FNC’s Steve Duecey asked retired Army LTC turned print columnist Ralph Peters if the West could fight a war against the East using Western values and morals. The plain spoken and to the point Peters replied, “No.”
Israel’s kinder and gentler war against Hezbollah is a case in point. Israel went out of its way to minimize civilian suffering to the point of alerting Hezbollah that the F-16s were inbound by first dropping leaflets warning the civilians to get out because the area was about to be bombed. The law of land warfare dictates that the blood of any innocents killed when combatants hide among them is on the hands of the hiding combatants, not the force rooting them out.
But it’s a topsy-turvy world. Hezbollah claims victory in a ruined Beirut with a fireworks display so pathetic that Lex Jr. has set off better in his back yard. Meanwhile Israel is pilloried for its “disproportional” use of force. And the event that set the whole thing off – Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers – has been forgotten. Israel will probably learn from its conduct of this battle. I doubt that the Israeli Air Force will be ever given the mission to win the war al la Kosovo again.
Will the US learn the lessons of waging an Eastern war with Western values and morals? Federal District Judge Ann Digs Taylor – surprise a Carter appointee – struck down the NSA eavesdropping on terrorists’ international calls into or out of the states. Great. No doubt the administration will appeal this by asking the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling. But that’s always a roll of the dice as well. Sadly, it may take another 9-11to wake us up to the fact that Joe Nice Guy will usually get pummeled by Slugo.
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