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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (144783)	4/12/2002 11:56:56 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1575245

Now Israel is the region's superpower, and where it once looked to the United States not just for diplomatic support but also for military rescue, now Israel can thumb its nose at Washington and go its own way. Israel is a major regional power, but in a protracted war they would need to be resupplied by the US. Of course Israel's wars have tended to be short, or low intensity (like the current battles against the PLO and Hamas, or like the exchange of artilary with Hezbolah or before a previous short intense war with Egypt) Tim, after two years! I was blown away at their capabilities. I had no idea they had grown their military power this much. Israel can field 19 divisions of ground troops, by some counts; the United States boasts 13 divisions worldwide and would need weeks to move any significant military force into the region. That is misleading Israel may have 19 divisions but that figure would have to include divisions that would be filled out by reservists. Also their divisions may be smaller. I'm not sure that they are but American divisions are very large compared to those of some other countries. That's still a lot for a nation the size of Israel. I can understand their need to militarize but after seeing videos this week of Palestinian villages and parts of Palestinian cities systemically demolished by Israeli tanks, I am beginning to wonder if its gone to their heads. Israel's air force, which flies souped-up U.S. F-15 and F-16 fighters, can generate nearly 3,000 sorties, or combat missions, per day. The United States can sustain about 1,600 sorties a day. The US air force is begger and can sustain more sorties then Israel's. Of course Israel's is all in the Middle East so I would not be surprised to find out that within the region (even if you count the forces involved in Afghanistan as being in the region) that Israel had could produce more sorties. It goes beyond sorties. Israel's tech industry has digitalized much of the military's equipment, giving it greater range and better accuracy. "We have created an 800-pound gorilla," said Kenneth Brower, an independent military consultant in Washington, assessing decades of U.S. military aid to Israel. I agree with that. Israel is a major regional power. They can't project that power world wide but none of the local countries' governments wants to go to war against that power. Definitely.........I think the Israelis are smart enough to not throw their weight around too much but there is a certain arrogance to their invasion of the West Bank. For an example, the EU delegation was blocked from seeing Arafat last week, and they tried to do the same with Powell this week. ted