn the barbaric Islamo-Hezballs into a massive pile of hair, fingernails, and eyeballs.
Oh yeah, and a few splatters of blood.
Again, I think Israel could have done better. However, I think hindsight will show (is showing) that they did better against Hezbollah than was perceived right after the war. The UN troops there now will help keep Hezbollah in its box. Hopefully, the UN force won't (again) be both coopted and toothless over time.
On the other point, I am NO fan of Bush's resolve. I guess these things are relative however. Compared to the Dems (John Kerry comes to mind), Bush is a veritable Rock of Gibraltar. However, when compared to historical figures like Lincoln and Churchill, he comes up very short.
The problem is that Bush says one thing and often does another. He says your with or with the terrorists. Yet he had been funding the PA, which was obviously a terroist entity. He has also been playing footsie with the Saudis, who are arguably responsible for radicalizing the Muslim world. Ditto with Pakistan. In Iraq, where his resolve is supposedly "strongest", he put in enough troops not to lose, but not enough to win. He should have stabilized the country first, then built up the security forces. As a result of his decisions, we may never be able to put humpty dumpty back together again in Iraq.
Overall, I think his GWOT has been extraordinarily weak. Perhaps the most blatent example was after 9/11, when he urged people to "go shopping" rather than enlist. I understand he was trying to keep the economy afloat. However, I find it hard to believe we would have won WWII, if FDR had made a similar statement after Pearl Harbor.
I empathize with your animosity and distrust of the Saudi's, the PA, and Pakistan.
However, the myriad leaders of these countries are not comprised of one solid group of America-hating zealots, or on the other hand, one solid group of America loving friends.
Our dealings with them must reflect that fact.
For example, one segment of the large family of King Saud in Saudi Arabia IS in fact pro-Western and does much to help the US defeat terror.
There is also a faction of the Saud regime which covertly sides with the west-hating terrorists, and yes, gives large support to terror groups.
Ditto in Pakistan where Mushariff has been a great friend to the US. (Pakistani forces helped us capture Khalid Shiek Mohammad, or KSM as his evil butt is known.
Are we simply to abandon the friendly faction of Pakistan because there are groups in Pakistan which hate the US.
What if other countries in the world stopped dealing with the Bush Administration because of the Democrats, which have a totally different philosophy in world affairs.
Should Israel stop dealing with the US (Bush Admin) simply because there is a large faction of Jew-haters in the Democrat Party, or elsewhere.
Should Japan stop helping the US simply because the Clinton Administration (not to mention current Democrats) supported and befriended Kim Jong Il of North Korea.
Bottom Line: the relationships between two countries are a very delicate dance, and often revolves around the carrot and stick approach.
One cannot always paint a black and white picture.
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