Ralph Peters on the condition of the IDF and why Israel lost against Hezbollah:
Israel couldn’t wait to throw in the towel and start pulling out troops. Then Hezbollah’s fighters emerged from the rubble of towns Israeli leaders lacked the courage to conquer – and the number of terror-soldiers who survived shocked the Israelis.
Politicians and generals everywhere, repeat after me: ‘Air power alone can’t win wars; you can’t defeat terror on the cheap with technology; and (in the timeless words of Nathan Bedford Forrest) War means fighting, and fighting means killing.’
The U.N. resolution called for Hezbollah to disarm – a fantasy only a diplomat could believe. As soon as the refugees began flowing southward and packing the battlefield, Nasrallah told the international community to take a hike. He knows that U.N. peacekeepers won’t try to disarm his forces – if they ever show up – and the Lebanese military not only won’t try, but couldn’t do it.
The world’s response? The French (who talked so boldly) took a cold swig of Vichy water: Now they say they won’t send in their peacekeepers until Hezbollah is completely disarmed – which isn’t going to happen. And Lebanese leaders stated openly that not only wouldn’t the Lebanese army attempt to take away the terrorists’ weapons, it wouldn’t even confiscate caches it stumbled on.
Sucker-punched (well, don’t fight with your eyes closed), Israel’s complaining to the ref. While staring around in bewilderment.
Now I may disagree as to whether or not a war can be won from the air (Kuwait, Serbia, and Afghanistan are three examples that come to mind), but the IDF failed in its primary objective of destroying Hezbollah’s ability to project force.
Now with Hezbollah being invited to Syria in their efforts to retake the Golan Heights, Israel faces several threats, all of them mortal.
1967. 1973. 1982. 2006.
Not a line of success for Zahal… nor has the mission of Israel’s neighbors changed one iota.