"exactly as Ariel Sharon predicted"

What I remember Sharon saying is that if rockets are launched from Gaza Israel will just go back in with ovewhelming force, and with the world's sanction. Hasn't exactly happened that way.

Kishke:

Sharon said many things. But one of his most famous sayings was: “Give them back Gaza—and let them choke on it.”

That has certainly proved true.

It's an open military debate about when to invade Gaza.

As you know, I'm not happy with the present situation. But I do favor turning off the power grid before sending in ground troops. Let the Egyptians open up their border for their Arab brothers for humanitarian purposes.

"the IDF high command have calculated for losses and have accepted the terrible devil's arithmetic"

Are you refering to military losses or civilian casualties?

Has the 'high command' prepared the home front for an all out missile strike by Iran and Syria?

Have the bomb shelters in the center of the country been readied? Have the shelters in the north been repaired?

Have gas masks been updated and distributed to all of Israel' 7 million citizens.

Is the army ready for another incursion into Lebanon/Gaza and Syria?

Have the tanks been refitted with anti-missile systems?
Have the reservists been adequately trained and is their weaponary up to speed?

I agree that a military option is the only option left regarding Iran.
I also agree that the Iranian threat is the only real existential threat to Israel' survival but
I hate to think that my families lives are being coldly reduced to arithmetic calculations when the Govt. refuses to prepare it's citizens adequately for war.

Robert I wholeheartedly disagree with your evaluation regarding Olmerts ability to lead this country through another war. He has proven consistently that he is neither a political leader nor a military leader.

It might possibly be that Diaspora jews consider Israeli jewish blood cheap and that we the Israeli jews alone must pay the price for our nations survival.

David:

IDF have calculated for military losses, IAF, incurred during the raid.

The IDF does not foresee a counterstrike by Syria. Syria will not attack unless Egypt also attacks—thus Israel would be threatened on two-fronts. Egypt will be greatly relieved when the Persian nuclear menace is neutralized, as will the Saudis.

The IDF foresee serious Persian counter-strikes through the use of terror and mischief at various soft spots throughout the world—and Hizbullah in Lebanon.

I never said that Olmert has the ability to effectively lead in time of war. I simply said that he is there and it must be done. He's an idiot, but he's the idiot with the portfolio.

I do not consider Israeli blood cheap. I don't know why you would insult me in such manner.

Have a lovely and meaningful Shabbat.

Sorry no insult intended. Please forgive me.

You must realize that a military strike against Iran will bring about a very serious counterattack.
I can't believe that the IDF actually believes that Iran will only counter with attempted strikes against soft targets.

Even if their assumption is correct it doesn't justify not preparing the homefront for an all out missile attack.
Do we have to rely on Gaidamaks good will to save us everytime we have a conflict?

David:

Perfectly okay, tensions run high.

The IDF battle plan includes taking out the long range Persian missiles, and their platforms. Sources inform Seraphic Secret that this attack should cripple the Persians so badly that their ability to attack long range will be degraded to near zero. The Persians have no air-force worth speaking of — so that's barely a blip on the screen.

This is an extremely complicated operation. It makes the strike on the Iraqi Osiris Plant look like child's play.

Are their risks?

Yes.

Potential for massive casualties?

Most definitely.

But nothing compared to the risk of allowing the Persian regime to go nuclear.

Thank you for understanding.

Needless to say i'm frightened.

Wars don't always go as planned.

David:

We think of you as a friend.

Fear eats the soul.

The first casualty of war is the battle plan.

Have a lovely Shabbos.

First time I've heard it called Devil's arithmetic; usual term I've read is 'the butcher's bill'.

I think it was Robert E. Lee who said that a to be a good general you have to love your army, and you also have to be ready and willing to take actions that may destroy that which you love. No matter how great the cause, no matter how necessary the action, it will be bloody.

And I tend to agree, the IDF will have to do it. Most of the world would quietly sigh with relief to see Israel destroyed, maybe muttering "Now will those savages calm down?" Some might actively help. A few will help Israel in some way. It shames me that the politicians in our government are so tied up into their power games that they'd rather see an ally destroyed- hell, their own country badly damaged- rather than actively support this president in attacking an enemy bent on our destruction, or actively helping one of the best allies we have in their fight for survival.

"But politics in the Middle East inevitably becomes war."

The excellent milblogger "Teflon Don" (http://acutepolitics.blogspot.com) heads his blog with the following epigram:

Before now poetry has taken notice

Of wars, and what are wars but politics

Transformed from chronic to acute and bloody?

Robert Frost

from "Build Soil"

Firehand:

As you correctly note: Most of the world would quietly sigh with relief to see Israel destroyed, maybe muttering "Now will those savages calm down?" Some might actively help."

This, of course, is a blood-libel.

Do the Shia and Sunni gleefully slaughter one another all over the Arab/Muslim world because of Israel?

Of course not.

The bombings in London have nothing to do with Israel.

9-11 had nothing to do with Israel.

The Arab/Muslim world was riven with pathological violence and dysfunction long before Israel even existed.

We need to recognize that the jihadists hate us because we exist outside the uma; we are infidels, hence less than human.

The west is fighting an eliminationist doctrine more virulent than Nazism, more deep-seated than that of Imperial Japan.

Peter:

Thanks for the link, we'll look it up. Fine poem. Reverberates like a daisy cutter.

Robert, I think there are some governments- and many individuals- who would actively help in the destruction of Israel, either in supplying stuff or in making excuses, not because they blame Israel for the problems, but because they think they'd gain more in the long run if Israel were destroyed and they were on the good side(such as it is) of the destroyers. Then you have the people who actually do see Israel as the problem.

Got in a nasty argument one night with a friend who, it turned out, truly believed that the Israelis 'brought it on themselves' by 'taking land/running people out/fill in the blank'. An educated woman who actually made excuses for people who murder women and children in restaurants. First time I'd personally had to deal with this crap, and it was an eye-opener.

Firehand:

Regarding your friend who believes that Israel has brought it on themselves. This is Jew-hatred plain and simple.

Sorry, but would she say the same thing about the victims of 9-11?

How about the Marines who were killed in the Khobar Towers?

No, she'd blame Israel.

That's what a malignant virus Jew-hatred is. You draw a line in the sand, and the Jew hater simply redraws the line further back. There is no end for it's never about the truth.

Jew-haters disguise their hatred under the fig leaf of "mere anti-Zionism." Don't be deceived.

Thanks so much for writing.