It is just as easy to have a foolish, simplistic faith in the power of force as to have a similar foolish faith in the power of pacifism.
Answering violence with even more violence does offer a powerful emotional gratification. After the outrage of Sept. 11, 2001, Americans sought — and for a short time got — emotional gratification out of invading Iraq. But we've also paid a heavy price for that.Israel offers another case study. Using airpower and excessive force to crush Hezbollah may feel good, but as a strategy that approach violates every tenet of counterinsurgency warfare. For every 10 guerrillas you kill that way, you risk creating 100, and in the long term the mathematics of that will ruin you.Israel ought to understand that by now. A generation ago, it invaded Lebanon, all but leveling Beirut in the process, trying to teach its enemies a lesson. In the process it ended up radicalizing the Shiites of southern Lebanon and creating Hezbollah, the very group now firing at them.
2006-07-28
09:37:49
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27 answers
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Anonymous