24 Israeli soldiers killed Saturday

[blitzen]

http://haaretz.com/


Why didn't the IDF/Olmert just chill out until the ceasefire?

[Don Claybrook]

1. Imagine the bitterness their families must feel

That their loved ones were killed in the first place must cause more grief than I could possibly imagine. But what a special hell it must be to know, to begin to fully realize, that they died because Israel wanted to advance this war just as far as they could before they were forced to stop. Something approaching peace or at least the hope for peace was in their grasp, and they're dead now.

Neocons bring death. It's what they do.

[blitzen]

2. my thoughts exactly....What's that John Kerry line about

being the last to die in a war? I remember the gist of it but not the exact words.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted sub-thread

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[PA Democrat]

9. I thought of the same quote.

"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

I think at this point Israel leadership has realized that they have made a huge mistake with this offensive. And despite agreeing to a ceasefire which they have said will not take place until Monday morning, they have put more troops deeper into Lebanon, and now 24 more Israeli soldiers are dead.

24 more families will have their hearts broken, and numerous Lebanese families will be mourning as well. All because leaders are not quite ready to give up on pursuing a mistaken, obscene policy.

[blitzen]

10. well stated n/t

[daleo]

4. Like having a loved one die on Nov 10, 1918. n/t

[bridgit]

5. what a waste...

[Name removed]

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[Selatius]

7. Their deaths were the natural consequence of invading foreign soil

Hezbollah is not some ill-trained, poorly-equipped militia. You underestimate their capability at your peril.

As it stands, it appears Israel has made Hezbollah stronger in the long-run by alienating so many Lebanese civilians. The high civilian death toll will easily play into the hands of Hezbollah. Israel miscalculated with the amount of force it decided to employ against Hezbollah.

[breakaleg]

8. somehow these deaths seem more appalling because of the timing.

They could have been prevented. It's that simple.

[TahitiNut]

11. And deeper into the story, we read ...

Under cover of intense artillery fire, IDF forces reached the Litani River, which is some 20 to 30 kilometers inside Lebanon, military officials said Saturday evening.

As part of the expanded operation, IAF helicopters dropped a large number of Israeli troops deep inside Lebanese territory on Saturday, in the largest operation of its kind since 1973.

IDF troops were engaged in heavy exchanges of fire with Hezbollah, as forces thrust northward to the Litani River under cover of intense artillery fire. IDF sources said more than 80 Hezbollah fighters had been killed in the clashes over the weekend, at least 40 of them on Saturday.

Israel has nearly tripled the number of forces in Lebanon as part of its expanded ground war, and expects to fight for another week, despite a United Nations cease-fire resolution, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Saturday. Halutz said IDF troops would stay in Lebanon until an international force arrives. "We have almost tripled our forces that are operating in Lebanon," Halutz told reporters.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749479.html

Wargasms ... ejaculating dead bodies all over the earth.

Even deeper in the story we read that the IDF (like in all wars) is killing its own.

Two soldiers from the Golani Brigade were killed in an accident that occured when an IDF tank accidentally ran them over in the village of Shakif-al-Amal in the East. Two other soldiers were wounded in the accident, one seriously and the other lightly.

I guess that's two that Hizb'allah can't take "credit" for. Haste makes waste.



The war has only lasted 31 days or so but the grief of 104 families will last more than a lifetime.