Friday, February 15, 2008

Misoverestimated

Michael Totten is discussing the errors Israel made in The Summer War 2006. One of the mistakes discussed was not taking on Syria as one commenter notes and Michael agrees.

DaMav: suppose instead of targetting Lebanon, Israel had bombed Syria until they pulled Hezbollah forces out or defanged them?
Michael Totten:That’s what I said they should do right from the beginning. No one wanted to hear it, especially not Israelis. That kind of military action isn’t effective against guerillas and terrorists, but it is very effective against states.
I always thought a strike against the Bekaa Valley would have drawn the Syrians out of their bunkers and into the war. No need to go after Syria directly (at first) to draw them in.

A lot of folks didn’t like what I said. However, I believed Olmert would do it because it was so obviously the right policy. I misoverestimated him.

H/T Instapundit

1 comment:

Snake Oil Baron said...

"suppose instead of targetting Lebanon, Israel had bombed Syria until they pulled Hezbollah forces out or defanged them?"

Or until they lost the capacity to maintain minority Shiah rule of the mainly Sunni nation and then let nature take its course. It would have been helpful not just to Israel but to Lebanon (Syria in the long term) and the region as a whole. A great opportunity was missed.