Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest: How Israel Lost the War against Hezbollah, Syria and Iran

Dumb:
Three weeks ago, Ralph Peters in the New York Post warned that the Israelis were in danger of losing the war against Hezbollah: "All Hezbollah has to do to achieve victory is not to lose completely...Israel has to pull itself together now, to send in ground troops in sufficient numbers, with fierce resolve to do what must be done: Root out Hezbollah fighters and kill them."

At the time, the conflict was still in it's early stages and there was plenty of opportunity to mount a more vigorous offense. But the Israeli Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Olmert could not agree to launch a decisive attack. Then the phony media hype over the "massacre" at Qana hit the "news" further undermining Israeli efforts.

The Israeli cabinet continued to discuss possible large scale operations. Meanwhile, their army sat idle in Lebanon and on the Israeli side of the border like sitting ducks, giving Hezbollah fighters with advanced anti-tank weapons the opportunity to inflict mounting casualties on the forces in Lebanon and the chance of a lucky hit with inaccurate rockets.

Dumber: On August 9, former US Secretary of State and the king of Middle East shuttle diplomacy, Henry Kissinger, noted that :

"What the Israelis are doing with their military is sometimes inexplicable to me," Kissinger said.

"If Hezbollah is not disarmed, then the moderates in the Middle East are going to be discouraged," he said. "Lebanon is likely to be taken over by Hezbollah sooner or later, and this whole crisis will repeat itself. That is the fundamental issue, and not all of these tactical moves."

Again, the Israeli cabinet met and this time, we were told, THIS time there was going to be a massive offensive that would be decisive.

DUMBEST: But again, Prime Minister Olmert and the Israeli Cabinet met and held up plans for a full scale military solution.

And on Friday, the U.N. (Useless Nations) gathered in New York and passed another toothless resolution in the Security Council to demand a cease fire. Israel has agreed to stop the fighting on Monday. The Useless Nations promise (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) that a second resolution dealing with the more thorny matters of implementation will soon follow.

During that time, expect Israel to sit idle while Hezbollah rearms. You may have heard radio host Roger Hedgecock descibe that "ceasefire" in Arabic means "rearm."

Both President Bush and Secretary of State Rice have made repeated statements saying they reject business as usual in the aftermath of this conflict. And we hope they are right. History has yet to show an agreement to end hostilities that was not used as a figleaf for terrorists set free to kill again.

Even in a relatively restrained response to Hezbollah aggression Israel did not win world opinion. And by offering Hezbollah the opportunity to claim partial victory by surviving as a fighting force they undermine the best tool Israelis have to insure their survival: the fear their enemies have of defeat at the hands of Jews.

Smarter? Finally, the lesson from the handling of this war is clear: never let politicians dictate military strategy. And moves are underway in Israel to hold Prime Minister Olmert accountable for his indecisiveness.