January 29, 2006
TEXTBOOK:
Hamas floats Palestinian 'army' (BBC, 1/28/06)
The political leader of the Hamas militant group has said it could create a new Palestinian army following its surprise election victory.Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria, said the force would include its militant wing and would "defend our people against aggression".
This is exactly the kind of benefit that was expected from Hamas moving into a role of national responsibility. It does one of two things, or both: applies institutional discipline to what is now just a militant rabble and brings them under the political control of statesmen; or it at least aggregates them and uniforms them as a national army which the Israelis can then slaughter with the kind of impunity it doesn't enjoy when hunting terrorists mized in with civilians. Either Hamas is itself debilitating itself as an effective militant organization or it's setting itself up for Israel to decimate them. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 29, 2006 8:06 AM
It's been 15 years since Tom Clancy's book "The Sum of All Fears" was published, which features the surprising effectiveness of Palestinian non-violent 'resistance'. I think that historical void teaches us all something.
Posted by: ratbert at January 29, 2006 9:55 AMThe putative aggressors being ... ?
Posted by: erp at January 29, 2006 10:30 AMThe other good thing about the Hamas victory is that someone is in charge. Before the election victory of Hamas the PA and Abbas as Arafat did before would say that they could not control the terrorists. Now that the terrorists are openly in control there will be no excuses that the PA (Hamas) can give. Either they control the terrorism or not and if not, Israel has every right to do whatever is needed to protect its citizens.
Posted by: morry at January 29, 2006 11:02 AMOne may find a certain respect and even admiration for a Pontiac or a Tecumseh, a Sitting Bull or a Chief Joseph .
The struggle ends the same way, nevertheless.
Posted by: Lou Gots at January 29, 2006 5:42 PMbplus;
Yes, and if the West had smacked them the first time they crossed the border, Hitler would have been out of office soon after.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at January 29, 2006 10:07 PMLGF: They're going to institute shari'a.
Posted by: Sandy P at January 29, 2006 10:59 PMWe often use the word "decimate" forgetting that it is only cutting a force by 1/10th. (used by Romans to enforce order in their army. A disloyal army was "decimated")
I think "obliterate" would be a better term for the circumstance at hand.
Posted by: Bruno at January 30, 2006 12:47 PMBruno:
Not for centuries now has decimate meant one in ten.
Posted by: oj at January 30, 2006 12:53 PM