America might be wise to recognize its one reall ally int he region.
If there is a war with Iran (and one looks necessary), then Israel could support the US by attacking Syria, thus preventing Syria from helping Iran (either directly or by meddling further in Iraq).
Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree with that. I just don’t think the current administration understands the reality of the situation yet. Even if they do they will continue acting with restraint for political reasons.
Quote of the week
Hezbollah’s raid “gave Isreal the excuse to attack Lebanon. It may have been a mistake to give that excuse.”
- Samir Franjieh
duh
Israel would never be allowed to take part in any U.S. military action because the Islamic allies would go nuts. That’s why there isn’t any official involvement with our “war on terror.”
What Islamic allies? The only Islamic nation I would really consider our ally is Egypt, and Egypt already has healthy diplomatic relations with Israel. I guess you could consider Kuwait and the UAE our allies, but they don’t have a whole lot of say in Middle Eastern politics anyway.
Israel would never be allowed to take part in any U.S. military action because the Islamic allies would go nuts. That’s why there isn’t any official involvement with our “war on terror.”
I know. Remember in 1991, Saddam’s so-caled strategy wa to get Israel involved in the war? I don’t know exactly what he hoped to accomplish. Maybe Syria and Egypt would quit fighting (doubtful), but there was no way Saudi Arabia would deem Israel attacking Iraq a bigger threat to itself than an expansionist Iraq. Of course, he may have wanted to start a popular revolt in the “Arab street” or something.
When Ehud Olmert took office, I was skeptical. But after seeing his resolve in the current crisis and reading this speech, I have more faith.
Israel’s method of fighting, and the declared goals of this operation (or war) has changed dramatically since the beginning of this crisis.
At the beginning it was “We will disarm Hesbollah completely, and once and for all”, then it was “we will destroy most of hesbollah’s ability to strike” (along with declarations such as “only 5 days of fighting and Israel has already destroyed 60% of Hesbollah’s ability”) and then it became “Ok, we just want to push Hesbollah back a few Kilometers from the border (And to get the kidnapped soldiers back)”.
The IDF’s method of fighting changed: we no longer bomb every site we have intelligence of. Instead we send in small forces, with artillery and air-force backup to fight terrorists face to face in guerrilla combat. When we learn of a location of a terrorist “camp” we don’t bomb the place (because it would involve killing Lebanese who stayed in the south despite Israel’s warning to leave), but instead send our troops in to do a “surgical” cleanup that end up with many injured soldiers (and a few dead) on our side.
An interesting article (which, for some reason, never got translated to English from Hebrew, so I can’t supply a link) suggests that the reason for this type of combat that we’re doing is to break Hesbollah’s myth that they are “undefeatable in land combat” and by that (plus taking several hostages) demoralising them into negotiation under terms that are acceptable for Israel.
Grrrr, why can’t we just bomb the heck out of their “Bynth Gable” (I’m probably spelling the name of the town incorrectly) which is called the “capitol of Hesbollah”.
Is it the European pressure that brought this change in Israel’s attitude?
It’s also known that Israel acquired smart bombs from the US (satellite guided) and Bunker-penetrating bombs, Yeah! Can’t wait till we start using them.
As for attacking Syria - yeah right! we’re not even after full disarm of Hesbollah anymore. And we made it clear to Syria that we will not attack them. The bastards keep on trying to smuggle trucks full of ammunition to Hesbollah.
I’m very disappointed with how Israel is caving in, and I don’t understand why.