Trajan
conscientia mille testes
and this thread is exactly the reason that israel should never allow itself to be pressured not to decimate its enemy...
the loons take it as a sign of weakness.
I am not an Olmert fan, he blew this , he let an opportunity pass.
I will say that he probably knew in the end, IF they had really gone in in earnest and fought the urban battle to root hez. out, the causalities and destruction would have been huge, and it would have meant another section of land they would have had to occupy and hold.This is all problematic.
The world, driven to sympathy by the fantastic propaganda machine that the arabs employee ( and willful ignorance of those willing to buy it) and the UN would have turned it into a shonda....and in the end, in 5 years pressure would have brought hez. right back to the border.
Imho, he should have punted right from the beginning or went in for the long haul. He chose neither. He should have realized that no matter what he did, he would get hammered, so he should have swung the hammer and given the leb. army the real opportunity to slide in as they slid out, since Israel would have done what they are incapable of doing, defraying Hezbollahs power for at least a decade.