Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (193569)	7/28/2006 1:24:57 AM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Nadine Carroll; Re: "The IDF is already a superior force. They've called up something like 40,000 reserves, to free up the regular army. From the reports I've read, the troops are not yet called up. Instead, the politicians have given the military the ability to call them up, but they still haven't given the green light for an invasion. Furthermore, the reports I've read from the front lines suggest that the Israelis are going in undermanned. Re: "Hezb has what, 6000 fighters?" There are something like 1.5 million Shiites in Lebanon. I've seen the estimates that the size of Hezbollah is 3 to 5000, and I think that the people who are making those estimates are smoking something. I would think that the true size of Hezbollah is around 10x that. In military affairs, it is traditional, when two sides are more or less equally matched in terms of training and equipment, to expect the attackers to exceed the defenders by a 3 to 1 margin. Now I really don't know how well Hezbollah is set up. Certainly they don't have good air support. But I also understand that they have dug deep, and that makes attack by air very difficult. Plus there is apparently a certain amount of fear that Hezbollah is well armed with antiaircraft missiles and that is keeping Israeli helicopters at a distance. But it seems clear that Hezbollah is fairly well armed in terms of long range rockets. And they must have a pretty good number of anti tank mines and rockets. Re: "I think the IDF's plan is to tempt Hezb into what they are doing, giving battle, and attrit them down to the level where the rest of the Lebanese can turn on them." I suppose you think that it's also part of the IDF plan to have a major and two 1st lieutenants wiped out in close combat. No, I think that you're making an exercise in wishful thinking. Like I told you a week ago, the sequence of conflicts indicate that Israel's military advantages over her neighbors is steadily slipping. The combination of that and being heavily outnumbered is not a pretty one. Israel can't survive by imitating Sparta and militarizing themselves because that decreases the attraction of immigrating there. There really is no way out. In that sort of situation, it is only human nature to slip into wishful thinking. Back in 2003 I told you that Bush's invasion of Iraq would be one of the worst things that ever happened to Israel. Now the threat of American reprisal has evaporated along with the myth of American military invincibility. Will Israel eventually have to take on Syria and Iran herself? Don't look to the US to dig you out. Or will she submit to being steadily pounded by missiles forever? -- Carl

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (193569)	7/28/2006 4:48:01 AM
From: Proud Deplorable	Respond to of 281500

Israel is about to be squashed like the evil poisonous bug that it is. Attrit? Spoken like a true war monger. Why don't you enlist and help fight Hezbollah? Got some VERY bad news for you. Hezbollah now has the full support of most Lebanese where they didn't have 40% of it 3 weeks ago. More Israeli/American magic. They smashed Israel once and wiill do it again just as the Americans are being wiped all over the map in Iraq. Why? Because they aren't terrorists, they are the citizens themselves therefore calling them terrorists won't make them go away. Message 22665296