What Did They Expect?

[Bubba2]

What Did They Expect?
motherjones.com

Yoel Marcus observes in Haaretz today that Israel hasn't exactly destroyed Hezbollah as planned. Missiles are still raining down on Haifa and Nahariya, and Hassan Nasrallah is still out there taunting the IDF:

Bush and the public assumed that the army knew what it was doing, and that Israel, with its superiority in manpower, weaponry and technology, would be able to put an end to Hezbollah as a menace to Israel. Little by little, however, a worrying picture has begun to emerge: Instead of an army that is small but smart, we are catching glimpses of an army that is big, rich and dumb.

This picture shouldn't have emerged "little by little." Anyone who managed to avoid being in a persistent vegetative state over the past four years—which, I guess, excludes the president and what, 37 percent of the United States?—would've noticed that the most powerful army on earth hasn't been able to squelch a ragtag band of determined insurgents in Iraq, either.

Basically, neither the United States nor Israel, nor any liberal democracy in the world, knows how to fight these sorts of wars, which are quite clearly not the conventional "blow up a bunch of enemy tanks and you win" wars of the past. Short of killing every last Shiite in Lebanon—a step perhaps too gruesome even for Israeli Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, who has ordered ten Lebanese buildings bombed for every rocket launched on an Israeli city (can we call it "terrorism" yet?)—Israel's military can't defeat Hezbollah. It's nice that people are realizing this now, but the lessons of Iraq should've made that clear from the start.

[Mark]

What Did They Expect?
motherjones.com

Yoel Marcus observes in Haaretz today that Israel hasn't exactly destroyed Hezbollah as planned. Missiles are still raining down on Haifa and Nahariya, and Hassan Nasrallah is still out there taunting the IDF:

Bush and the public assumed that the army knew what it was doing, and that Israel, with its superiority in manpower, weaponry and technology, would be able to put an end to Hezbollah as a menace to Israel. Little by little, however, a worrying picture has begun to emerge: Instead of an army that is small but smart, we are catching glimpses of an army that is big, rich and dumb.

This picture shouldn't have emerged "little by little." Anyone who managed to avoid being in a persistent vegetative state over the past four years—which, I guess, excludes the president and what, 37 percent of the United States?—would've noticed that the most powerful army on earth hasn't been able to squelch a ragtag band of determined insurgents in Iraq, either.

Basically, neither the United States nor Israel, nor any liberal democracy in the world, knows how to fight these sorts of wars, which are quite clearly not the conventional "blow up a bunch of enemy tanks and you win" wars of the past. Short of killing every last Shiite in Lebanon—a step perhaps too gruesome even for Israeli Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, who has ordered ten Lebanese buildings bombed for every rocket launched on an Israeli city (can we call it "terrorism" yet?)—Israel's military can't defeat Hezbollah. It's nice that people are realizing this now, but the lessons of Iraq should've made that clear from the start.

I would tend to agree with your post. Remember how we learned in grade school the reasons why the British were soundly whipped during the French and Indian War? The British were too conventional and basically lost to guerilla tactics. That is why winning the hearts and minds of the Arab on the street is the only way to "win" this war. Israel needs to accept the 1967 borders and do it now. Anything short of that will only mean the death of more children...