Opinion
Wrong moves in Lebanon
Gilad Sharon
Published: 17.03.07, 14:17
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24 Talkbacks for this article
1. Failure to elect a decent PM made you lost the war
Ignacio ,   Zaragoza, Spain   (03.17.07)
Period. No more excuses. Time to take him out a put a real one in power, if you want to keep your state.
2. gilad sharon on strategy
betzalel ben uri   (03.17.07)
excellent column. i agree we cannot march into lebanon and fight insurgents.the answer should have been a stronger aerial response.
3. spot on
david ,   london uk   (03.17.07)
If only you were directing things. Its sad but there are too many in the gov't who'd prefer to see Israeli cities turn to rubble than lebanese. Its the same with the palestinians. Whats wrong in hurting a civillian population thats happy to see rockets and bombs flying in their name?
4. God is the only "Master" and he is not with you
lebanese   (03.17.07)
It makes me angry when I read this article, like if israel did not distroy enough and killed more than 1200 innocent civilians.. for a long 34 days. which is the longest war that israel endured and lost too..no matter how many planes and air supremacy you have the fact remians that the resistance on the ground was more tanacious , strong and steadfast...the myth of the Israeli army is gone forever...mr Gilad Sharon should go back to the archives of the war day by day ..do think 3 million cluster bombs is not enough
5. It was lost...
josef cohen ,   bkk thailand   (03.17.07)
It was lost from the beginning when they declared the goal was to wipe out Hizbulla. From that point on anything less was going to be a loss, and it was clear within a week when they failed to mount a serious ground offensive that they were never going to be able to destroy Hizbollah. Then the Gov't just cotinued disgracing itself making everything worse by continuing to declare unobtainable goals. For consideration, Josef Cohen
6. Question For Gilad Sharon...
Dan Friedman ,   NYC USA   (03.17.07)
Gilad, are you writing from jail, or is that your brother?
7. Sharon is wrong Gov't had a clear objective just an oxymoron
Daniel ,   Formerly Israel   (03.17.07)
Although no gov't official ever stated it; the objective of last summer's war was clear; it was to establish Israel's military supremacy without actually having to fight a war. That's why they never announced it and that's why they failed, because their objective was an oxymoron (and the guy who came up with it was just a plain moron). Think about it; the whole idea of the disengagement was that the war for survival was over, and now that we had full military supremancy we no longer needed to fight and could retreat without endangering our security. In the Lebanon War Israel's military supremacy was challenged, and the government felt (quite rightly) that it had to re-establish it, but it had based its entire policy on not having to fight any more wars. So what it did was launch in essence one prolonged, haphasard raid with no clear objective except to strike as many pointless targets as possible while killing as few people as possible, and hope that the sheer volume of explosives that Israel was able to drop would scare the enemy into not fighting any more. If the logic I just outlined made you burst into laughter you understand why it failed.
8. #4 - reread the article you freakin moron...
Andy ,   ramat hasharon   (03.17.07)
its talking about targeting the villages from which Israel was fired upon....not Beirut. He's suggesting less destruction, only desctruction that should have been targetted at areas that are firing on us and abbetting the crossing of our border to take our solders. And if you think God is on Hizbollah's side - then there's no point in even talking.
9. Air power is not enough
Marcos ,   Barcelona, Spain   (03.17.07)
"Our advantage is our technological supremacy and aerial dominance and we must use them, rather than operating in the manner our enemies have been preparing for and expecting for years. It could have been more effective, at a smaller price. " That's true, but once the katyushot start falling onto Israeli cities, you have to move in the land army. Actually, a rapid and quick advance towards the Litani (to deny re-supply to Hizbollah) would have been the only sensible military tactic. Once the katyushas stop falling and Israeli civilians feel safe in major cities, you have then time to kill the Hizbollaniks off one by one.
10. total destruction of terrorists
alun ,   london uk   (03.17.07)
the lebanon war proved that conventional warfare against terrorist states is obsolete the only solution is to obliterate their infrastructure and the civilian population who supports them and hides them and are thus not innocent thus neutron bombs are the only answer occupation does not work as proved in gaza and the west bank once the populations are destroyed then the ground forces should move in to to prevent these areas becoming hostile again
11. to the englightened author
Dania ,   Paris France   (03.17.07)
IDF did pulverize villages and whole towns and the rockets continued. I suggest since you seem to be brain storming that a single rocket is fired in damascus and you will witness first hand how the shelling would cease. You ask to know the objectives? Honestly if you havent figured them out than all this so called supremacy is bogus. At least show some form of remorse over the loss of civilian lives!
12. 1200 innocent civilians
yoav ,   london   (03.17.07)
Lebanese I think you have been reading far too much propaganda. While too many innocent civillians did die int he fighting a large proportionof these 1200 were Hezbollah fighters - not so innocent to be sure
13. Israel has saved the Shiite population and Iran built Hezbol
e.m ,   s.f   (03.17.07)
Truly Israel didn’t want to destroy the Hezbollah. They wanted to make them hero for their future interest against Sonnies regime. For example when Sharon in early 80 went to Lebanon the Studies never stop their support to Palestinians because they are Sonny. But for the first time in history we have seen Studies regime have supported the Jewish State against Hezbollah and why because of their real fear that they felt Iran going to take over of their leader ship in Islamic Nations .And it is true and is was a reason Israel didn’t want to defeat the Hezbollah. Next war should be between two old enemies Shiite and Sonnies
14. This analysis was right on.
mayer ,   usa   (03.18.07)
15. Thanks to your Daddy
Johnny ,   Miami   (03.18.07)
...we were excellently prepared and fared oh so well in Lebanon and Gaza. That was a great move getting rid of Yaalon and putting in Halutz. And Olmert, what a brilliant successor. How about the work in the Police Force? You all made sure there's not one honest cop left, Look what your family brought upon Israel. Your father went from military hero to corrupt dictator and he ruined the country. You and your brother should quietly go off into oblivion before the public finds out the extent of the sh*t you wrought.
16. "Because it is a nice building" This was the answer!!! What!
j ,   jerusalem, israel   (03.18.07)
This was one commanders response to the, still standing, 4 story building that was being used to fire at Matula, because it was "a nice building" and he didn't want to destroy it! What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????? Maddness!!!! Wish I would have gotten his name.
17. We know this Sharon!
Isaac Haskiya ,   Roskilde - Denmark   (03.18.07)
Such a mistake cannot and must not be repeated next time, because there will be another round. Define your targets and take them out with the force and weapons that are necessary. Winning is a matter of resolve. Hesitation will always lose.
18. is this THE Gilad Sharon?
yossi ,   tel aviv   (03.18.07)
The bottom line is written in the seventh paragraph. The only way to stop rockets is to have a physical presence from where the Arab's shoot the rockets. Before the first Lebanon war the Arabs shot rockets at the North until Israel entered Lebanon. The North was safe until Barak abandoned the heros of the SLA to Hezbolla. The south of Israel was never attacked with rockets until Rabin brought Arafat into Gaza. Then with Sharon's expulsion, the rate of rockets quadrupled. Why don't Israeli governments say the truth? They chose to retreat defeated from Lebanon and Gaza, knowing full well that the citizens of Israel would be bombarded in their home. If the author is the son of Ariel Sharon, he should best hide in some cave and not write articles. His father is responsible for the rockets on Ashkelon and Sderot and his father is the one who allowed Hezbolla to prepare their attack.
19. #4],AUTHOR CALLS FOR"LIMITED IN TIME"WAR, MORE DESTRUCTIVE
TO DESERTED VILLAGES ,   TURNED INTO RUMBLE!!   (03.19.07)
20. lebanon
sam ,   new york   (03.19.07)
send the 4 mothers to defend Israel.
21. wrong move in lebanon
salleh ,   malaysia   (03.19.07)
'It should have proposed massive aerial pulverization of infrastructure' is this what your religion preach you to do after having been the terrorist yourself in plundering the arab land? haven't you realized: your military supremacy could not bring victory? your wealth did not bring happiness fearing the crude palestinean's rocket? are you really the chosen people?or have you misused the privillege by being the us tools that has a satiable appetite to dominate and plunder other people resources under the guise of spreading democracy. may god return you to the right path.
22. Brilliant treatise
Brod ,   USA   (03.19.07)
Gilad Sharon is brilliant in his perception and analysis of the situation. He is right on target on the issues. This article is a Must Read by the leadership and policy makers.
23. Hizbollah was better prepared
John ,   London,UK   (03.19.07)
Hizbollah anticipated Israel's surpise attack. In early 2006, its spies in US leaked information that Olmert was preparing to strike Lebanon. That is why Nasrallah went on tv to say we found out that Israel would go to war with us. Olmert only admitted this fact last week. HIzbollah began preparation and armed themsleves with everything that Syria could secretly give them. This why Israeli army was shocked to discover the lethality of Hizbollah's weapons. Even Britain gave them night vision equipment. No wonder they managed to kill so many Israeli soldiers. Israeli commandos were slaughtered in all their operations. Hizbollah was winning the war by the second week. Israel was looking for a way out. Eventually Israel asked its allies to bring in UN ceasefire. Firse resolution was rejected by Hizbollah who wanted to keep fighting. Then Israel amended the wording which pleased Hizbollah. It was Israel who was now quickly wanting to end the war despite the fact that its kidnapped soldiers were still not secured and Hizbollah was still not disarmed. Hizbollah declared victory and Israel began firing its military offocers for failure in Lebanon. These are simple facts that every school boy in Britain knows. Israel was defeated by lightly armed group of militants in Lebanon. Shame on Israeli invinsibility.
24. Tel Aviv Paying the price
Pasteur ,   Beirut   (03.20.07)
"Many Shiite villages deserted by their residents should have become rubble, so that it becomes clear that Hizbullah's support bases are paying a price" Interesting Quote, so when the next suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv, we will say, Tel Avivers are paying the price for supporting their army's operation in Gaza and West Bank!
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