The reason for the deal?

On August 19, 2006, in General, by Neil Stevens

The last thing I expected after the Israeli attack on Hezbollah began, was for the US and France to negotiate a cease fire in the UN Security Council (Gee, if the US represents Israel in that meetings, who does France represent?).

But, it happened. So my reaction was to look for reasons it would be a good idea. The most logical one I could think of, was that Israel asked for it because they were unwilling or unable to carry on the ground fight. Unfortunately, that may actually be true.

Via Polipundit I found this AP report which does its best to portray the non-volunteer Israeli army as incompetently run and dangerous to itself:

Military experts and commentators have criticized the army for relying too heavily on air power and delaying the start of ground action for too long. They say the army underestimated Hezbollah, and that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert set an unrealistic goal by pledging to destroy the guerrilla group.

This week, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz appointed a former army chief to investigate the military’s handling of the war.

Some of the harshest criticism has come from reservists, who form the backbone of the army. Israeli men do three years of mandatory service beginning at age 18, but continue to do reserve duty several weeks a year into their 40s.

Israeli newspapers quoted disgruntled reservists as saying they had no provisions in Lebanon, were sent into battle with outdated or faulty equipment and insufficient supplies, and received little or no training.

Now, some of those criticisms sound identical to the ones lobbed at President Bush and our armed forces. I would not be surprised if Israel, like the US, has its chorus of pacifists ready to chant “Quagmire!” if the war isn’t won overnight.

So while I’m not about to assume this AP report is true, it is what I was expecting to see. So, I hope the Israelis take full advantage of this breather to start getting ready for the real fight ahead, for their own sakes as well as ours.

 

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