It turns out that the IDF allowed Hizbullah back into the same outposts on the Lebanese side from which they fled just several weeks ago. Also, it turns out that the IDF lowered its threat profile from high alert in the north of Israel just a couple of days ago. Lo and behold, we have just watched Hizbullah launch a successful operation. Apparently even the tank that went over a charge killing all four of its crew members, drove into a trap.
These emerging details indicate severe problems among IDF planners and officers who have now allowed this attack to surprise Israel at a cost of lives much higher than Hizbullah has experienced thus far. This is the same top brass that allowed the Kerem Shalom attack to take place a couple of weeks ago despite serious and correct warnings from intelligence services.
These two failures have happened on Halutz’s watch. He is now watching as his planners and officers lead Israel into a war against Hizbullah and Lebanon – a war Israel must win decisively. One can only hope that he is up to the task. Based on these two examples, it’s hard to be sure that he is. The IDF is much deeper than one person, but ultimately it is a hierarchy and the person at the top sets the tone for everyone else. The IDF has to perform now without any possibility of failure. Its victory must be overwhelming. Admittedly, this war is very different than defending outposts against surprise attacks, and let’s hope Halutz’s team is up to this task. We don’t want Halutz to strike out a third time.
I agree, Optimist.
I also think that all the politics that play out in the upper ranks of the military may be having an impact here. I hope not, but it’s what I suspect.
the problem in those attacks stems from the Israeli mentaliity of “yihiye beseder.
Here’s is some moral support for a lone democracy in surrounded by thugs and dictators(kind’a like the USA feels sometimes at the UN) from Bob Dylans Neighborhood Bully:
Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man,
His enemies say he’s on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
“The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive.
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin,
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He’s wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He’s always on trial for just being born.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he’ll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
‘Cause there’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don’t get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, he’s surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn’t hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He’s made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one’s command.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
What’s anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin’, they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He’s the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.”
Jim, the criticism about the two attacks where the kidnappings occurred are more than justified. This post is about the fact that Halutz and his commanders cannot fail this time. Success is the only option.
As for contributing to the war effort, I’m afraid that I’d be more of a hindrance than a help.
Good observation from you’re watch in the USA TM. If Halutz proves not up to the task, you plan to fly in and contribute?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to save the critizism until…..oh I don’t know…..maybe ‘after the war’?
Wow, Steves Rick, we actually agree on something!
Exiled Yeru, come home! The fast is over here. 🙂
well duh the virtues of static defense people! if ure standing behind a fence ure bound to get lazy and caught with ure pants down (I hope they at least made an “asher yatzar”). Not to mention you’ll then trip on ure pants which are still around your ankles when you try to chase after the hated neighborhood bully.
easy fasting yids
Absolutey prissy response. not enough, too little too late. You see, Sadam understood how to rule these people.
Anything humanitarian, they see as a weakness. they only respect brutality.