Why Israel Must Shift Focus

These comments from Marshall Manson indicate, in my opinion, why Israel should stop attacking Syria (and Iran’s) proxies and start attacking the folks who are pulling the strings.
The recent attacks on Israel may be coming, ostensibly, from Hezbollah and other anti-Israel factions, but let’s not kid ourselves. These attacks are being sponsored by governments of Syria and Iran (the fact that they’re using cruise missiles is evidence in support of this), and the threat from these attackers will never be neutralized until Syria, at least, is dealt with.
Engaging in war with anti-Israel groups in Lebanon is a good first step, but it isn’t going to solve any problems in the long run. When you’re weeding your garden you must always be sure to get all of a weed, even its roots, lest it grow back and become a nuisance again in a few days. In Israel’s situation, the roots of their current problems lay in Syria and Iran, not Lebanon.
Israel should declare war on Syria, and America should provide whatever operational and tactical support we can without necessarily comitting troops to the ground. The Bush administration has made a stable and democratic middle east a goal of our foreign policy. Our victories in Afghanistan and Iraq have moved things a long way toward that goal, but as long as Syria and Iran are sponsoring terrorism we will never reach that goal.
The time has come for Syria to take a fall.

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  • http://Array robert108

    “I’m sure the otherside will say that were are serving the goals of a dictator and that the dictator is named Big Oil.”

    They would be lying, as usual. Most of the leftie lies just need to be ignored. The truth is the best antidote to that kind of propaganda.

  • puzzlefeet

    r108, Iraq will never be a Western style nation.

  • http://nodak1.blogspot.com/ Outmigrated NoDaker

    I could understand your comment about our troops being mere cannon fodder, except that we are not serving the goals of any of the ares’s dictators.

    I’m sure the otherside will say that were are serving the goals of a dictator and that the dictator is named Big Oil.

    It’s not an accurate statement of course, but with the Populist sentiment out there right now it may be effective nonetheless.

  • http://nodak1.blogspot.com/ Outmigrated NoDaker

    Whether it is the truth or not is a non-issue.

    People don’t really care about silly things like “truth” and “facts,” the only thing that matters is the pocketbook and they are seeing this conflict that doesn’t really affact the oil supply causing the prices to be pushed even further.

    Iran shut down the Stait of Homuz once, and they had their Navy destroyed in a matter of hours. The idea that this is the justification for this latest surge in prices is laughable.

    People watch the speculators rob the country blind and they need someone to blame. Things like truth don’t factor into their reasoning.

  • robert108

    Paul: The trick is to call Iran out, which Israel is doing right now. You want the other fella to have the long supply line, which is what will happen should Iran reveal its true intentions and attack Israel directly. Even the Europeans won’t be able to ignore the truth then. Just a thought.

  • robert108

    Rob: The phrase “divorced from reality” comes to mind.

  • robert108

    O: I could understand your comment about our troops being mere cannon fodder, except that we are not serving the goals of any of the ares’s dictators. We are serving our own purposes(all the real Americans, at least) there, and our forces are never mere cannon fodder; whenever we are in the fight, it’s ours to win. We just have to let the military do what it does best, and keep the politicians away.

  • http://www.rightrainbow.com/ Paul

    Rob,

    Syria — where you put the focus of your post — is one thing. But what, exactly, do you propose that Israel do about Iran?

    There’s a pretty good argument to be made that Iran is simply out of Israel’s reach.

  • http://annoyedcomputer.blogspot.com/ Johnny Miller

    The time has come for Syria to take a fall.

    Too, too true! But Israel does not have to initiate this, either Syria attacks or it winds up looking very weak. Kicked out of Lebanon, now leaving it’s proxy without support to get wiped up with a dirty dish rag… They have set themselves up for a major embarassment if they do not act.

  • puzzlefeet

    R108 and Rob, I didnt say that Iraq couldn’t be a functioning democracy,I said it would never be a “western style nation”. The religious nature of the Sunnis and Shia will prevent Iraq from being a Western style nation. That is not to say that it can’t or won’t have some form of democracy.

    You two are so quick to misinterpret and attack.

  • robert108

    P: I still disagree with your premise, and read it as you wrote it. Compared with the rest of the ME, Iraq has always been more Western in it’s outlook, so it was the perfect place to start. I guess your and my definition of “Western-style” might differ, and my use of it originally conforms to my definition. Since you made your statement without asking what my definition was, I assume you thought you knew what I meant by that term, or you just didn’t care, in your haste to differ with me.
    Notice I said “Western-style” and not “Western”. Too nuanced for you? I never attacked you, btw. I simply disagreed with you. Maybe to you, dissent is attack, I don’t know.

  • http://annoyedcomputer.blogspot.com/ Johnny Miller

    If Israel can completely clean up Hezbollah, Iran will look like the overreaching fool that they are. Trying to play in the big leagues without access to the battlefield is not a way to look smart.

    The next move is to push as hard as possible for a ceasefire “right now” to stop the Israeli cleanup job.

  • Stormy70

    Attacking Syria would be nice and all, but right now the rockets and missiles are being lobbed in from Lebanon. First, destroy your enemies ability to hit your population with hardware, then move on if necessary to the next stage: Kick the crapola out of Syria.

  • robert108

    It’s nice to hear that someone is getting the long range strategic purpose of going into Iraq. The advantages of having a Western-style nation in the center of the Middle East should be obvious to everyone. With Saddam there, it was hopeless to expect any progress in the area.

  • http://nodak1.blogspot.com/ Outmigrated NoDaker

    It’s nice to hear that someone is getting the long range strategic purpose of going into Iraq.

    Oh I understand that strategic value very much so.

    Unfortunately the strategic reality does not shut the door on the argument that our men and women are meer cannon fodder in a region that wants to destroy itself.

    Iran could never “roll over us” but they could take us out of being any help to Israel. Fortunately we’ve armed them well over the past few decades.

    Still, going after Syria would have been a better option from a PR standpoint on Irael’s part.

  • robert108

    P: I don’t share your pessimism. I’m not ready for towel on my head and a full beard, and for women to be wearing burkas just yet.

  • robert108

    O: I know it’s comforting to have a bad guy to blame, because it excuses us from having any responsibility in the matter, and we can just whine and wallow in our collective misery, but some of us don’t really want to live that way.
    Think about it this way: We develop our own resources, overthrowing the environmental ayatollahs in this country in the process; we cut off imported oil for five years. Think of the consequences to the ME, which has generally done nothing but spend their oil profits. This is what we need to do; even starting to move on it will scare the crap out of them, like when Ronald Reagan announced the committment to SDI. The Soviet Union, which had been our sworn enemy for two generations, collapsed. They threw in the towel. We need direct, decisive action, not short term political thinking.

  • http://nodak1.blogspot.com/ Outmigrated NoDaker

    Well, since we are blocking Iran from getting involved by controling Iraq and the Persian Gulf (and Turkey is not gonna allow Iran to us it’s airspace), Israel is now free to clean up their part of the world.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com robport

    Iraq will never be a Western style nation.

    Weren’t liberals saying a while back that Muslims/Arabs were incapable of democracy too?

    Three elections in Iraq later I wonder where that claim went.

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