Posted by
arandomguy on Tuesday, August 08, 2006 11:35:42 PM
In a stroke of military brilliance, Israel is finally beginning to fight a war like they mean to win. Prior to now it has been one measured response after another, and the fighting was all for nothing. Neither side gained.
Now, Israel is finally beginning to use its military superiority to crush its enemies. Not only have they implemented a mandatory 10pm curfew, but they have claimed that any vehicle south of the Litani river would be a target.
These two measures are of dramatic military importance. First, most of the Hezbollah rocket attacks come from the back of launchers. These are on the backs of trucks that carry them around from place to place. If Israel vows to bomb all vehicles they can find, they will hit Hezbollah more often then not.
Furthermore, if they hit a civilian, the civilians have been warned. If you are south of the Litani river, GET OUT OF THERE. Also, this puts the terrorists in a pickle. Sure, they can leave the area and remain safe. However, then their Katushya rockets, their primary weapon used against Israel, will be out of range to hit Israel at all, so many of their rockets will be useless.
If however, they remain in the area to fight, they will be swiftly blown up by Israeli ordinance. This too will diminish the capacity of Hezbollah to carry out their attacks - which is just what this entire conflict is about.
The nationwide curfew is also important. It essentially states that anybody on the street after 10pm is also a target. And this is true. There is no reason to be out on the street, at night, in a war zone, ESPECIALLY after you have been warned. The only people who are going to be out on the streets are those that have to. And the only people that have to, are Hezbollah terrorists, engaging in their next attack on Israel.
If you feel these measures are harsh, remember two things. First, it is a war, and war is hell. Second, catching guerilla's and terrorists is notoriously hard. The US has had trouble with it in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and other places like this. Harsher measures must be taken to root them out.
We could just kill everyone. That would kill terrorists. But I'm sure the world would have a fit if we did that (I remain opposed to this stance, though only slightly). So we can't kill them all, but we must do SOMETHING. That something is imposing curfews and no-drive zones.
This way, anyone in those areas is probably a terrorist anyway. They can be blown up. If they aren't, then it is just a civilian who died because of their refusal to leave a WAR ZONE.
I rest my case.