Israel/Hezbollah

[PeeWee]

Source: Stratfor 8/11  (Stratfor is an International intelligence gathering organization...find them on the Internet)  Peewee

"The situation in Israel tonight has become extremely confused, verging on the chaotic. Government ministers, like the foreign minister and prime minister, are publicly feuding. The government is saying that the assault into Lebanon will definitely be rolling tonight while it has simultaneously implied that it intends to accept the cease-fire resolution. Leaders of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are demanding to be unleashed while leaks from some government members hint that they have no confidence in the military. The media has now surged into the battle with highly contentious columns and editorials.

There is a saying in Israel: "When the cannon roar, we fall silent." It means that, while there is a war on, politics -- and even public controversy -- are impermissible. That rule has clearly collapsed. Controversy has raged inside the government and military during wars, and some of it has been savage. But this combination of contradictory signals from the government and increasingly open battling is fairly unprecedented. The closest Israel has come to this was in 1967, between the time Egypt imposed a blockade on Israel's port of Eilat and the time Israel launched its attack on Egypt. We would judge this as worse.

There appear to be two basic and competing schools of thought. One argues that Israel cannot defeat Hezbollah without incurring unacceptable losses and re-occupying parts of Lebanon, thereby winding up in a counterinsurgency situation. The other school of thought argues that the price of accepting a cease-fire that leaves Hezbollah intact is much higher than the cost of war.

The interesting thing is that Olmert himself seems to embody both views. On the one hand he is saying that the offensive is on while at the same time asserting that he is inclined to accept the cease-fire. In some ways, either position would be more comforting to Israelis than the apparent vacillation. There had been a belief that Olmert was using this as psychological warfare against Hezbollah, but the view is now spreading that it is doing more damage to the Israeli psyche than to Hezbollah's."

[Mamma D]

I believe that world wide support of Isreal is slipping and may take decades to repair....

This situation is very sad and I hope that one day they can come togather as MEN and not greedy children and agree to live in peace.

[Durk]

              Peewee my customers that have returned from Iraq tell me they have to go by the
 rules and nobody else has to!! The leadership of Rumsfeld and Rice are now playing a role in
 the Israel problem. The IDF shot down 450 planes in one day! This whole thing could be over
 in just a few days. The theory of "watch the civilians" is just not the way to go. The USA has
 not learned from Pearl. We still have this complacency. Until we understand what IS going to
 happen I think it is going to be to late. 911 taught the people of this country nothing that I can
see. Considering flight 93 flew right over my business and F16s were running the county line all
 day long I can't imagin why people would not wake up. The IDF could take out the leadership.
   What are we doing? You get rid of the leadership at least you change something for the better.

[PeeWee]

For a change France has gotten involved in something. I was glad to see that France is emerging as the cornerstone of the peacekeeping force and not the US. It seems odd to me that those little paper lions would man-up for a change but they seem to be doing just that.

Peewee

[Bruno]

For a change France has gotten involved in something. I was glad to see that France is emerging as the cornerstone of the peacekeeping force and not the US. It seems odd to me that those little paper lions would man-up for a change but they seem to be doing just that.

Peewee

France and USA have work together... UN have the final word on the USA-French plan... For the peacekeeping force, like usual, it will be made by troop from each NATO members... but since the presence of soldat of some country can lead to more problem due to the hate feeling, no soldat of these country will be used...

If USA and France was able to work together this time, it is simply because it was a plan for make peace... and not a plan for make war !!!

[beattledog]

It is sad that both Israel and this country in their fights against the enemy does not do what the allies did after the last world war.  After the fall of Germany, there was not hesitation on quelching the rebellion of the Nazis as the goverment of Germany was chaning.  There were trails  and the people of the regime was put on trail and convicted, but not in Iraq/  We must de-bathize this country, like we did Germany after the close of the war.  Both countries need to get serous and defeat their enemies .  We have become to feminized.  Do you think that the news media of today would accept thousands of deaths of civilians and serviceman , like in the last big conflict?

beattledog