Comments on: Israel Can Win

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 10:06:15 +0000

Not only can Israel NOT win this engagement they have already lost it, tactically and strategically. It is mystifying how they think that the death of nearly 1000 palestinians due to bombings will achieve either the short term objective of reducing rocket attacks or the long term objective of a two-state solution.
Hamas, is not just an organization, it is a mentality or more precisely an ideology. You can no more ‘destroy’ Hamas than you can ‘destroy’ racism. This is what people believe.
Anyone who has ever had even 5 minutes worth of counter insurgecy training knows that Rule 1 is to separate the populous from the insurgents. Indescriminate bombing only allows Gazans to easily side with and support the radicals in Hamas.
Israel has lost the moral highground and their days are numbered in this region. Hamas knows it, Hezbollah knows it, Syria knows it and increasingly I am inclined to believe that Israel if figuring it out. By the year 2047 this little 100-year experiment known as Israel will be one for the history books.
If Israel wants to prevent this eventuality they need to dramatically readjust their strategy, tactics militarily and their behaviour dimplomatically.

By: MANG

MANG — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:00:08 +0000

JUST IN CASE nobody already has…
Does anyone care to address the amount of civilian casualties in Gaza? Even if the figure of 900 dead quoted by Palestinian organizations is highballing it, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that 2 or 3 Palestinian civilians had been killed for each actual militant.
The techniques quoted in the bulleted list seem pretty effective and humane. Body snatches, snipers, night raids all have a lower potential for civilian death than shells and surgical missile strikes. (The *hell* a missile is ever surgical.) At least one middle-of-the-road Israeli news source, Haaretz, stated that the military was dropping cluster bombs — I hope they were mistaken, but if they aren’t, it indicates an overkill, callous mentality.
I’m speaking from a position of sympathy to Palestinian (or any) civilians — the majority of them are not hurting anyone, but they’re still ending up in the ground. Am I mistaken?
I think I agree with a couple comments in this thread — this incursion isn’t really going to result in a “win.” The rockets won’t stop, and Gazans will get even more desperate.

By: oudemos

oudemos — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:20:17 +0000

After Mogadishu, the US Armed Forces turned to Israel to learn how to fight and “win” urban operations against terrorists (http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1386/mike_davis_on_the_pentagon_s_urban_war_planning.) This was despite the fact that 60 years of battering the Palestinians into submission hasn’t brought peace.
Only after a change of SecDef from the Neo-Con Rumsfeldt to the Realist Gates were the Armed Forces allowed to address the political issues — and stand up the Sons of Iraq. One might hope that the US experiences in Iraq would filter back to the IDF .…

By: wembley

wembley — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:44:51 +0000

Win? Haven’t they already lost by launching the assault?
Something to do with an election, one suspects.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:37:13 +0000

I think people are forgetting — war is political, and victory is psychological. Israel may be able to destroy Hamas — but is it really victory if in 10 years, there’s another generation of Palestinians so desperate that they resort to violence?
I think the article needs clarification — Israel can probably win the battle of the Gaza Strip, on a tactical and probably operational level. But winning the war, as Hannibal discovered after Cannae, is a completely different problem.
JGH

By: saider72

saider72 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:29:06 +0000

Ablefable,
Hamas wants to get rid of Isreal, not just kick their settlers out of the occupied territories. The only solution they are willing to accept is one where there is one palestinian state. The delusion that they can achieve this is the principal reason this conflict persists.

By: Ablefable

Ablefable — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:15:27 +0000

An eye for 1000 eyes... Poor Isreal meeting resistance to it's ever expanding territory. What would you do if some foreing power takes your home away and gives it to someone else, based solely on their faith. Surrender? Tell em no prob, I like the refugee camp life... Id' lob some rocks or rockets or whatever I had at the occupying force. I'd try to make life miserable for them. So please check out the 1949 Isreal border compared to today... Who do you think they took all that land from (yes Egypt in 67 too) OR ask an Israeli politician to draw Isreal's land borders today... They won't because if they do, they may not be able to annex more Palestinian land. I honestly though ordinairy Isreali's would have more compassion and forsight to realize that they are the new perpetrators of genocide. Stop the violence. Revert to old border /boundries. Without its reason for existance, Hamas/Hizbolah will disapear. 8 yrs of Bush have helped many see through the talking points, and verbal distractions etc... unfortunately it obviously hasn't helped everyone think critically and obtain empathy. Good luck to you.

By: Ablefable

Ablefable — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:10:05 +0000

By: C-Low

C-Low — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:39:40 +0000

Sounds like Olmert is getting ready to fall all over himself to make sure that doesn’t happen.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,477244,00.html
We should all be watching and paying attention because Israel’s Olmert days is a window into our next 4+yrs.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:52:56 +0000

There is no victory until both sides agree to stop fighting.
There are two ways to do this. Either both reach a compromise, or they fight until one of them is dead. Those is the only way wars end.
Israel could kill everyone in Gaza, that is within their power. But as much criticism as Israel receives (some of it deserved), they have not reached that point yet. I do not think they will reach that point.
Hamas does not have the power to kill everyone in Israel. All Hamas can do is launch some rockets, kill some civilians, and royally piss everyone off. Thus, in a “total war” scenario, only Israel can win. Hamas does not believe this, however. They believe that Allah will aid them in victory. This irrational belief prevents compromise — when both sides are assured of winning, why give advantage to the enemy?
Where does this irrational belief come from? The leadership? The clerics? The people themselves? Once you discover the way to change their beliefs, then you will end the war.