You’d think if they were firing rockets on population centers, with the associated high likelihood of getting invaded that Hamas might have had some IED placement plans ready to go just in case, but so far not a peep about any Israeli tanks or other vehicles getting blown up.
Why no IEDs?
They’ve placed hundreds, maybe thousands. Israeli troops just know how to handle them - by working slowly and meticulously, with infantry using tools such as bomb-sniffing dogs to clear the terrain before the vehicles advance.
Plus, we’ve been lucky.
There’s also the lack of E. You can’t I a D without E.
They have plenty of E. E is easy to smuggle and easy to make.
If it is that easy, won’t they just make some more when the troops have moved out?
Eventually, sure.
The point of breaking through defenses is not to destroy the defenses, it’s to get to the people who placed them and are hiding behind them.
So, is Israel’s main military objective in this window of opportunity, to find and destroy or negate, every arms cache and smuggling tunnel that they can? And then what are they going to do, reinforce the perimeter so the place is even more of a prison?
That, and find and kill as many Hamas operatives - particularly leaders - they can. That’s what you do in war: you kill your enemies.
Probably reach a favorable cease fire and go back to protecting our border.
Trouble is, any intelligent leaders will have melted away, and the ones you are killing can be replaced - by people even more determined because you’ve just killed their brother, uncle, dad, whatever. Do you even need to be Palestinian to fight for Hamas?
And the worst case scenario?
First of all, the IDF already killed several of their intelligent leaders.
Second of all, there will always be replacements, but these replacements need to be trained, equipped and led, and that can’t be done overnight. The purpose of the operation is not to resolve the matter for all eternity, it’s to win us a few more months or even years of quiet.
So basically, you are trying to bomb the entire nation into a submissive state and then hoping to keep them there?
Got ya!
“Stopping rockets being fired into schools,” and the like.
Sucks when people add context, hu?
We’re trying to fight our enemy until we defeat him, yes.
Okay, if we’re talking about context, who do you think is suffering more; Hamas or the Palestinian people as a whole? In what context is that a proportionate response, when the target of your attacks is not the only thing being punished? What ratio of Hamas militants to civilians have you decided is an acceptable consequence?
Hamas.
Proportional response it the fastest way to a slow war, with undue suffering.
As many as possible to as few as possible.
How many Palestinians are in favour of Hamas’s terrorism against Israeli civilians either tacitly or openly?
How many Palestinians have expressed disapproval of Hamas’s and other terrorist organisations actions against Israeli civilians?
How many Palestinians have unprompted expressed regret and sympathy for Israeli civilians(or Americans or Spanish or Indian or British) killed and maimed by Islamic terrorists?
How many Palestinians whooped and cheered and celebrated openly in the streets on watching/hearing about 9/11 ?
How many unrelated questions can be squeezed into one post?
To answer the OP, the difference between the US troops in Iraq and the Israeli troops is that the US troops are patrolling essentially pacified areas, which means they’re moving (read: driving) much faster. The Israeli troops are essentially conducting a small-scale invasion, which means they’re moving very slowly. Much easier to detect (and avoid) IEDs in the latter scenario.
This thread seems to be heading into debate territory.
I’m going to go ahead and move this from General Questions to Great Debates.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator