With war looming ominously for Israel, it is imperative to return General Dan Halutz, Israel's current Chief of Staff of the IDF (Israel Defense Force), back to the only desk he really knows and understands: that of the chief of the air force. (If we had the time, Halutz should be courtmartialed, but we don't have that luxury.)
Halutz sees wars and strategy through the eyes of an airman. He dreams of fighting the enemy from the sky. To have him focus on Israeli ground troops, slogging their way through hostile terrain, is too petty, to inelegant for him. Worse yet, he brought his air buddies in to command the IDF, to replace ground combat generals, thinkers and trainers. Like Halutz, they too are "above it all," so to speak.
A big war is coming in so fast that a shakeup of the General Staff should kick into high gear and put a real ground combat general into the top position of the IDF - army, navy, air force and intelligence services. Let Halutz, with all his arrogance, plan an air war, but not as chief of staff for the entire military.
There is a small bit of time for re-training and re-stocking munitions on an urgent basis. Full scale maneuvers must begin immediately. Bring in our best counter-electronics people to overcome the electronic intercepts provided by Russia's current President Vladimir Putin to the Iranians and Syrians, which were then passed to Hizbullah.
The reserves, so badly used by Halutz to evict 10,000 Jews and destroy their property, should be immediately put into heavy re-training to fight a major, multi-front war. That means upgrades and re-stocking of equipment, water, ammunition, electronics, etc., as well as preparing the fighting men and women of the IDF.
Don't count on current Defense Minister Amir Peretz (whose previous experience was to blockade Israeli traffic during his many strikes as head of the Histadrut, Israel's national labor union). Don't depend on Ehud Olmert, whose only previous experience in war was as a public relations guy. While I have much to say about their irreversible incompetence, they cannot be relied upon for any meaningful defensive role - except possibly as figureheads mounted on the face of the Israeli Merkava tanks.
Bring the Israeli armor back into shape on a crisis schedule. Double layer the blazer armor as a temporary solution to the shoulder-fired Kornet missiles supplied by "Ras-Putin" to Iran and, from there, shipped directly to Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza (to be later trucked into Judea and Samaria).
Get Israel's cities, on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood patrol basis, to defend the civilians against a saturation missile attack by Iran, by Syria and by the Hizbullah, which is said to have left in its stockpile some 10,000 to 20,000 Katyusha and bigger missiles.
Gen. Halutz is not the one to rebuild the IDF he decimated. Bring back the real generals - like Moshe Ya'alon or Yiftah Ron-Tal, or whoever can pull the ground army back together on an emergency basis.
It is reasonable to assume that if, at the behest of Putin, Iran and Syria launch a preemptive attack, it will be sometime in the next four weeks - before the American elections on November 7. This is in line with our history as found in Josephus' report about the Jews fighting each other while the Romans crept in and slit their throats. In this case, the scenario applies to America as well, where the Democrats and Republicans are tearing each other apart while Putin is creeping up against the Free West through his proxy Iran.
I am deeply concerned that the Bush Administration is already dragging its collective feet in re-supplying Israel with munitions and spare parts in deference to their special connections to the Saudi royal family and the Lebanese government. Some will recall that Henry Kissinger, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War (exactly 33 years ago), thought it "would be a good idea if Israel were allowed to bleed a little before any re-supply was undertaken." It wasn't Kissinger or Nixon, but mainly General Alexander Haig who saw to the loading of transports with weapons for Israel on the eighth day of that "surprise war." The 1973 war was no surprise to the intelligence services, but Nixon and, especially, Kissinger wouldn't allow Israel to strike the threatening Egyptians and Syrians preemptively. As a result, 2,656 IDF soldiers died and 7,250 were wounded - too many unnecessary casualties.
Please ask your congressmen if the Bush/Rice doctrine is to withhold essential materiel until Israel gives up everything Syria, Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas want.
Halutz sees wars and strategy through the eyes of an airman. He dreams of fighting the enemy from the sky. To have him focus on Israeli ground troops, slogging their way through hostile terrain, is too petty, to inelegant for him. Worse yet, he brought his air buddies in to command the IDF, to replace ground combat generals, thinkers and trainers. Like Halutz, they too are "above it all," so to speak.
A big war is coming in so fast that a shakeup of the General Staff should kick into high gear and put a real ground combat general into the top position of the IDF - army, navy, air force and intelligence services. Let Halutz, with all his arrogance, plan an air war, but not as chief of staff for the entire military.
There is a small bit of time for re-training and re-stocking munitions on an urgent basis. Full scale maneuvers must begin immediately. Bring in our best counter-electronics people to overcome the electronic intercepts provided by Russia's current President Vladimir Putin to the Iranians and Syrians, which were then passed to Hizbullah.
The reserves, so badly used by Halutz to evict 10,000 Jews and destroy their property, should be immediately put into heavy re-training to fight a major, multi-front war. That means upgrades and re-stocking of equipment, water, ammunition, electronics, etc., as well as preparing the fighting men and women of the IDF.
Don't count on current Defense Minister Amir Peretz (whose previous experience was to blockade Israeli traffic during his many strikes as head of the Histadrut, Israel's national labor union). Don't depend on Ehud Olmert, whose only previous experience in war was as a public relations guy. While I have much to say about their irreversible incompetence, they cannot be relied upon for any meaningful defensive role - except possibly as figureheads mounted on the face of the Israeli Merkava tanks.
Bring the Israeli armor back into shape on a crisis schedule. Double layer the blazer armor as a temporary solution to the shoulder-fired Kornet missiles supplied by "Ras-Putin" to Iran and, from there, shipped directly to Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza (to be later trucked into Judea and Samaria).
Get Israel's cities, on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood patrol basis, to defend the civilians against a saturation missile attack by Iran, by Syria and by the Hizbullah, which is said to have left in its stockpile some 10,000 to 20,000 Katyusha and bigger missiles.
Gen. Halutz is not the one to rebuild the IDF he decimated. Bring back the real generals - like Moshe Ya'alon or Yiftah Ron-Tal, or whoever can pull the ground army back together on an emergency basis.
It is reasonable to assume that if, at the behest of Putin, Iran and Syria launch a preemptive attack, it will be sometime in the next four weeks - before the American elections on November 7. This is in line with our history as found in Josephus' report about the Jews fighting each other while the Romans crept in and slit their throats. In this case, the scenario applies to America as well, where the Democrats and Republicans are tearing each other apart while Putin is creeping up against the Free West through his proxy Iran.
I am deeply concerned that the Bush Administration is already dragging its collective feet in re-supplying Israel with munitions and spare parts in deference to their special connections to the Saudi royal family and the Lebanese government. Some will recall that Henry Kissinger, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War (exactly 33 years ago), thought it "would be a good idea if Israel were allowed to bleed a little before any re-supply was undertaken." It wasn't Kissinger or Nixon, but mainly General Alexander Haig who saw to the loading of transports with weapons for Israel on the eighth day of that "surprise war." The 1973 war was no surprise to the intelligence services, but Nixon and, especially, Kissinger wouldn't allow Israel to strike the threatening Egyptians and Syrians preemptively. As a result, 2,656 IDF soldiers died and 7,250 were wounded - too many unnecessary casualties.
Please ask your congressmen if the Bush/Rice doctrine is to withhold essential materiel until Israel gives up everything Syria, Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas want.