Comments on Sultan Knish: What It Will Take to Win the War

yes indeed he was, and neither Israel nor the US n...

2009-07-06T12:41:08.823-04:00

yes indeed he was, and neither Israel nor the US nor anyone fighting terrorists can afford to play by one set of rules while their enemies play by another

to accommodate a double standard is to accept your own persecution and subjugation

A very astute piece; I especially love the closing...

2009-07-06T06:44:45.599-04:00

A very astute piece; I especially love the closing paragraph. As usual you are spot on.

We all saw what happened with Op Cast Lead. Israel did the best it could to behave morally up to and including jeopardising Israeli solders' lives by phoning every home in Gaza to warn of the impending strikes. How Hamas leaders must have laughed.

And the result was still worldwide, histrionic condemnation of Israel.

Israel's hands are always tied and with Obama in power, the bindings are getting tighter.

Re Orde Wingate: if ever there was a Righteous Gentile, it was this man.

Lemon Lime you are right in your analysis! Josh, w...

2009-07-05T16:46:37.098-04:00

Lemon Lime you are right in your analysis!
Josh, we lost our self esteem in 1991 when we were sitting ducks to Saddam's scuds and our hands tied behind our backs. There was no country in history who wasn't "allowed" to defend itself. Without G-d's miracles there would have been thousands dead.

I don't think she's worth the time, considering sh...

2009-07-05T16:25:30.908-04:00

I don't think she's worth the time, considering she's not currently in congress, the media bias on the reporting and cole's suggestion of invading israel might be more worth writing about

Are u going to write a piece on Cynthia Mckinney a...

2009-07-05T16:20:34.221-04:00

Are u going to write a piece on Cynthia Mckinney and her tresspassing to Gaza?

If the Russians used "Blow up everything warfare" ...

2009-07-05T12:47:19.312-04:00

If the Russians used "Blow up everything warfare" how are Grozny and Kandahar still standing?

The Russians used/use puppet governments and attempted to suppress the opposition in Afghanistan and Chechnya. It's not too different from what we've done in Afghanistan from a military standpoint.

But isn't a more cruel, blow-everything-up style o...

2009-07-05T10:50:29.886-04:00

But isn't a more cruel, blow-everything-up style of warfare exactly what the Russians did in Afghanistan and Chechnya? Short of nuking a place, hiding bombs in children's toys (as did the Russians) is the ultimate in ruthlessness. And doing so jives with your call to attack civilian settlements--hiding bombs in toys was a strategem meant to trick children into bringing bombs into their homes!

You need mention the recent fighting in Sri Lanka ...

2009-07-05T04:45:43.926-04:00

You need mention the recent fighting in Sri Lanka in which the Tamil Tiger terrorists were severely beaten but with very high civilian deaths & displacement of thousands. There was an initial reaction in the Western media, generally very negative, but it went ''off the news'' in a few days. Contrast this with Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

Terry

From Korea onward the world was never comfortable ...

2009-07-05T01:04:59.574-04:00

From Korea onward the world was never comfortable with victory.

WWII was successful because victory over Japan and Germany allowed those countries to rebuild within the framework of sane society.

Even our loss in Vietnam (a victory for the other side)allowed that region to purge itself and move on.

Until total war is acceptable there can never be victory. Yes there will be civilian losses and horrible pictures. However, there is death and destruction now in slow motion -- I believe to a comparable extent.

At the end of days, it is either us or them. I vote us. Victory at any cost is their way. It must be ours as well.

Peace will only come with victory. Let there be peace.

great analysis.I'd like to add three aspects:-hash...

2006-07-24T17:15:00.000-04:00

great analysis.

I'd like to add three aspects:

-hashemsforever mentioned 'reasonable man'. Our very big problem is that most people in the west are ignorant and because of this, it is only natural for them to assume that the other side is like them (especially since the west is now politically correct) and unfortunately we usually project our own value system onto our enemies. It is impossible to relate to Arabs the same way we relate to each other (consumeristic hedonists).

(ok, now I see that you said this in "Why Arab Ideas of Shame and Honor Make Peace Impossible ")

-leadership and media. When Ariel Sharon (and the media who backed him up) told us that we can't keep Gush Katif, and that the 'occupation must end, 'we' internalized it, and subconciosly lost self-esteem. In this new war, Olmert as rejected the usual self-defeatism and suddenly turned pro-Israel, surprisingly turning into a leader who is trying to rally the country and keep its spirits up. Companies are funding expensive adveritsing campaigns to add to the motivation, YET, the cracks are showing. The leftist are protesting the war (and many people allow them this 'freedom of speech'), and not being ridiculed and condemned. Arab members of the Knesset speak openly about condoning Hezbollah, but instead the courts are worried more about prosecuting theifs taking advantage of the empty cities.

For the past two years, we've been told that there is no solution to the kassam, but now for some reason their is a solution to the katyusha.

- God and tshuva. Israel's victories are never dependant on quality or quantity. The only thing really going for us is our worship of God. If we return to God, we will be victorious, if we continue to think/depend on the IDF to win on its own, then we are doomed to defeat.

Since I'm still on my Golda Meir Kick, LOL, I'll s...

2006-07-24T09:07:00.000-04:00

Since I'm still on my Golda Meir Kick, LOL, I'll share one of her responses: "When the arabs love their children as much as they hate us - there will be peace."

Not a Lubie, but I do love Rabbi Schneerson's comment on arabs. He said because they have embraced a sick religion, they have sick minds and are therefore incapable of rational thought and cannot be reasoned with. :]

Combine the two comments. Arabs think they are loving their children by using them as body shields and live ammo, because with their sick minds they are incapable of realising that in truth they hate their children more than they hate us.

It goes with hashemsforever "reasonable man" theory. You also have to ask, what kind of sick demented mind could possibly think you can reason with someone who will blow themselves up and use children for shields? We live in a very sick world.

In Alan Bloom's "Closing of the American Mind" he ...

2006-07-23T17:50:00.000-04:00

In Alan Bloom's "Closing of the American Mind" he proves that the minds of students were closed in the new "open" society fostered in the 50's and 60s in America and Europe mostly due to the teaching German rationalism and communism.
A self love was fostered closing them off from love of others or country. In their liberalism they are tightly close minded.
Truth to them becomes relative rendering Torah obsolete.
In the past every step of life had meaning.
One lived in past, present and future. Today this is not so. Relativism bars that and takes meaning out of things.
Antoine de St-Exopery said this about such generations:

"Thus men destroy their best possession, the meaning of things: on feast days they pride themselves on standing out against old custom, and betraying their traditions, and toasting their enemy. True, they may feel some qualm as they go about their deeds of sacrilege. So long as there is sacrilege. So long as there still is something against which they revolt. Thus for a while they continue trading on the fact that their foe still breathes, and the ghostly presence of the laws still hampers them enough for them to feel like outlaws. But presently the very ghost dissolves into thin air, and then the rapture of revolt is gone, even the zest of victory forgotten. And now they yawn. On the ruins of the palace they have laid out a public square; but once the pleasure of trampling its stones with upstart arrogance has lost its zest, they begin to wonder what they are doing here, on this noisy fairground. And now, lo and behold, they fall to picturing, dimly as yet, a great house with a thousand doors, with curtains that billow on your shoulders and slumbrous anterooms. Perchance they dream even of a secret room, whose secrecy pervades the whole vast dwelling. Thus, though they know it not, they are pining for my father's palace where every footstep had a meaning."

In a modern world where people believe in nothing really, true freedom is not to be found.
To win a war you have to first believe in your nation, its foundations and its people.
For Israel this means total belief and reliance on Torah, meaning , God.
Unless or until this occurs there will never be total victory at all.

I think that's the problem. In trying to understan...

2006-07-23T17:39:00.000-04:00

I think that's the problem. In trying to understand the enemy a lot of people are using the "reasonable" man theory. It's dangerous, we can't understand them in terms of what a reasonable person would think, feel or act.

that's a patton quote too, on making the enemy die...

2006-07-23T15:23:00.000-04:00

that's a patton quote too, on making the enemy die for his and it's quite correct... suicide is the easy way out, it's not the tactic of a soldier but a psychopath

ultimately for all the noise and din, the arab world's major problems are a denial of reality combined with a blood lust

I had a chat recently with a muslim hezbollah supporter who kept insisting that israel was killing little children, each time I pointed out to him how many children muslim terrorists had killed, including arab children, he would simply ignore it just as he undoubtedly mentally tunes it out

there's no moral code or examination of one's conduct in the muslim world, you just scream and leap knowing the enemy is in the wrong

arab soldiers never get tried for committing atrocities, the idea itself is incomprehensible because arab soldiers can't committ atrocities by definition, in their minds only israel and america can

Shavua tov :)Great analysis. Americans and Israeli...

2006-07-23T14:28:00.000-04:00

Shavua tov :)

Great analysis.

Americans and Israelis are both having to contend with enemies supported by co-conspirators, civilians that aid and abet the terrorists in their countries. That makes them equally culpable and fair targets.

A lot of intellectuals deny this. As for the media, they constantly refer to the war IN Iraq rarely if ever do they or anyone else call it the War Against Iraq or the War Against Lebanon. Or they use dilluted terminology--"conflict" not "war" at all other. If the US and Israel is battling against terrorists organizations with military and political power and civilian support aren't we at war against the countries? I have a tough time separating things.
The US is at war with Iraq and Israel is at war with Lebanon.

But Bush has continually emphasized that the United States is not fighting the people of Iraq, when clearly we are--the terrorists within the country and the considerable civilian populations that support them.

My brother's in the National Guard. Years ago we discussed his basic training and war. Arrogantly, I told him that he was a trained killer. Well, that is what the military is for, he countered.

I asked if he was willing to die for his country. He said no. But he is willing to make his enemy die for his.

(For the truly innocent victims caught in the crossfires of these wars? That's hard. It's gut-wrenching to see small children suffering, screaming and crying on television. But in the end I believe G-d knows who is ultimately responsible for their suffering and will assign blame and punishment appropriately.

In the case of the two little boys from Nazareth I would hope He would judge Hezbollah and the people of Nazareth who are embracing and forgiving Hezbollah--including the boys own parents! According to an AP report, even the parents forgive Nasrallah for "martyring" the children) and blame Israel.

Twisted logic if you can even call it logic.