Israel re-establishing the deterrent

[bigtree]

What does 'deterrent power' actually mean? Understand that, and you understand the remarkable savagery of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon

By GWYNNE DYER

''What they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over,'' said President George W Bush over an unnoticed open microphone at the St Petersburg summit on Sunday. But it isn't really that simple. There are two sides in every fight, and Israel is doing some shit, too. The Hizbollah certainly started the fight (by crossing Israel's border and taking two soldiers hostage), but it is not clear that either Syria or Iran is the mastermind behind the operation. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbollah, is perfectly capable of taking this initiative on his own.

True, the rockets that have been raining down on northern Israel (2,000 so far, leaving 16 Israeli civilians dead) were made in Iran. But then the F-16s and Apache gunships that are pounding Lebanon (130 Lebanese civilians dead so far) were made in the United States, and that doesn't mean that Washington ordered the Israeli offensive against Lebanon.

Sheikh Nasrallah knew that the Israeli retaliation for the kidnapping would fall mainly on innocent Lebanese (because they are much easier targets than his elusive guerrillas), but he doesn't care. He had a few surprises up his sleeve, like longer-range rockets that could strike deep into Israel and radar-guided Silkworm anti-ship missiles to attack the Israeli warships that used to shell the Lebanese coast with impunity. And if he manages to fight Israel to a draw, he will come out of this the most popular Arab leader since Nasser.

General Dan Halutz, the Israeli chief-of-staff, was also spoiling for a fight. His major concern has been that Israel's ''deterrent power'' has gone into decline, and he wanted to re-establish it.

full article: http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/20Jul2006_news21.php

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. I'm still wondering how we know there really were two soldiers captured

I certainly have not seen anything even remotely convincing about that.

[Lindacooks]

2. Good article, except for this mistake:

"The Hizbollah certainly started the fight..."

Wrong.

Israelis captured a doctor and his son; the capture of Israeli soldiers was in response to that. And the last time Israeli soliders were captured, Israel did a swap.

This time, they started a war. Without declaring it.

[blonndee]

4. I thought they were captured/kidnapped in response to the murdered family

on the beach. I've heard about the doctor but haven't found it in the news.

[Little Star]

7. Here is a link

Israel Started It, Says Chomsky

http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/003988.html

[blonndee]

8. Thank you.

I'm going to try to dig up some media sources on this, if they exist. I believe Chomsky, I'd just like to know whether anyone else has reported this.

[blonndee]

9. I found an article by Gideon Levy that claims this as well

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=733427

[Little Star]

12. Thank You. That article brought

tears to my irish eyes. Two wrongs will never make a right.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. The media has done a great job in completely severing Gaza

the re-incursion of Israel into Gaza, the killing of civilians, and the capture of half of the Palestinian government from the events in Lebanon. It's like they're taking place on two separate planets.

[blonndee]

11. I know it! It's hard to find anything on Gaza.

Let alone anything trustworthy. As usual, the Palestinian refugees in Gaza are on their own. To the media, they don't even exist, except for when it's convenient to show how the IDF is "threatened" by them.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Israel will do whatever it wants until restrained. They have nukes and...

...the Olmert government is clearly out of touch. Very dangerous situation.

  Oh yes, the United States helped most of this come about.

PB

[sweetheart]

5. By the standards of the US in firebombing of japan...

Israel has a few notches yet to step up this war. Olmert is a fucking idiot,
gosh, there must be a tree of these assholes growing somewhere.

[Poll_Blind]

6. That tree is called NeoConservatism. The United States and Israel...

...have their own particular flavors but all of them taste like shit.

PB

[Little Star]

13. You got that right.