Israeli troops criticize army, equipment

[tocqueville]

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago

METULLA, Israel - Israeli soldiers returning from the war in Lebanon say the army was slow to rescue wounded comrades and suffered from a lack of supplies so dire that they had to drink water from the canteens of dead Hezbollah guerrillas.

"We fought for nothing. We cleared houses that will be reoccupied in no time," said Ilia Marshak, a 22-year-old infantryman who spent a week in Lebanon.

Marshak said his unit was hindered by a lack of information, poor training and untested equipment. In one instance, Israeli troops occupying two houses inadvertently fired at each other because of poor communication between their commanders.

"We almost killed each other," he said. "We shot like blind people. ... We shot sheep and goats."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060818/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_angry_soldiers

[bridgit]

1. a mind-numbingly futile display of power projected wrongly...

[Annces]

2. inside story - thanks n/t

[Oreo]

3. It's amazing how the 2 kidnapped soldiers aren't mentioned anymore

Proof that that was just their excuse to start the war.

Another example of leaders sending their citizens into war without giving them the support they need.

[grytpype]

4. I didn't know Rummy was running the IDF!

[jsamuel]

5. Suicide Anti-Terrorism

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1712265

"Suicide Anti-Terrorism" - States getting involved in invasions and blowing each other up in order to stop terrorism.

By using this policy, countries just end up killing themselves and sparking more terrorism and create more terrorists. Also, they end up killing (however inadvertent - or as Tony Snow puts it, calateral damage) extreme numbers of civilians.

INVADING/BLOWING UP A COUNTRY DOES NOT STOP TERRORISM

While I can understand, on principle that Israel has a right to defend itself, the problem is that their METHODS are WRONG. Let me remind everyone of two little countries... Iraq and Afghanistan.

This false choice of either invading a country or taking the hits from terrorists has to stop in American and world politics. The simple fact is that by invading/blowing up a country, it does not defeat terrorism, instead it only makes it stronger. I think anyone only has to look as far as Iraq and even Afghanistan to see this truth laid bare.

So, by supporting invasions to stop terrorism, we are SUPPORTING TERRORISM by giving it the avenues for growth.

There are many voters known as "domestic Democrats" out there, but it seems to me that many voters are "foreign Republicans". I think we have only ourselves to blame for not proving this point on a national stage. Instead of trying to look strong on national security, lets be strong. No one can agree with you if you never make your argument.

In order to respond to those who say I offer no alternatives, I will suggest the following.

Why couldn't Israel work with their close friend Lebanon in routing out Hezbollah WHILE WORKING WITH Lebanon instead of invading it? Lebanon's army is weak, so that is where Israel could help out supplying support to the Lebanese government/military. Limited of course. They would overwhelm Hezbollah from the inside. The Lebanon government would be boosted with support from Israel and the international community. Lebanon would become more stable.

(I have heard people such as Tim Russert saying that Hezbollah has "significant" control of the Lebanese government. It is quite inaccurate to agrue that as they have a total of 2 seats in that government.)