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War necessary for peace?

Reader comment on item: Israel and Syria going to war?
in response to reader comment: Frogs Luxuriating in a Large Pot of Warm Water, Over a High Flame.

Submitted by Chris G. (United States), Jun 26, 2007 at 18:50

Ok, let me get this straight? Israel is threatened with getting overrun by Saudi Arabia and the Palestinians???
Saudi Arabia has never had strong offensive capabilities. They are more worried about Iran invading in order to re-take Mecca and Medina. True they are a massive thorn in the side of Israel by funding Palestinians... but guess what, we also provided alot of training and funding to the PLA.. We are now about to give them even more funding.

From a military perspective, the only real threats to Israel right now are from Egypt and from Iran. Egypt actually has the conventional military power to put serious hurt into Israel with hundreds of M1A1/2 tanks that we so happily sold to them. They actually make the majority of the tank under licensing agreements. So basically we also taught them how to make most of the tank. We have done the same with the Apache gunships and F-16C Falcon's that we sold to them along with top knotch training. Right now, the Egyptian government is on more or less good terms with Israel. However if we push for true democracy and freedom in Egypt, then BANG.... the Islamic Brotherhood will come to power rapidly and things will change very quickly.

Iran is a threat because of their WMD capabilities and more importantly, their ability to project those WMD's into Israel. They also started, train, and arm Hezbollah. Hezbollah is without a doubt, the most potent and professional light infantry force in the Arab world. What we need to do, is help encourage Nasrallah to stop with the terrorist rhetoric and use his power towards peace with Israel (and America) and to unite Lebanon. They are not as fanatic as Al-Qaeda and are more professional Because of this they have more potential for being reasoned with. Unfortunately the current Iranian leadership may not be so reasonable, but again its complicated because Iranian politics is very complicated. The President does not have all the power, is extremely unpopular (the Iranian Bush), and their economy is in bad shape right now. He just has a big mouth that the media loves and he likes to piss off Americans and Israelies.

There are other powers within the Guardian Council and the military leadership of the Revolutionary Guard, who hold the real power. If we send over some of our top experts on Iran with the best diplomatic skills, we stand a chance to manipulate change from within. Iran is the natural enemy of Al-Qaeda. If we can get them to make peace with Israel and end their nuclear weapons program (and open any civilian nuclear projects to full international monitoring), things will be alright.

As for Syria.... There is no way they are a real threat to Israel. Their training, tactics, and equipment are mostly the same crap that Saddam had before we steam rolled his military. They are upgrading slowly, but their economy simply can't sustain any major offensive war and they simply don't have the military capability to contest Israel.

With all of that said however, I have to agree with you that Israeli politics is insane with power hungry politicians. It is much worse then here in America. However yes, I have little faith in either the Republican or Democrat party or any of the presidential candidates. None of them have any solid ideas for winning the war on terror and none of them have the leadership or diplomatic skills required to lead America through a difficult period in our world history. Things can very easily go south for our nation if we end up going to either extreme of being to naive about politics in the Middle East and how you make deals there or too gung-ho in our bloodlust to kill terrorists or over zealousness to bring democracy to the Middle East.
Sadly these days all you got are these extremes in our own political system.

Chris G.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (39) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
THE BACKSTABBING MIDDLE EAST ! [363 words]jack backermanSep 8, 2007 06:39108238
Zakir naik [51 words]Dirk PittmanSep 8, 2007 01:47108202
7 DEADLY SINS OF GEORGE W BUSH: [585 words]Ernesto RibeiroJul 14, 2007 13:44103669
You are right about clinton! [297 words]jackSep 22, 2007 21:16103669
Syria announced a July 15th deadline for Syrians to leave Lebanon... [761 words]James VesceJul 12, 2007 14:58103526
the root of war against terrorism is rich iranians in usa and other countries accross the globe! [346 words]zari namdarJul 6, 2007 10:18103107
2To... Zari Namdar [1699 words]Aria M.Jul 10, 2008 13:47103107
To Arya M,From: An XXX Iranian {now 100%American} [340 words]zari namdarJul 11, 2008 02:32103107
To Zahra Namdar, a.k.a Iranian Hater [1669 words]Aria M.Jul 13, 2008 18:05103107
1heheheh [31 words]kivancJan 19, 2009 08:33103107
1Let's work instead of beeing jealous [39 words]FredFeb 20, 2010 21:52103107
You are wrong [106 words]MaryJun 21, 2010 00:11103107
1bullshit [42 words]PersianAthiestDec 28, 2010 00:19103107
DIRECTOR [84 words]SASANJun 12, 2013 22:13103107
End Times War? [52 words]Clifford IshiiJun 20, 2007 17:4499719
Not only exciting... [2 words]JoshuaJun 21, 2007 22:1799719
Response to 'Endtime war?': [35 words]Matthew 24Jul 21, 2007 08:4899719
War with Israel, suicide for Damascus [545 words]Chris G.Jun 19, 2007 21:1699580
Re: A bad Idea for everyone [225 words]JoshuaJun 20, 2007 17:0999580
Iran's involvement with Syria [808 words]Chris G.Jun 22, 2007 11:2799580
No war on the Golan Border [201 words]yuval Brandstetter MDJun 11, 2007 06:0997637
Ahmadinejad [81 words]JoshuaJun 10, 2007 21:4597617
Next Year in Jerusalem? [141 words]Rebecca MouldsJun 8, 2007 20:3297001
2Israel The Only Real Superpower In Middle East, Iran, Syria, Wanabees [124 words]AnneMJun 23, 2007 08:3897001
Bashar-al-Assad [83 words]Len MarkowitzJun 7, 2007 19:5496652
Is Assad that stupid? [55 words]Oscar NavarroJun 7, 2007 19:2096647
The passage of time [119 words]David W. LincolnJun 7, 2007 19:1796645
The problem with war [65 words]freemanJun 7, 2007 17:5396636
Dr. Pipes is Right unfortunately.- Deterrence in action. [278 words]YnnatchkahJun 7, 2007 17:2096634
hezbollah a factor [63 words]LEON ZEITZERJun 7, 2007 15:1596619
Incompetence has a way of generating unpredictability [59 words]RandyJun 7, 2007 13:4396483
Negotiating strategy? [32 words]Bobbie WenickJun 7, 2007 12:1196478
Israel and Syria diplomacy [224 words]jJun 7, 2007 10:1496466
Diplomacy and Mid-East don't mix. [177 words]Oscar NavarroJun 7, 2007 19:4396466
Diplomacy is only as good as the Diplomats [762 words]Chris G.Jun 30, 2007 23:4496466
Israeli leaders, weak or strong, inevitably make bad deals with the Arabs [428 words]Kenneth S. BesigJun 7, 2007 10:0096465
Frogs Luxuriating in a Large Pot of Warm Water, Over a High Flame. [619 words]marianaJun 9, 2007 11:5196465
1War necessary for peace? [655 words]Chris G.Jun 26, 2007 18:5096465
For Money, The Koran does not comdemn to have business with Jews. Palestinian's Scandal. [400 words]Ynna (tchakh)May 19, 2007 17:0193648

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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