Olmert 'planned Lebanon war before soldiers' kidnap'

[Andre II]

Suprise. Surprise.


" Ehud Olmert's decision to go to war in Lebanon in response to abductions of soldiers was taken as early as March 2006, according to a leak of his evidence to the commission investigating the war.

The report means that the military strategy was decided more than three months before it was triggered by Hizbollah's abductions of two soldiers on Israel's northern border in July. Israeli officials said this was broadly in line with what the Prime Minister has already told the cabinet.

Mr Olmert partly used his appearance two weeks ago before the Winograd Commission to defend himself against charges that the government stumbled unprepared into the five-week war.

But the report will fuel claims by some international critics of the operation that Israel, and perhaps the US, had for some time decided in favour of a military confrontation with the Lebanese group."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2341366.ece



Thanks to medienanalyse.

[rockymountaindem]

1. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I think a lot of countries would have done the same

It's the job of every state's military to be prepared for any contingency they might face. Case in point, as I learned recently, the US maintained detailed plans for an invasion of Canada until the 1920s in case that ever became necessary. Considering that antagonism between Israel and Hezbollah was ongoing at that point, once the political decision was made to have a fight the next time a pretext cropped up, there's no reason why Israel wouldn't already have had a plan ready to go.

This also makes Nasrallah's remark afterwards that if he had known Israel would go to war with Hezbollah he wouldn't have authorized the operation to capture the two soldiers. Personally, I think he should have seen it coming. Israel isn't known to put up with that kind of thing for very long, dating back to the 1950s.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. hell we still have plans

to invade mexico and I am sure we still have them for Canada

It is just that these two aren't updated as often as N. Korea

You are correct in that, very much so

[rockymountaindem]

4. I'm sure we've got multiple plans for Mexico

however my (Canadian) prof who is very knowledgeable and has written extensively on these issues assured my (Canadian) classmates that the US no longer maintains plans for an invasion of Canada.

Boy were they relieved :)

[Hatalles]

2. I don't understand what that war accomplished.

It only seems to have bolstered support for Hezbollah among Lebanese Sunni, Shia, Christian, and Druze.

[youngdem]

5. Nothing good for Israel...It spent good will on a war that exposed weaknesses

and the international political outcry forced them to withdraw before victory. It was a fucking disaster for Israel, and several top military figures inside Israel resigned.

They wanted to push Hizbollah north away from the border to stop the rocket attacks and destroy Hizbollah's base of support. They did neither. They did however piss off the entire middle east again by cluster bombing neighborhoods in violation of international law, dropping bomblets that killed (and kill) civilians months later.

They suffered from the same unimaginative response to an attack as the US did - which was to put in place a moron's wet dream plan to teach someone a lesson once and for all, and we all get to watch that someone learn why it was not done sooner.