Comments on: MOD Spites Face, Cuts off Nose

By: CON960

CON960 — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:03:09 +0000

Rubbish. I spent twelve months serving on secondment to the UN in Southern Lebanon a few years ago (disclaimer: I am not a British Army Officer) – to suggest the IDF has not resorted to “Brutality” in the very recent past is intellectual arrogance of the first order, little short of outright falsehood; to suggest that the excesses of Hezbollah and Hamas somehow excuse, or diminish these “measures” is pathetic… I have seen first hand the excesses on all sides of these tragic conflicts, and have little patience for those that explain away criticism of the often appalling operational behaviour of the IDF as prejudice, ignorance or racism… much will be gained from the day that ruthless self reflection finds itself a home in Beirut, Damascus, Tehran, Gaza….. and Tel Aviv

By: Graeme Anderssen

Graeme Anderssen — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 12:34:38 +0000

Tom Wein and Laleh
To assume that you are qualified to pass judgement on others because you have been guilty of brutality in the past is intellectual arrogance at its best. Arrogance is comprised of vanity, conceit and ignorance.
Israel is no more (and usually less) brutal than any other Western nation. Indeed, the excesses and moral transgressions that have taken place in Iraq and Afghanistan by NATO (and UK) forces bears witness to that.
Your observation that Israel has failed do “split the population from Hamas” is indicative of the extent of ignorance involved here. By design, the Hamas (and the Hizbollah) are interwoven with the population and when their combatants fight in civilian clothing from civilian vehicles from within residential areas, it is a wee bitty difficult to separate them. Your forces in Iraq have since discovered this with the combatants there, but this little facet seems to have evaded you.
I have served in the IDF in the regular army and reserves for 23 years as an infantry and reconnaissance officer, both in field commands and staff positions.
I attest that almost half of the time, energy and human resources of battle planning, briefing and preparation of forces prior to and during operations, is dedicated to an attempt to minimize civilian involvement and casualties, not only because of moral commitment but especially due to the major capital that our enemy makes of these incidents, which, like fratricide, are inevitable in warfare.
Indeed, the suffering of the civilian population by Hamas and Hizbollah is encouraged, manipulated and used as their most potent and effective weapon. The poisonous attitude in the UK toward Israel is evidence of this.
And besides… from where is the knowledge of Israel’s so called brutality? Is it from Jeremy Bowen and the likes at the BBC? Is this forum not populated by those who take their analytical skills a little more seriously? Perhaps akin to an academic standard?

By: Sunday SDR, Chapter 4: Partnership | afoe | A Fistful of Euros | European Opinion

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:32:14 +0000

[...] suggests a possible use for the exportable surplus of generals identified in comments here. * how we most effectively generate influence within coalitions and with our key [...]

By: Sunday SDR, Chapter 4: Partnership « Alternate Seat of TYR

Sunday SDR, Chapter 4: Partnership « Alternate Seat of TYR — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:30:11 +0000

[...] suggests a possible use for the exportable surplus of generals identified in comments here. * how we most effectively generate influence within coalitions and with our key [...]

By: Sunday SDR, Chapter 3: Adaptability and Influence | afoe | A Fistful of Euros | European Opinion

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:38:59 +0000

[...] lacks credibility – at the same time as this statement was issued, the MOD is in the process of shutting down its Research and Assessments Branch, whose job this is, as the MOD’s favourite blog points [...]

By: Sunday SDR, Chapter 3: Adaptability and Influence « Alternate Seat of TYR

Sunday SDR, Chapter 3: Adaptability and Influence « Alternate Seat of TYR — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:35:13 +0000

[...] credibility – at the same time as this statement was issued, the MOD is in the process of shutting down its Research and Assessments Branch, whose job this is, as the MOD’s favourite blog points [...]

By: COINTASTIC

COINTASTIC — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:45:18 +0000

Heyzeus Jeff M, stop being such a tit, MOD is clearly run by accountants so don’t be so silly. That is the context to this irrelevant unit being chopped.

That being said, where are the ARAG products that are relevant to the difficult questions of the day? Yeah maybe the odd officer who did a bad job in the first place was allowed a forum to air his views retrospectively. Wasn’t one of the major points of concern re ARAG that Brit officers couldn’t direct the fine pool of minds to attempt to answer one of the very difficult questions of the day.

By: Laleh

Laleh — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:15:29 +0000

“you’re as entitled to your opinion as anyone.”

I didn’t voice an opinion on Naveh.

By: Laleh

Laleh — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:14:24 +0000

Did I mention scholarship? The people who are being targetted by the arrest warrants are military officers not scholars. That is what I was talking about. Why so defensive?

By: Jeff M

Jeff M — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:22:59 +0000

Getting rid of organizations like ARAG clearly demonstrate MoD is being run by numbskulls. Meantime, highly dysfunctional outfits such as DSTL grow ever larger, despite the quality of their products being mostly rubbish. Perhaps the Research branch can be paid for by the Americans. I suspect more Americans than Brits actually read their products anyway.