It is a real dilemma. This war is really an urban counter-insurgency. Israël is using the same search-&-destroy tactics that the United States used in Viêt Nam. Those tactics did not work fifty-to-sixty years ago and they are failing here. It is hard to square the city-scapes of Bakhmut and Gaza being indistinguishable.
It is a real dilemma. This war is really an urban counter-insurgency. Israël is using the same search-&-destroy tactics that the United States used in Viêt Nam. Those tactics did not work fifty-to-sixty years ago and they are failing here. It is hard to square the city-scapes of Bakhmut and Gaza being indistinguishable.
The U.S. did succeed in turning the situation around in Iraq with the surge and, more importantly, gaining the trust and support of the Sunni sheiks in the Western provinces in 2007-08. Yet hamas really has to be defeated. What Israël needed to do was to be patient and to apply the concepts of community policing.
By partnering with the peace-minded Gazans, Israël could hunt down the hamas fighters and seal, at least, the key tunnels. That tactic may not have worked either, but then Israël could resort to her current, kinetic approach. Now, I fear (as a philo-Semite and fan of Israël) that Netanyahu is doing more harm than good not only for the welfare of Palestineans, but also for the security of his own people.
It is a real dilemma. This war is really an urban counter-insurgency. Israël is using the same search-&-destroy tactics that the United States used in Viêt Nam. Those tactics did not work fifty-to-sixty years ago and they are failing here. It is hard to square the city-scapes of Bakhmut and Gaza being indistinguishable.
The U.S. did succeed in turning the situation around in Iraq with the surge and, more importantly, gaining the trust and support of the Sunni sheiks in the Western provinces in 2007-08. Yet hamas really has to be defeated. What Israël needed to do was to be patient and to apply the concepts of community policing.
By partnering with the peace-minded Gazans, Israël could hunt down the hamas fighters and seal, at least, the key tunnels. That tactic may not have worked either, but then Israël could resort to her current, kinetic approach. Now, I fear (as a philo-Semite and fan of Israël) that Netanyahu is doing more harm than good not only for the welfare of Palestineans, but also for the security of his own people.