October 21, 2006
IT WASN'T HOW THEY FOUGHT IT BUT THAT THEY FOUGHT IT:
Israeli War Plan Had No Exit Strategy: Forecast of 'Diminishing Returns' in Lebanon Fractured Unity in Cabinet (Scott Wilson, October 21, 2006, Washington Post)
Just two days after Israel launched a punishing counterattack against Hezbollah this summer, Israeli military and diplomatic officials were deeply split over war strategy.On July 14, as Israeli aircraft prepared to bomb south Beirut, the research unit of Israel's military intelligence branch presented a report to senior Israeli officials that questioned the war plan's ability to achieve the government's goals.
The analysis, according to senior Foreign Ministry officials who read it, concluded that the heavy bombing campaign and small ground offensive then underway would show "diminishing returns" within days. It stated that the plan would neither win the release of the two Israeli soldiers in Hezbollah's hands nor reduce the militia's rocket attacks on Israel to fewer than 100 a day.
Those initial conclusions held true when the war ended 31 days later.
You didn't need to be in the Israeli military to realize the war was pointless as soon as it was launched. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 21, 2006 8:31 AM
I should email my son and ask him for suggestions for an exit policy vis-a-vis the Korean War. He's stationed in Korea.
"Exit strategy" is a code word for "surrender." It announces to the enemy exactly what he must accomplish or endure in order to to win.
Now in the case of Israel in Lebanon, it is quite right that this incursion, like all operations with an "exit strategy" short of the overthrow of the enemy, was a fool's errand.
Posted by: Lou Gots at October 21, 2006 3:57 PM