To Win a War, Fight One

I read a lot of mono-conflict thinking here. Not good.

In my view, at least two pathways exist to win a war. The first focuses on destroying, and the second to defeat.

But there is also a third way. It is a hybrid between the two first. Regardless of destroying or defeating the opponent, a peace-making approach is activated.

I call this hybrid the third wave. It is not suited for all types of wars. But then again, none of the three strategies are.

In Israel's current situation, the second most efficient strategy is to destroy Hamas. The best is to develop the hybrid mentioned above.

I hope the IDF has a suitable doctrine at hand. Otherwise, it is going to be a cluster f*ck. "Pardon my French."

So excellent, Mr. Greenfield. TY for your courage and for your strong voice filled with moral and ethical clarity.

This was the Eisenhower doctrine. Our enemies were afraid of him.

Very good piece, Mr Greenfield. You say it like it is: Winning means destroying Hamas, its leaders, its terrorists and its supporters by any means necessary, and securing the territory they operated from so that it cannot be used to stage similar attacks."

I wonder to what extent the criteria you outlined apply to the war in Ukraine?

Agreed. This is why I support the death penalty.

Ever since I was drafted for the "Police action" in Viet Nam, I have believed that the best definition of an immoral war is one you are unable, or more importantly, unwilling to win. We should not send our young men to die in a halfway effort.

It is more than a tad ironic that General George Patton is mentioned here, for it was Israel's own George Patton, Ariel Sharon, who tore down all of Israel's Gaza Settlements, forced the inhabitants out, and pulled the IDF back to the old 1967 line. Sharon claimed that he did this as a peaceful gesture but vowed if rockets came, the retaliation would be massive.

Well, the rockets did come - even when Sharon was still alive and still Prime Minister and the response was minimal. Even when there were at least three major incursions into Gaza since then, the demands for "restraint" and for a cease-fires accepted only 3-4 days at most after such incursions trumped common sense. Hamas was NEVER destroyed, on the contrary, they grew stronger and the weapons from Iran kept flowing in because Netanyahu, in one of the few cases of very flawed judgment he had, chose not to maintain a full blockade - air, land and sea. He wanted to be humanitarian.

The problem is, you cannot be humanitarian when you have thousands of Vipers ready and willing to kill you.

And Israelis - even along the border - grew complacent and getting bent out of shape over judicial reform. This is not the place to discuss this folly, but it does need to be said. There were no fortifications in these Kibbutzim, no enforced military or police posts - a sure remedy for disaster.
And disaster came.

The response thus far?

Bombings, Bombings, Bombings. But even these do NOT even by a fraction resemble the mass carpet bombings the USAAF and RAF did to Germany - think Dresden or the USAAF did to Japan. One only needs to see all of the buildings still intact in Gaza to figure out there is something drastically wrong with this picture.

Yes, I know. Netanyahu and the IDF are trying to prove to the world that we Jews are a humane people. He is also acting on the assumption that the hostages are still alive. All of us are hopeful - but after all of the scenes we've witnessed on TV - even a poor little dog shot point blank trying to save his family (and don't forget the scores of babies), and not knowing exactly where they are being held. . .

The IDF has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops on the outskirts of Gaza ready to go in, more Jewish lives that could very well be lost because we wanted to prove the world we were good and we were humane.

Almost 80 years ago, Harry S. Truman had also massed millions of US, British and Australian soldiers to invade Japan in the fall of 1945. We knew that there would have been at least 100,000 American casualties - perhaps a million - if we had gone ahead with that mass invasion of ground forces.

The Bomb - or rather - the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - even knowing there were thousands of Allied prisoners held by the Japanese put paid to this (20 American POWs, it is said, died at Hiroshima).

We know what the consequences might be. The first use of nuclear weapons since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The unpredictable spread of radiation following the detonation of such devices. Revulsion by hypocritical governments throughout the world, the mass rallies of anti-Semites (when hasn't there been one - its pretty bad even now), and even within Israel much soul searching.

But the time for love taps are over. If the Israeli Air Force had the same capability as say, the USAAF did in those mass missions over Dresden and Tokyo, it might be a different story. But proof that they don't can be seen in the many buildings still standing in downtown Gaza.

The use of the bomb, as horrible as it must seem to be still has to be on the table - with the will to use it. Especially if the pin-point bombing missions do not work, nor starving them to death (which of course would also cause an outcry).

And the Ayatollahs too must be given a strong and clear message that yes, the option is NOT off the table and they very well could be first even before the savages in Gaza City are put paid to.

If the bombing doesn't do the job. If starving and freezing the butchers will not do the trick especially in the first weeks before pressure from friends (with friends like Biden who needs enemies), then that option, as terrible as it may seem to be, must be clearly and unequivocally be on the table.

If Bibi, after much soul searching does put the nuclear option on the table, hopefully those in Gaza and in Tehran would get the message loud and clear, free the surviving hostages - and disarm permanently UNDER ISRAELI SUPERVISION.
But if not, well the image of Mohammed Atta has been in my mind as I write this. He didn't care about human lives - and neither do his blood brothers in Hamas. Al Qaida, ISIS, Hamas - no difference, and neither too the Ayatollahs in Iran and Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon.

And if Hamas and the Ayatollahs in Tehran choose Mohammed Atta's way, then let them be damned - AND DESTROYED.

I have studied Military History and have had this conversation with a lot of liberal ideologues who can't understand that not all people are nice, and a clever enemy will exploit every situation to defeat you! I have argued that Rules of Engagement are the biggest factor in prolonging actions like Afghanistan and Iraq and even Northern Ireland. If you are going to fight a war you have to go in boots and all! Half measures backfire - as history shows!

Isreal conducts its military operations based on the "Just War Theory" All its military actions have the SOLE objective of protecting the citizens of Israel, including its soldiers. None of the military actions have been conducted based on revenge.(see 2009 article in Azure by Asa Kasher "Operation Cast Lead and Just War Theory')

REMEMBER THE CHILDREN OF KFAR AZA

It's tough to fight a war against an enemy who uses civilians as sandbags.
Unless, of course, you fight like Russian did in Chechnya. But that's a war crime.

Though Israel's declaration of war against Palestine is both necessary and just, a protracted regional conflict enlarging into a nuclear WW III is far more than "possible."

A proportionate Israeli response to Palestinian barbarity – elimination of the Palestinian mujahedeen – will be impossible without destroying the Gaza Strip, its structures and infrastructure, including the web of tunnels the mujahedeen use to transport weapons and personnel. And Israeli attempts to eliminate the Palestinian mujahedeen will draw the support of Hezbollah from Lebanon and Syria. Ultimately, Iran will engage as a matter of Islamic faith, particularly if the U.S. intervenes to support Israel.

Palestine endorses Iran's savage theocracy that has repeatedly declared "death to Israel" and to the U.S. to be a fundamental obligation mandated by Allah. See, e.g., The Holy Qur'an sura (verse) 5:51, where Allah commands Muslims to not accept Jews and Christians as friends, and the authoritative hadiths stating that Muslims will not enter paradise until Muslims kill all Jews, and that at the end of days Jesus will return to implement sharia, dispatch all Christians to hell for failing to accept Islam and become Muslims, and kill all Jews.

And since the George W. Bush and Obama administrations U.S. political and military leadership have persistently denied and categorically eliminated the teachings of the Holy Qur'an from any official analysis of global jihad. See Diana West, American Betrayal –The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character, St. Martin's Press (N.Y., 2013).

This is the best sermon I have seen or heard about fighting for something. Define the problem and then do something about resolving it.

This woke military couldn't fight it's way out of a wet paper bag! They are to busy learning the use of preferred pronouns to worry about fighting a war! This country better pray we don't get drawn into a war anywhere!

All true - but it's more than that.

Productivity counts more in war than in any other human endeavor. Allowing the fewest of your men to be killed when killing an enemy is the ideal. Nuclear weapons are the most productive weapons in history, yet we have been running from, not to, them since August, 1945.

If you look at the numbers, the US Army thought invading Japan would cost 1M American and 5M Japanese lives in a war that would last until 1949; the US Navy planned on 1M American and 9M Japanese. Using nukes killed 0 Americans and fewer than 0.5M Japanese, including a year post-war of radiation deaths. Nukes saved between 4-8M lives.

Had we nuked Pyongyang in 1950, we'd've killed far fewer than the 2M Koreans we killed - and no Americans. Had we nuked Hanoi in 1963, far fewer than the 2M Vietnamese - and no Americans. Had we nuked Kabul on 9/12, far fewer than the ~1M South Asians - and no Americans. We'd've also saved trillions of dollars, and those tens of thousands of Americans would've had families and they or their offspring might have given us literature, art, drama, science, technology we otherwise didn't and bay not get.

War is about changing the behavior of an adversary. If you don't believe enough in changing that behavior to actually accomplish it (every "war" America has fought since 1945), stay home. But if you're going to go - go as productively as possible.

Great article, and your point about Israel destroying Hamas is well taken, but I think Israel is going to have to do more than just destroy Hamas, because it seems like every time you get rid of one Islamic terrorist group another one pops up. Israel may have to nuke Gaza.

Author Daniel Greenfield has absolutely rightly defined that "winning" for Israel its current war "means destroying Hamas, its leaders, its terrorists and its supporters by any means necessary, and securing the territory they operated from so that it cannot be used to stage similar attacks." Hope Israel would fight this war accordingly and win . America must fully back Israel militarily. Washington and the world' other democratic capitals must bear in mind that Hamas and allies aim to liquidate not only Israel but the entire free world .

An excellent piece, answering much regarding my own attitude which has troubled no end lately. Probably much the same with many folk who claim to be pacifists and suddenly you have to take sides and "rain mass death and destruction on the opponent as the US did in WW2". That excerpt from Greenfield's article strikes a nerve and one realizes that when the time comes to stand and be counted no matter what personal preferences may be and the enemy starts beheading children, they deserve need nothing less than total annihilation which is what Israel needs to do now with Hamas. Decent folk have to swallow their sensitivities and lash out. There have been several now departed uncles in our family who went through WW2 and refused to share their experiences once it was all over. That's because their own inner resources couldn't bear memories of atrocities witnessed and they were daily personally involved in as perpetrators. Essentially the time comes when you have to carry that mental torture to win the war at any cost. Sadly, no amount of collective participation bringing forgiveness can eradicate personal blame and peace of mind. During the ongoing war in Ukraine and now the declared war in Israel the world's television news audiences are much like a pendulum, swinging from deep anger to serious self-examination and feelings of personal guilt in thought processes that only psychologists can fully explain. I would gladly cut Putin's throat and butcher members of Hamas given the opportunity and not flinch at all, plus I don't care who knows it. It's a shocking admission.

I'm hoping when Netanyahu said it is a war, it will be a war, not a police action. The purpose of war is victory, which means eliminating an enemy, Hamas.

As Cicero noted, you fight a war depending on what the kind of peace you believe is possible. You fight one way if you intend to live with your enemy afterwards but quite another if you can't. Hamas' goal is the elimination of all Jews. It fought in a way consistent with its goal. Israel's goal should be the eliminate of Hamas and has to be fought such that this is achieved.

The head of the snake needs to be chopped off !

Israel must level Gaza so it cannot be used again. Hamas asked for this and It got its wish.

I agree with the above comments. Regarding Israel, they have only one objective: to win this war..

Israel is wasting time by behaving like humans with the animals. Just execute an all out carpet bombing of Gaza.

Fighting door to door is a non-starter; the losses would be acceptable militarily and politically. Israel has to reduce the place to rubble and start again.
Yes, I know all the arguments but there is no alternative. Remember (those of us old enough) "Land for Peace" set up by political comedians. I alone said so at the time. In the meantime the Hamas leaders are sitting in air conditioned offices in Qatar or some such Arab dump who the travel vendors are selling as a paradise holiday. Oh dear Oh dear.

I see that Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland made the most noise about the blocking of aid to Gaza by the EU.
I have a suggestion: Let the 2.3 million Palestinians get refugee status in those countries: Problem solved. Oh yes and also the prospect of Labour winning the UK elections, an additional number of Palestinians can go and have an enclave there.
Corbyn will be ecstatic!

"But when you fight them, fight to win."

Spot on. If a Government does not see it important enough to fight to win, then it has no justification for committing it's troops and putting their lives on the line.

The allied objective in the second world war was non-negotiable, the unconditional surrender of the enemy. The problem of Hamas and every other Islamic terrorist movement can only be satisfactorily concluded with the total elimination of those organisations, now is not the time to shrink from that task, the festering sore that is the Middle East needs to be properly sorted once and for all.

Mr Greenfield has expressed my sentiments, this is war proper war and the objective has to be to destroy the enemy completely and not have compassion for Hamas or their supporters. An enemy that commits genocide against babies, children and the elderly has forfeited its right to exist and needs to be hunted down and exterminated. Liberal lunatics thousand of miles away need to put up and shut up. If the atrocity that happened over the weekend happened in their own backyard would they just roll over and accept it?

Agreed. Israel needs to wipe out Hamas and take back control of Gaza. Handing it over to the Arabs was a terrible mistake and Israel has been paying the price ever since. It is time we in the west gave Israel 100% support. Those who attack unarmed civilians in a sneaking surprise assault can expect no mercy. In Britain I hope those who are so twisted in their minds that they can celebrate such an abomination will be deported. I am sure they can't be British or worthy of British citizenship.

Great assessment. I couldn't agree more. Israel's war objective must be total destruction of Hamas's war infrastructure, total annihilation of the perpetrators who are not human beings but demons in human shape. Together with their backers and sympathizers they need to be wiped out. I hope for something supernatural to happen in Gaza.

An endless topic. Israel win never win, nor will their enemies. The best hope each day is to live another day.

In the USA we have open hostility towards each other which is troubling. War is messy. War and violence fails to solve conclusively anything. Civil war is the worst. Non-violent solutions are prime and preferred. To those who decide to initiate hostilities here beware, however, as which ever side does this will regret it.

Going to war, when attacked is the normal response. But, starting war is lame and stupid. Working to not be attacked while maintaining your principles and integrity is more bothersome, but is better, even though less practiced.

Today many feel they have picked the justified side to support regarding the Middle East, but I ask for all to reconsider and find a healthier path, otherwise all combatants will regret going to war. No one will win.

100% correct.

If we're going to get in a war let's do it to win; nation building can come later!

Iran is using Hamas to start a war that Israel will be blamed for - in order that Iran can lead a coalition of muslim countries to destroy Israel.

They calculate that America is too weak, too anti-Israel, and too riddled with Muslim influence to intervene.

Hopefully, the majority of Arab countries will realise that their interests are far better served by having a stable, peaceful Israel than by empowering a genocidal Iran.

Even intelligent people fail to understand
Arabs were dormant for five centuries under the Ottomans. Great Britain promised them the earth to fight the Turks, dishonoured their mandate after the WWI, for securing Oil and trade routes. Grand Mufti Haj Amin Al Husseini offered the idea of a final solution. Underneath it all is a claim to the land of Israel. No answer to a continuation of hostilities whilst Islam is not drastically updated with the factual knowledge we gained from science. IE get rid of the Gin, flying horses to heavens the virgins waiting in heavens.. otherwise Islam, kept together with terror according to Qaradawi, will just gobble all around it and take the world back to very dark ages

I am sure you did not mean to, but you speak as if only the USA fought the war. Of course they made a huge contribution and sacrifice but if it had not been for UK backed by the Empire, which stood alone against the Luftwaffe which tried to bomb us into submission but were defeated by the sacrifices of the RAF. We then fought back in North Africa. Often we failed as in Norway and the far East but we kept fighting, along with Europeans of forces who had escaped the Nazi occupation of Europe. The USA although it lent support to UK did not enter the war until Pearl Harbor in 1941. Our war started in 1939. Then of course there was the huge sacrifice of Soviet Russia.

I've just noticed someone telling us to thank Sunak for letting in all those 'Trouble Makers' into the country, I think that person needs to checkup on recent history, the gates were opened by a Labour Administration led by Tony Blair, then after opening them he threw the keys away, so they could never again be locked. You can also look at Khan who supported the Islamic celebrations on the streets of his city (a once proud city, now a third world colony of trash) and declared we need more of these people migrating to the UK. I feel so sorry for the lack of knowledge some of these people have, I'd hate to think of what they did in university.

It is war.