tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post115293724138800793..comments2024-03-18T22:21:33.261-07:00Comments on The Debate Link: In For a Penny...David Schraubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-1153064865960942952006-07-16T08:47:00.000-07:002006-07-16T08:47:00.000-07:00Here's the link to the analysis from Ha'aretz I ci...Here's the link to the analysis from Ha'aretz I cited above.<BR/><BR/>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/737744.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-1153064771234391272006-07-16T08:46:00.000-07:002006-07-16T08:46:00.000-07:00David,You claim that the Israeli objective is to w...David,<BR/><BR/>You claim that the Israeli objective is to weaken Hezbollah so Lebanon can put them down doesn't stand up to scrutiny once you consider what senior IDF officials are actually saying about their offensive goals:<BR/><BR/>"Israel has until now responded with restraint by bombarding bridges in central Lebanon and attacking Hezbollah positions along the border. But considering the nature of the military high command's current evaluation of the situation, it is clear that the IDF is interested in inflicting a much sharper blow on Lebanon.<BR/><BR/>Senior officers in the IDF say that the Lebanese government is responsible for the soldiers' abduction. According to the officers, if the kidnapped soldiers are not returned alive and well, the Lebanese civilian infrastructures will regress 20, or even 50 years.<BR/><BR/>Lebanon has invested considerable resources in the rehabilitation of its civilian infrastructures from the damage sustained during its civil war in the 1970s and the years of war with Israel throughout the 1980s and 1990s."<BR/><BR/>I don't understand how a strategy centered on decimating infastructure is actually going to weaken Hezbollah. First of all, its exactly that kind of action that created Hezbollah as a response to Israeli occupation. It's definitley not going to damage the ideological appeal of the movement. Secondly, the Lebanese government already has a hard enough time as it is providing infastructure to its people post-occupation (Indeed, a big reason Hezbollah enjoys as much support as it does is because, much like Hamas in Gaza, in Southern Lebanon it has proven much better at providing things like hopsitals and schools than the government has). If Israel sustains it's current aggressive strategy, its only going to weaken Lebanese control over Hezbollah and give more Shiites a reason to support them and eventually more electoral success for Hezbollah. You saw this with Hamas after the Israeli siege of Gaza in 2002, and its a similar situation in Lebanon.<BR/><BR/>The fundamental error is in Israel thinking it can quash a large non-state movement with military tactics that fall anywhere short of ruthless authoritarianism, which should not be an option.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com