Israel's verdict: We lost the war

[ckramer]

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, was obliged to admit "shortcomings" in the 34-day-old conflict in Lebanon yesterday as he launched what may prove a protracted fight for his own political survival.

Mr Olmert's admission in a stormy Knesset session came in the face of devastating poll figures showing a majority of the Israeli public believes none or only a very small part of the goals of the war had been achieved.

Adding insult to injury, the leader of Hizbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, crowed on television that his guerrillas had achieved a "strategic historic victory" over Israel.

The Prime Minister, who was repeatedly heckled by opposition MPs during his address, insisted the international commitments in Friday night's UN resolution would "change fundamentally" the balance of forces on the country's northern border.

link

[thepurpose]

1. Have him give Bush a call he will make every thing better.

[neoblues]

10. Heh, That's Right... about the only way to make things worse...

would be if George W. Bush himself could try running the situation (or if anyone actually considered his advice--if he was able to give any).

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Apparently jr really put Olmert's & Israel's collective dick in the

wringer on this one didn't he? Great advice by jr on this, start a war with an unknown enemy that has unknown strength it will all work out okay, trust me, we'll back you up.

[MichiganVote]

3. Meaning, now we have to go back and do it over??

[bluerum]

4. Bush lied. Again.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. What a frickin surprise. YAWN n/t

[saigon68]

39. Look at the assclown in the photo

Its the chimp and his enabler Chicken-Hawk Joementum

[stepnw1f]

41. Two Dellusional Con-Men

Smiling while thousands die.... how courageous of them not to show their true feelings...:sarcasm:

[saigon68]

46. YES THEY ARE SNEAKY AREN'T THEY ?

[Megahurtz]

5. Great. Now What?

[Strelnikov_]

6. "Never, Never, Never Believe Any War Will Be Smooth And Easy, . . "

"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events."

- Sir Winston Churchill

[Drum]

15. Amazing quote.

Remember when leaders spoke that way to us?

I do...it's been a long five+ years....

[bunyip]

30. Full of surprises, that man.

I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas... I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes... and would spread a lively terror.

- Winston Churchill, 1919

Smart and ruthless. Not a good man, perhaps, but certainly a better class of evil.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Of course they did.

Everybody knew they would from the beginning, that's a big reason we were so against it.

Of course the defense contractors came out happy.

[peacetalksforall]

9. Now I'm worried. Help me out here. After watching Rice, Cheney, Bush

cheer Israel on and after observing how they were allowing the killing to go forward on a week to week basis ... I was convinced that they would move into the peace talks and then wait for it to fall apart by design or bet, then use the reboot of war to take out Iran and Syria equal to the Lebanon takeout.

Will they still push for their 'opportunity' to bomb Iran?

Will they turn their frustration on us?

How much time do they need to manufacture a 'cause'?

Does a concession as described by Israel mean that the U.S./U.K. plans for Iran are called off?

How vulnerable is Syria?

Will the U.S. want to finish the job that Israel may not have succeeded at?

If you take out critical bridges, the airport, hospitals, and other infrastructures, plus kill plenty, is that a failure?

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. The Israelis seem to have more sense than many DU posters

who seem to believe it was a triumphnt victory for the IDF.

[Mr_Spock]

25. I think the 10 to 1 kill rate & precision guided missles

made it seem like the IDF was doing quite well.

How could they have achieved their goals short of nuking Lebanon anyway?

[MannyGoldstein]

27. Please Remind Us of Who Said This?

I've seen no such claim.

[Toots]

40. They seem to want more blood not less

They are mad he didn't finish the job not that he acted at all. This is an even harder right turn for Israel if that is even possible..

[Alpharetta]

12. He could salvage his career by bombing Iran's reactors

Only political solution? Send jets to take out Iran's reactors. Dare Iran to retaliate with the U.S. standing by.

[daleo]

26. Double or nothing

It is a good strategy until you run out of money.

[admsitio]

13. The worst peace is better than the best war

[Strelnikov_]

14. Hear Hear! n/t

[AlienGirl]

16. The peace as George III's subjects better than the Revolutionary War?

[Patchuli]

20. Apples and oranges

when discussing this Israeli slaughter of innocent Lebonese.

[Posteritatis]

32. The OP's discussing universals, not specifics. (n/t)

[Patchuli]

33. I wasn't referring to the OP nt

[ThsMchneKilsFascists]

35. What would the Native Americans at the time say?

What would their descendents say today?
See I can be insightful without really being insightful at all.
Irrelevant to the discussion at hand in other words.
The worst peace (where few to nobody dies, but may be pissed as hell) is better than the worst war (where lots of people , primarily innocents, die)

[anotherdrew]

37. maybe it would have been better in the long run, who knows? n/t

[Johnyawl]

17. That philosophy leads to slavery

[w4rma]

23. Agreed. (nt)

[ThsMchneKilsFascists]

36. Pray tell....n/t

[Patchuli]

19. Thank you for the voice of reason! nt

[tabasco]

18. I'm happy to hear of the public's reaction in Israel.

Any military operation with such a high civilian killed rate is a horrible failure by any civilized standards.

[Patchuli]

21. Really. Too bad

they didn't decide it was a failure before they killed so many...:cry:

[fujiyama]

22. This has been a major disaster for Israel in many ways:

Morally (by killing around a thousand civilians), and PR-wise - they have lost a lot of support over this world wide, and finally, they have ultimately strengthened Hezbollah.

[al bupp]

28. True, but from the Neo-con perspective

the conflict still serves to raise the heat on their intended targets in Iran & Syria. Granted it's less heat & light than they'd hoped, but it may suffice nonetheless.

[fujiyama]

29. True in a way

Iran and Syria have also come out of this on top. It does seem very likely that the neocons want the US embroiled in a conflict with one or both countries, though Iran is definetely the "top prize".

[breakaleg]

24. I hate the way they used the word

"crowed". They are deliberatly trying to portray him like an animal - their bias is showing.

[lgn19087]

31. What a shithead

Olmert managed to kill far more innocents then Hizbollah guerillas. He's toast, and we'll see the return of Netanyahu.

At first I thought that all those civilian casualties were just Israel being Israel...being as awful and horrible about it as they could be...but as I watched, it seemed more and more like Olmert really was just a shithead.

Oh well, at least we're not the only people in the world governed by one.

[donkeyotay]

44. G.W. Olmert - if he's their bush then here's their cheney

<snip from the OP>

Mr Netanyahu also pointedly chose to attack unilateral withdrawals - the issue on which Mr Olmert fought his election in March. Mr Netanyahu said: "We left Lebanon to the last centimetre and they are firing. We left Gaza to the last centimetre and they are firing."

. . .

Amid a wave of angry civilian reactions in Israel after more than a month in which an estimated 3,500 rockets were fired into northern Israel, Sam Echahid, the manager of a local supermarket, was asked whether he thought the ceasefire would hold. He said: "I hope not. We haven't done anything yet."
<end>

The right's policies are a complete failure but we/they just can't get enough. If only we had been big enough shitheads, I'm sure THEN it would work.

[qwertyMike]

34. Israel

had their asses kicked back to them.

Good thing.

[Irreverend IX]

38. At least they have the courage to admit it.

When the spineless little boy is finally dragged from the White House, he'll still be moaning about how we're about to "turn the corner" in Iraq.

[Canuckistanian]

42. Poor Israel - always the victim

Is this statement supposed to garner sympathy for Israel? Maybe even to provide an excuse to try again?

Everybody lost in this "war".

[Javaman]

43. So is moron* going to give him some sort of medal?

He only seems to only reward failures.

But the failure here is not one of a lost war, but of failed policy.

bombing people into submission, rarely if ever works.

Bombs whether dropped from the sky or strapped to a persons body, are the tools of terrorists.

Until we all realize that we have only one planet and that we have to work out our differences regardless of whether or not the outcome is to our liking or not, there will always be wars.

[Miss Chybil]

45. "obliged to admit" vs. "crowed on television"

Am I being too cynical, or is this a whack with the language bat?