Tuesday, July 25, 2006
It looks like things are going to plan.
Oh yes, it certainly does look like things are going to plan for the Israel Defense Forces in their campaign against Lebanon. It has been revealed that this offensive was planned long ago...
"Of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared," said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University. "In a sense, the preparation began in May 2000, immediately after the Israeli withdrawal, when it became clear the international community was not going to prevent Hezbollah from stockpiling missiles and attacking Israel. By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board."
More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail. Under the ground rules of the briefings, the officer could not be identified.
In his talks, the officer described a three-week campaign: The first week concentrated on destroying Hezbollah's heavier long-range missiles, bombing its command-and-control centers, and disrupting transportation and communication arteries. In the second week, the focus shifted to attacks on individual sites of rocket launchers or weapons stores. In the third week, ground forces in large numbers would be introduced, but only in order to knock out targets discovered during reconnaissance missions as the campaign unfolded. There was no plan, according to this scenario, to reoccupy southern Lebanon on a long-term basis.
So America knew about these plans a long time ago. Perhaps this explains why America has stood back from getting involved because they knew the time frame required for Israel to conclude their aggressive campaign against Lebanon. Only now has Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State appeared on the scene and our Foreign Secretary has not made a worthwhile contribution since her feeble responses in the house. I suspect Tony Blair knew about this campaign long before it kicked off which just goes to show that the capture of the 2 Israeli soldiers was the excuse Israel had been waiting for a long, long time.
Oh yes, it certainly does look like things are going to plan for the Israel Defense Forces in their campaign against Lebanon. It has been revealed that this offensive was planned long ago...
"Of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared," said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University. "In a sense, the preparation began in May 2000, immediately after the Israeli withdrawal, when it became clear the international community was not going to prevent Hezbollah from stockpiling missiles and attacking Israel. By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board."
More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail. Under the ground rules of the briefings, the officer could not be identified.
In his talks, the officer described a three-week campaign: The first week concentrated on destroying Hezbollah's heavier long-range missiles, bombing its command-and-control centers, and disrupting transportation and communication arteries. In the second week, the focus shifted to attacks on individual sites of rocket launchers or weapons stores. In the third week, ground forces in large numbers would be introduced, but only in order to knock out targets discovered during reconnaissance missions as the campaign unfolded. There was no plan, according to this scenario, to reoccupy southern Lebanon on a long-term basis.
So America knew about these plans a long time ago. Perhaps this explains why America has stood back from getting involved because they knew the time frame required for Israel to conclude their aggressive campaign against Lebanon. Only now has Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State appeared on the scene and our Foreign Secretary has not made a worthwhile contribution since her feeble responses in the house. I suspect Tony Blair knew about this campaign long before it kicked off which just goes to show that the capture of the 2 Israeli soldiers was the excuse Israel had been waiting for a long, long time.
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