Israel's Active Capitulation

Hamas ends its so-called truce and pounds the Jewish state with a Kassam and mortar barrage. Terrorists hurl missiles, Israel returns rhetoric. Israel's leaderless leaders have allowed puny Islamist murderers from Gaza and Lebanon to claim victory for far too long. A state with the resources but not the national will to use them to defeat this threat is likely doomed to the greater existential threat of Iran. Even if Iran is stopped, Israel may fall to pan-Islamism under the weight of her own corruption. President Katsav, Prime Minster Olmert, and even Minister Hiam Ramon have all come under criminal charges. A country as small and vulnerable as Israel even lost some of the small amount of international support she enjoyed due to the Madoff scandal. A nation that readily dispossesses Jews from near Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs, but permits a sustained terrorist bombardment from Gaza will soon perish.

Severe Withdrawl Symptoms

The Iraqi parliament approved the three(3) year withdraw plan for American forces last week. It is incumbent upon Obama to make it clear that the US will not pull out under fire or with her tail between her legs. The examples of Israel's evacuation from Lebanon and later from Gaza illustrate what not to do. The South Lebanon pull back was done literally in the middle of the night. This allowed Hizbollah to proclaim victory over Israel and rallied countless fanatics to the Jihadi cause. The Gaza situation was mishandled with no dark of night pullout possible due to the presence and resistance of the Gush Katif block of Israeli citizens, Israel had a protracted effort sometimes under rocket or mortar fire and the occasional try at direct assault by members of the PRC, Hamas, or members of the al Qaeda sympathizing Dogmush klan. Once again, terrorists heralded a victory over the West and Israel. The British exit from Basra is also instructive. Much of Iraq remains a cauldron of simmering ethnic tension, but even in almost exclusively Shia Basra, after the British, Basra has become a tinderbox of gangs and warlords contesting the oil revenues. An American retreat seen as capitulation will engender renewed sectarian violence in mixed areas with the grave possibility of Saudi assistance to the Sunnis and Iranian aid or actual combat participation by Iranians on the side of the Sadrist block. Incidentally, Muqtada al Sadr's supporters in parliament opposed the Three(3) Year Plan and pushed for immediate American removal where the Iranians and their Shia surrogates could claim they had chased the Yankees from the country. No matter what else, America must conduct an orderly pull back that can only be seen as leaving in victory.