Old soldiers may never die, but some of them ought at least to have the decency to just fade away.
Petraeus says Israel should try U.S.-style counterinsurgency in Gaza
CARLISLE, Pa. – Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, who led a surge of U.S. troops and shifted Iraqi militia alliances to help turn the tide of the Iraq War, now says a similar, counterinsurgency-based approach could work for the Israel-Hamas conflict.The former CIA director, who was later tasked with stabilizing the Afghanistan War, spoke on Nov. 30 at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center near the home of the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, following the October release of the book “Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine,” which he co-authored with military historian Andrew Roberts.
Shifting his attention to the current Israel-Hamas War, Petraeus said the “big idea” Israel has landed on is destroying Hamas. But how that happens and what comes next remain unresolved.
Petraeus, who said he has ongoing discussions with interlocutors in the Middle East, claimed that Israel has determined Hamas is the equivalent of the Islamic State, meaning it is an irreconcilable, extremist organization.
“You have to, therefore, destroy them,” Petraeus said. Israel cannot allow Hamas to reconstitute as a militant group and it also must dismantle the group’s political wing, he argued, adding that military force alone won’t accomplish that goal.
“But there are some big ideas missing,” Petraeus said. “You can’t kill or capture your way out of an industrial strength insurgency.” The Hamas challenge echoes what U.S. forces faced in Iraq and Israel should take a similar approach, he said.
“The campaign should be a counterinsurgency campaign,” Petraeus said. “Don’t clear and go on. Clear, hold and build.”
Oh goody, more nation-building! That’s always worked out SO well, every time it’s been tried. Well, the exceptions being Germany and Japan post-WW2, I suppose. But then neither of those two nations bears even a slight resemblance to the Mooselimb-run Shitholistans of the world, so there’s also that.
Either way, I do think it’s just sooo cute how Betrayus thinks anybody still gives a flying fuck what he has to say about anything at all, or even should. This Jason Dempsey fella seems to have the right of it.
Jason Dempsey, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Military Times, “the only lesson on COIN that we as Americans have to offer or should be offering, is that one, we didn’t do it very well.”
Annnnnd bingo. Trying to sell peace, love, and democracy to nump-brained savages who hate that shit like the cancer is, was, and ever shall be nothing but a mug’s game.
- Entries
“Betrayus”
Perfect fit.
“Blow their asses away, and their hearts and minds will follow.”
https://i.imgur.com/CN3b3Ml.jpg
I’d be surprised if there’s one building left standing when the Israelis get done, especially after they flood all of the tunnels with salt water and the tunnels collapse, taking the buildings on top down with them. Gaza is essentially built on sand, when it gets soaked with water, it makes quicksand, which isn’t good for stable foundations. If I were the Israelis, I’d be interested in clearing the entire Palestinian population out and sending them to the West Bank, since no other Arab nation will have them – they’ve proven to be too much trouble in those places, too. That includes most notably Egypt and Jordan…
“I’d be surprised if there’s one building left standing when the Israelis get done…”
If there is, then the Israeli’s need to go back and finish the job.
“Well, the exceptions being Germany and Japan post-WW2, I suppose.”
The exception due to the fact we defeated those places in actual combat, killed them until they stopped doing what they were doing, killed them until they were horrified by the mass extinction event they had brought upon themselves. Japs were as religiously motivated as any in history, but death on a massive scale, cities lying in ruin from firebombs, cities lying in ruin from radiation and sudden and massive destruction has a way of clarifying the mind.