The Middle East again
The other day I had posed a scenario of the Middle East and the possibilities of what could happen if the status quo changed.
The scenario should have been posed as more of a “what if”, it would have been more eventful and understandable. What began as a small story discussing Israel’s restraint turned more into something I did not intend. With that in mind, I wanted to write a bit today on this subject.
The Israeli IDF was and still is a force to be respected by all and feared by their enemies. They took a bit of heat over the last war with Lebanon for human rights violations with their bombing of cities; however, the Hezbollah instigated every response from Israel that was possible, even launching rockets from between occupied structures, so IDF pilots would respond and look bad in the public’s eye.
I actually watched a live feed via Fox news on that exact setting. The Hezbollah launching between two houses, yet after the war I have never seen that video again. The Hezbollah worked the media machine like homemade taffy; pulling where it wanted so they could bring every bit of public support to their side as possible and portraying Israeli IDF as inept and carless in human rights, the media should have been ashamed of themselves.
Granted, as I had written in the past, a few of their Special Forces returning from harsh and prolonged combat made comments to the media that made them look as if they were all in shock and loosing the war. These professional soldiers had just returned from a trap laid for them, fighting their way out of the center of a killing field, they were in shock and had lost many friends. Yes, as reports stated, they were elite, highly trained Special Forces, some of the best the IDF had, but even the best bleeds and dies, even the best can be caught in a trap, but on the other hand, only the best can walk away from that alive.
The media was elated, what a story to tell the world. The IDF was not invincible; they were not the demigods of the Middle East, Achilles and Hercules, marching into battle. The media wanted to do all that it could to dispel the visions of an indestructible Israeli military. They did not understand what an ambush or kill zone was, they only saw soldiers in shock, bloodied from war, returning for a well deserved rest.
These brave individuals should never have been interviewed, let alone quoted by a manipulative media fueled by previous, spoon-fed visions of an indestructible Israeli military. The fact remains that they were quoted and the reporters involved in this deception should not only hang their heads in shame, they should find other means of employment.
The state of Israel often takes a lot of heat for their actions. Their now famous response to the Munich massacre is the stuff of legends and movies. What was not brought out was the fact that they were caught, tried and convicted on their final assassination, however, had they not reacted from poor intelligence fed from a double agent they would have never killed the wrong man and they would have never been caught. Their history is packed with legends, the raid on Entebbe, the destruction of a nuclear reactor in Iraq. Israel does all that it can to not only survive, but exist, in a world bent on their total destruction.
They have had the ample opportunities to launch their WMD during wars where they faced insurmountable odds and on multiple fronts, their restraint and better leadership on the battlefield
prevailed.
We can only hope that Iran does not begin a nuclear holocaust with their WMD, but should they try, the world can be thankful that the state of Israel will be what stands in their way.
4 comments:
Ranter:
Sorry I misunderstood your original post. You've made some good points about media coverage and people's perception. The same battles that were published to the world as "Israeli defeats" (Bint Jabail comes to mind) were reported here as reverses, from which the IDF bounced back.
As you point out the bottom line tells the whole story. Here it is:
True, Israel did not achieve most of its objective, but only lost about 100 soldiers (out of 30,000 infantry), and, when the full ground offensive was finally authorized, pushed Hezbollah back to the Litani River (about 12 to 15 miles north of the border) within 3 days.
Hezbollah lost between 500 and 700 guerilla fighters (out of about 3000), failed to hold the border, failed to hold their fortified bunkers, failed to prevent their country (which they claimed to be defending) from getting bombed into the Stone Age, and was forced to accept that the expanded UNIFIL they swore they'd never accept. In addition, their leader, Nasrallah, gave orders to his people midway through the war to avoid face-to-face combat with the IDF, and he himself did not come out of his bunker, publicly, until some weeks after the war ended.
But then, of course, he declared a "glorious victory," and the media ate it up.
The medias only concern was to report the IDF were not the supermen they were supposed to be. It made me sick at times.
I wrote on this one too, I saw a reported from Fox news interviewing IDF pilots, he actually asked them how they felt killing women and children. I wanted to slap the guy, the pilot handled it in a professional manner.
The IDF did well, yet we all saw wha the media said.
Sad, very sad.
Thanks,
Ranter
I remember a scene in Full Metal Jacket, when one character asks a helicopter machine gunner how he can shoot women and children.
The gunner paused for a moment, and then said, "You just don't lead 'em as much."
I missed that Fox News bit, but I'm certain the Israeli pilot handled it better than that!
Seriously, though, comparing Israeli and internation news channels, it looked they were reporting on different wars.
The IDF pilot was a true professional, saying he was protecting the state of Israel.
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