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A Lebanese man
looks at buildings that were attacked by Israeli air strikes in the
Hizbollah stronghold of southern Beirut July 16, 2006.
(Reuters/Adnan Hajj) |
Israel Takes a Stupid Pill
By Larry C. Johnson, Booman Tribune
July 17, 2006
Unlike the Egyptian and Syrian armies in 1973,
Hamas and Hezbollah
will not easily fold and cannot be defeated in a seven-day war
Apparently not content to let the US do a self-immolation act in the
Middle East by itself, Israel decided to set itself on fire by invading
Lebanon. Burn baby burn? Like George Bush, Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud
Olmert, never served in a combat unit and launched military operations
without thinking the matter through. In fact, Olmert reportedly never even
served in the military. I raise this because there is one simple question
Israel cannot answer about the current operations-what is their strategic
military objective. Olmert has somehow persuaded the Israeli military to
ignore strategy, think tactically, and in the process become really
stupid. The events in the next several weeks will expose as myth the
canard that you can secure a nation by killing terrorists. No you can't.
Killing "terrorists" has a place in policy but it is not a strategic
military obective. It is a tactical objective and may serve political
purposes, but achieves little in terms of securing Israel. Israel is
attacking targets in Lebanon like a drunken sailor in a bar fight.
Flailing about, causing significant damage, hitting innocent bystanders,
and generally making a mess of things. This is not the Israeli military
that pulled off the brilliant and daring raid at Entebbe.
What about Hamas and Hezbollah?
They are not terrorists. They carry out terrorist attacks, but they are
not terrorists. They are something far more dangerous. They are a fully
functioning political, social, religious, and military organizations that
use terrorism tactics, but they are far more formidible than terrorist
groups like Al Qaeda or the Basque Terrorist Organization. They do have
the resources and the personnel to project force, sustain operations, and
cannot be easily defeated. Unlike the Egyptian and Syrian armies in 1973,
Hamas and Hezbollah will not easily fold and cannot be defeated in a seven
day war. If that is the assumption among some Israeli military planners it
is a crazy fantasy.
While most folks in the United States buy into the Hollywood storyline
of poor little Israel fighting for its survival against big, bad Muslims,
the reality unfolding on our TV screens shows something else. Exodus,
starring Paul Newman, is ancient history. Hamas and Hezbollah attacked
military targets; kidnapping soldiers on military patrols may be an act of
war and a provocation, but it is not terrorism. (And yes, Hezbollah and
Hamas have carried out terrorist attacks in the past against Israeli
civilians. I'm not ignoring those acts, I condemn them, but we need to
understand what the dynamics are right now.) Israel is not attacking the
individuals who hit their soldiers. Israel is engaged in mass punishment.
How did Israel respond? They bombed civilian targets and civilian
infrastructure and have killed many civilians. Let's see if I have this
right.
The Arab "terrorists" attack military units, destroy at least one tank,
and are therefore terrorists. Israel retaliates by launching aerial,
naval, and artillery bombardments of civilian areas and they are engaging
in self-defense. If we are unable to recognize the hypocrisy of this
construct then we ourselves are so enveloped by propaganda and emotion
that, like the Israelis, Hezbollah, and Hamas, we can't think rationally.
We can only think in terms of tribalism and revenge.
Iran, meanwhile, is sitting in the catbird's seat. They have a
well-trained and highly competent surrogate force in Hezbollah.
Hezbollah's successful attack on Friday on an Israeli naval vessel is a
reminder that Hezbollah is not a bunch of crazy kids carrying RPGs and
wearing flip flops. I would be willing to wager that at least one Iranian
military advisor was helping Hezbollah launch the missile that hit the
Israeli ship. But Iran is doing more than simply engage in tit-for-tat.
They are thinking strategically.
The events unfolding in Iraq and Lebanon are going Tehran's way. The
United States is being portrayed in the world media as a government that
tolerates and excuses attacks on civilian populations. The perception
becomes the reality and the ability of the United States to rally support
among the Russians, the Chinese, and even the French becomes more
impaired. We need the international community to deal effectively with
nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran. Now, we will be bogged down
trying to defend Israel from an angry international community.
In the past, the United States had enough credibility on both sides and
kept enough of a distance during these blood fueds so that we could
intervene and prevent the fighting from escalating into a gigantic war. It
appears that there is no one in the Bush Administration who can step up
and intervene to calm the situation. Hell, with John Bolton and Elliot
Abrams leading the charge, we are Israel's enablers.
Former Senator Fred Thompson played a U.S. Navy Admiral in The Hunt
for Red October. While speaking about escalating tensions as the
United States and the Soviet Union chased a renegade submarine, he said:
"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and
we'll be lucky to live through it."
Those words are relevant today. Let's hope and pray they don't come to
pass.
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