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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| How Israel won on the battlefield against Hezballah & lost in the media |
| 2006-08-30 |
| The author Dan Gordon served as a captain in the reserves in the IDF during the recent war. This article is from Jewish World Review online. Contrary to what is now the accepted wisdom in the media, Hezballah in its recent offensive against Israel neither "badly bloodied the Israel Defense Force," nor "fought it to a standstill" in Southern Lebanon. In fact, the opposite is the case. By any legitimate measure Hezballah was handed a resounding military defeat by the IDF in the recent fighting, and while the cancer that is Hezballah was not cured by Israel's soldiers, it was put into remission. Hezballah is not your father's terrorist organization. This is not a group of loosely affiliated cells of would-be hijackers or suicide bombers. Hezballah is a terrorist army, trained like an army, organized like an army, funded and equipped like an army, with one glaring difference. The main use of its arsenal was terror aimed at Israel's civilian population while hiding behind Lebanon's civilian population. Its intent was to cause maximum civilian casualties amongst both. This was not by accident. This was by design. This was Hezballah's war, planned and prepared for six years, funded by close to a billion dollars by Iran, aided by Syria. One of the great benefits to the West to come out of this war (if they choose not to turn a blind eye to it) is the certain knowledge that Hezballah is Iran's terrorist operational arm. It is the terrorist extension of Iran's expressed foreign policy. It is not a coincidence that Hezballah launched its totally unprovoked attack across Israel's internationally recognized border, killing and kidnapping Israeli soldiers and dragging Lebanon and Israel into a war which neither one wanted at exactly the moment when the international community had issued its ultimatum to Iran. That ultimatum was: "Cease your efforts to develop nuclear weapons or face the sanctions of the International Community." Iran's response was Hezballah's war. Even a cursory examination of Hezballah's statements, captured documents, the weapons it procured over six years and instantly deployed, provides an insight into their war aims and the battle plan to achieve those aims. Hezballah announced in the clearest possible way that it was its intent to turn Southern Lebanon into a graveyard for the IDF. This was not mere rhetoric. It was their plan. Much has been made, and rightly so, of the arsenal of some 15,000 short, medium and longer range rockets which Hezballah stock piled for its offensive. |
| Posted by:Alaska Paul |
| #3 Isreal is now in greater peril. Thanks to Olmert. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-30 23:33 |
| #2 I think that in the big picture, the IDF failure to destroy Hizb'Allah, neutralize Syria, and not fight the media war will come back to haunt them, and us. Kofi and Co has, in effect, legitimized Hizb'Allah from a terrorist outfit to a defacto state. Isreal is now in greater peril. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-08-30 15:18 |
| #1 From a military perspective there can be absolutely no doubt as to the results of Hezballah and Iran's offensive against Israel. It was a defeat. Every part of their war plan except the manipulation of the media failed. The same and be said of North Vietnam. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-08-30 14:45 |