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Col. Ralph Peters is a retired U.S. Army intelligence officer and the author of 21 books, including the just-released Never Quit the Fight. A lifelong Israel supporter, Lieutenant-colonel Peters has experience in over sixty countries.
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By Col. Ralph Peters
August 2, 2006
As I have been writing in The New York Post during this crisis, Israel cannot afford to show weakness -- but the Olmert government has been tragically weak. In warfare, those unwilling to pay the butcher's bill up front pay it with compound interest in the end.
I have despaired of the Olmert government's fecklessness and incompetence (in military matters), and it has been shocking to watch Hezbollah mislead Israeli intelligence (culminating in the artful set-up in Qana, which lured the Israel Defense Forces into creating a photogenic "atrocity" stage-managed by Hezbollah).
At present, since Olmert belatedly approved the broader use of ground troops, there is some reason for hope; however, this is the last quarter of the game, and ISRAEL must display ruthlessness and uncompromising seriousness on the battlefield.
Thus far, Hezbollah has been winning both the information/propaganda war and the "shooting war". Having delayed the commitment of ground troops, the cost of their commitment will be higher now, since Hezbollah is convinced that it is winning and has its adrenaline flowing. Still, a determined IDF -- that is not called off prematurely -- can cripple this atrocious terrorist organization.
The Bush administration is furious at Israel. Bush has been doing his best to buy time for Israel to finish the job -- while the international community of Israel-haters cry for a cease-fire that would hand Hezbollah victory. Bush insiders are frustrated because of Olmert's weak prosecution of the war. They wanted Israel to go in and finish the job -- time is of the essence in war in the media age.
Bush has been steadfast in his support of ISRAEL during this crisis. The problem is that ISRAEL has not been steadfast to itself.
Nor does the United States trust U.N. peacekeepers. We know they favor Hezbollah. And, personally, I suspect that the strike on the U.N. outpost was conducted by the I.D.F. on purpose -- for good reason, because the U.N. observers were passing intelligence to Hezbollah.
Perhaps I'm wrong about that -- it is only my analysis -- but certainly the U.N. has coddled and helped Hezbollah.
I do not have confidence in the current Israeli chief of defense staff, Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz -- an air force officer who fell in love with technology. He forgot that, in this new day of Cain-and-Abel violence, warfare remains a matter of flesh and blood.
Views expressed by the author do not
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