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why am I not surprised?
Aug. 16th, 2006 11:39 amI had not been paying attention to who was running the show in teh IDF these days. But I was not surprised to discover that the Chief of Staff who planned and executed the current campaign was LTG Dan Halutz.
It was Halutz who, as MG and commander of the IAF, approved and defended the attack on a senior Hamas bombmaker, Salah Shahade, that resulted in the deaths of Shahade, his wife and nine children, and four other people, the injury of over 150, and the destruction or damaging of over 20 buildings. Seem like a lot of damage to get one guy? That's because the IAF used a ONE-TON bomb to destroy the building that Shahade was in. When Israeli human rights activists criticized the strike and called for those responsible to be handed over to the International Court in the Hague for trial as war criminals, Halutz responded by calling on the government to arrest and try the activists as traitors.
Beyond illustrating his apparent total lack of morality (which is being further exposed by reports he has sought to use his knowledge of the current conflict and his military position to make money on the stock market), this incident shows why the Israeli offensive agaisnt Hiballah was fought the way it was and why it has resulted in a near-total loss for Israel, both politically and militarily. Halutz is infatuated with airpower, but he doesn't understand the most obvious lessons of the last 50 years of warfare. Airpower cannot be effectively used to defeat a guerilla insurgency; at best it can be used to gain tactical superiority in a specific combat, often at considerable strategic expense.
A man like this should never have reached the position he did. At least it appears he will not stay there for much longer.
It was Halutz who, as MG and commander of the IAF, approved and defended the attack on a senior Hamas bombmaker, Salah Shahade, that resulted in the deaths of Shahade, his wife and nine children, and four other people, the injury of over 150, and the destruction or damaging of over 20 buildings. Seem like a lot of damage to get one guy? That's because the IAF used a ONE-TON bomb to destroy the building that Shahade was in. When Israeli human rights activists criticized the strike and called for those responsible to be handed over to the International Court in the Hague for trial as war criminals, Halutz responded by calling on the government to arrest and try the activists as traitors.
Beyond illustrating his apparent total lack of morality (which is being further exposed by reports he has sought to use his knowledge of the current conflict and his military position to make money on the stock market), this incident shows why the Israeli offensive agaisnt Hiballah was fought the way it was and why it has resulted in a near-total loss for Israel, both politically and militarily. Halutz is infatuated with airpower, but he doesn't understand the most obvious lessons of the last 50 years of warfare. Airpower cannot be effectively used to defeat a guerilla insurgency; at best it can be used to gain tactical superiority in a specific combat, often at considerable strategic expense.
A man like this should never have reached the position he did. At least it appears he will not stay there for much longer.
