For many Americans, being a part of the military is the only way of life they’ve ever known. Generations of male family members, and now female as well, have been a member of the armed forces, living and moving around the globe from base to base. Others have joined for shorter terms; they’ve proudly enlisted to protect our country during a time of unrest, enrolled to obtain funding for education or simply wanted to gain experience to utilize in their futures. And although there was recent talk of reinstating the draft, we’ve avoided it so far. So currently, whatever the individual reason is, the choice to become a member of our prestigious military is a personal and optional one.
Today’s military is quite different than that of our fathers’, grandfathers’ and even those who went before them. It still entails a great deal of hard work, dedication and pride, however there are presently greater options for members of today’s armed forces. These include advancements in such areas as education, private-sector employment and of course, the decision to allow women to hold combat positions.
Housing has also advanced in leaps and bounds. The familiar barracks of the old days are quickly being replaced with full-featured ‘installations’ that include modern accommodations, sports arenas and other recreational opportunities on the grounds, as well as family support in the areas of counseling, education, medicine and more.
And although our military processes have come under quite a bit of scrutiny over the past few years, being a part of any of the five main sectors of the United States Armed Forces can provide a challenging and rewarding lifestyle. Whether it be the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Coast Guard, members can look forward to long or short-term careers with benefits that can last throughout their (and their family’s) lifetimes just for holding that veteran status.
Every opportunity has its pros and cons and life in the military is of course, no different. If you’re considering a new career direction or just want to learn more about it, there is an abundance of information available online to assist in making the best choice for you.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Joining The Military
For some reason many bodybuilders join the military. Is it for the money, the patriotism for their country, or is it just a job that keeps you in shape? These are just a few of the reasons but the real question is why would would you want to do such a thing? The military is NOT a place to be wandering around in. You have to have a motive to be there or you`re going to regret ever signing up.
During training, you sometimes go days without sleep, food, and even water. You`re almost guaranteed to overtrain sometime, not only during basic, but during the extreme lifestyle you`ll be living fighting in a war. Talk about being in catabolic mode. This is the exact opposite of what us bodybuilders need to be doing.
When you`re in the military, you no longer exist as an individual. You belong to whatever branch of service you`re in and are basically consider a number. Bodybuilding is the exact opposite. In this sport, almost everything you do is by yourself and most of us don`t depend on other people like you do in the service. Most Bodybuilders are also very nice people. We may look mean but most of us act very humbly around others.
People from all areas of life join the military. Some do it as an escape from their troubled lives, some because of their financial status, and many other reasons. What some don`t realize is what the military is all about. People are dying simutaneously in Iraq and you are risking your lives if you join. You also have to consider the fact you`re going to be away from your family and friends and will be around new people that you probably won`t even like.
I`m not trying to keep you from joining but I don`t want you guys to make the same stupid mistake I did. We are more than slaves to the government. We are slaves to ourselves and that is how it should be. Now don`t get me wrong. If you`ve joined for your country I have nothing but respect and I salute you. Until my next article. PEACE!
During training, you sometimes go days without sleep, food, and even water. You`re almost guaranteed to overtrain sometime, not only during basic, but during the extreme lifestyle you`ll be living fighting in a war. Talk about being in catabolic mode. This is the exact opposite of what us bodybuilders need to be doing.
When you`re in the military, you no longer exist as an individual. You belong to whatever branch of service you`re in and are basically consider a number. Bodybuilding is the exact opposite. In this sport, almost everything you do is by yourself and most of us don`t depend on other people like you do in the service. Most Bodybuilders are also very nice people. We may look mean but most of us act very humbly around others.
People from all areas of life join the military. Some do it as an escape from their troubled lives, some because of their financial status, and many other reasons. What some don`t realize is what the military is all about. People are dying simutaneously in Iraq and you are risking your lives if you join. You also have to consider the fact you`re going to be away from your family and friends and will be around new people that you probably won`t even like.
I`m not trying to keep you from joining but I don`t want you guys to make the same stupid mistake I did. We are more than slaves to the government. We are slaves to ourselves and that is how it should be. Now don`t get me wrong. If you`ve joined for your country I have nothing but respect and I salute you. Until my next article. PEACE!
Retired Military Loan
Military personnel have to face up the brunt of financial difficulties not only through their career but even after they are retired from active service. While many do who join up the armed forces with the sole intention of dedicating their lives to the country, they still have to face the harsh reality of the trouble of managing their lives and their family with their meager salaries. For this reason, loans for military retirees and active duty personnel become very essential.
The best route to take for loans for military retirees is the Department of Veteran Affairs that provides VA Home Loan Programs. This has many benefits attached to it. There are no down payments required to take this loan and it provides a funding to the tune of $417,000 to purchase a home for themselves. Even the rate of interest is quite low and is a fixed rate and not an adjustable rate of interest. This is very good when the present trend of the market and issues such as the fall of the sub prime mortgage is concerned. The veterans are also provided with the option of refinancing an existing mortgage thereby reducing the amount that needs to be paid every month. This also works in the interest of the veterans considering the sub prime mortgages. Apart from mortgage, the VA loans are beneficial to the veterans for many other purposes such as educating their children or for debt consolidation.
There are many things to bear in mind while opting for a loan for military retirees. A person planning to go this route should be aware of the proper amount that they can procure through such a loan so that it becomes easier to check on what home they can afford to buy. If this is not cross-checked, they may fall short on their requirements or may end up with a high recurring monthly payment that they could possibly not afford. So, it is best to know beforehand what they can afford and what kind of liability they need to be ready for.
They should also have knowledge about their credit ratings. Credit ratings play an important role in the allotment of loans. People with bad credit history could end up with their loans not getting approved or with a lesser loan amount. Every retiree applying for the loan should ensure that their credit reports are precise with no faults as this is very important in determining the loan that gets approved in their name.
There are three different loans being provided by the VA as loans for military retirees. These differ in the kind of interest rates that are being offered. There is the option of going in for a fixed or an adjustable rate of interest. Many now feel that considering the current trend of sub prime mortgage, it is best to opt for a fixed rate of interest rather than an adjustable rate of interest. But, even if one opts for an adjustable rate of interest for a VA loan, the adjusted rates cannot vary from the previous rate of interest by more than one percent every year to a total not above five percent for the entire tenure of the loan. So, going in for a loan for military retirees through the VA is a good option that should be weighed in with other options available before deciding on which loan to actually go in for.
The best route to take for loans for military retirees is the Department of Veteran Affairs that provides VA Home Loan Programs. This has many benefits attached to it. There are no down payments required to take this loan and it provides a funding to the tune of $417,000 to purchase a home for themselves. Even the rate of interest is quite low and is a fixed rate and not an adjustable rate of interest. This is very good when the present trend of the market and issues such as the fall of the sub prime mortgage is concerned. The veterans are also provided with the option of refinancing an existing mortgage thereby reducing the amount that needs to be paid every month. This also works in the interest of the veterans considering the sub prime mortgages. Apart from mortgage, the VA loans are beneficial to the veterans for many other purposes such as educating their children or for debt consolidation.
There are many things to bear in mind while opting for a loan for military retirees. A person planning to go this route should be aware of the proper amount that they can procure through such a loan so that it becomes easier to check on what home they can afford to buy. If this is not cross-checked, they may fall short on their requirements or may end up with a high recurring monthly payment that they could possibly not afford. So, it is best to know beforehand what they can afford and what kind of liability they need to be ready for.
They should also have knowledge about their credit ratings. Credit ratings play an important role in the allotment of loans. People with bad credit history could end up with their loans not getting approved or with a lesser loan amount. Every retiree applying for the loan should ensure that their credit reports are precise with no faults as this is very important in determining the loan that gets approved in their name.
There are three different loans being provided by the VA as loans for military retirees. These differ in the kind of interest rates that are being offered. There is the option of going in for a fixed or an adjustable rate of interest. Many now feel that considering the current trend of sub prime mortgage, it is best to opt for a fixed rate of interest rather than an adjustable rate of interest. But, even if one opts for an adjustable rate of interest for a VA loan, the adjusted rates cannot vary from the previous rate of interest by more than one percent every year to a total not above five percent for the entire tenure of the loan. So, going in for a loan for military retirees through the VA is a good option that should be weighed in with other options available before deciding on which loan to actually go in for.
Abbey Military Loan
Many people would be aware of loans such as mortgage loans, educational loans, personal loans, etc but very few of them would have heard of a military loan. The Abbey Military loan is provided as the name suggests by “Abbey” which is the sixth largest in the U.K. Apart from this, the bank also provides many other loans both secured as well as unsecured at a very viable rates of interest.
A separate Loan for Military Personnel
People in the military have a different and unique lifestyle. Being away from the family, they need to support their near and dear ones and meet their demands with the income that they earn. Most of the people in the military do not earn a very high salary in comparison to the people in their age groups in other industries. Even the growth rate and pay hikes are not as good as it is elsewhere. This makes it highly difficult for these military men to cater to all the financial requirements necessitating a loan for purposes such as buying a house, educating the children, etc.
Being away from the nitty-gritty of everyday life in the outside world, these people are very much unaware about how to handle their resources and ways and means to raise a loan by them alone. This causes them many a times to fall prey to taking up loans from some unscrupulous elements providing them at an extremely high rate of interest which works against these people. So a separate loan like the Abbey Military Loan is the easiest and simplest way to go to avoid such unpleasant circumstances. Being an unsecured loan, it is provided at a very low rate of interest that stands under eight percent. The total amount that can be borrowed through this loan comes to around 25,000 pounds that is definitely a good sum for a totally unsecured loan.
People with Bad Credit
With the kind of financial status many military people are in it is not uncommon to see many of them being refused credit by many lenders owing to their poor credit ratings. The Abbey Military Loan comes to the rescue of such people also by providing them a secured loan. This loan can be procured by providing security in the form of equity of their home. The maximum limit to which the amount can be borrowed is around ninety percent of the accumulated equity, with a total tenure anywhere in the range of fifteen to thirty years. Such loans are very helpful in meeting other financial commitments, education of children and sometimes to pay off accumulated bills. The only problem is that these personnel must have an asset such as home as this particular loan is only a secured loan and cannot be borrowed if such a security option is not present.
A separate Loan for Military Personnel
People in the military have a different and unique lifestyle. Being away from the family, they need to support their near and dear ones and meet their demands with the income that they earn. Most of the people in the military do not earn a very high salary in comparison to the people in their age groups in other industries. Even the growth rate and pay hikes are not as good as it is elsewhere. This makes it highly difficult for these military men to cater to all the financial requirements necessitating a loan for purposes such as buying a house, educating the children, etc.
Being away from the nitty-gritty of everyday life in the outside world, these people are very much unaware about how to handle their resources and ways and means to raise a loan by them alone. This causes them many a times to fall prey to taking up loans from some unscrupulous elements providing them at an extremely high rate of interest which works against these people. So a separate loan like the Abbey Military Loan is the easiest and simplest way to go to avoid such unpleasant circumstances. Being an unsecured loan, it is provided at a very low rate of interest that stands under eight percent. The total amount that can be borrowed through this loan comes to around 25,000 pounds that is definitely a good sum for a totally unsecured loan.
People with Bad Credit
With the kind of financial status many military people are in it is not uncommon to see many of them being refused credit by many lenders owing to their poor credit ratings. The Abbey Military Loan comes to the rescue of such people also by providing them a secured loan. This loan can be procured by providing security in the form of equity of their home. The maximum limit to which the amount can be borrowed is around ninety percent of the accumulated equity, with a total tenure anywhere in the range of fifteen to thirty years. Such loans are very helpful in meeting other financial commitments, education of children and sometimes to pay off accumulated bills. The only problem is that these personnel must have an asset such as home as this particular loan is only a secured loan and cannot be borrowed if such a security option is not present.
Loan Military Travel
Military personnel need to travel to many foreign places while on active duty and the expenses of such travel are borne by the government. But, there are times when the travel is personal or is for a member of the family in which case the expenses need to be met by them itself. In such instances, a loan for travel expenses may be very ideal to help out.
Many join the army with a need to serve the country. This feeling of patriotism carries a lot of weight and no importance is given to the kind of pay that is being provided to the people joining the military. Pay being on the lower side makes it very difficult for the military personnel to cope up with sudden unforeseen circumstances necessitating additional expenditure. This is true even for the need to travel in case of any emergencies when a loan military travel is definitely helpful. So, every military personnel should be aware of the various options that are available. The internet has really solved many a problem by being able to provide instant access to information. Using online search engines it is now very easy for anyone to find the information they require in a jiffy.
Using these tools, the military personnel can find the various sources from which they can get a loan military travel. But, they should be aware that there are many bad elements out there waiting to fleece anyone coming their way and should be wary of such people. So, they should carefully study all the details of the loan and read up on all the fine print to see if there are any hidden clauses to increase the total payment made towards the loan. Being unaware of such a scenario can land these people in trouble as they may end up paying high rate of interest.
Luckily, there are many ways for a serviceman or woman to get a loan military travel. There are different programs offered by the government too. One such example is a bereavement loan that is available for travel in case of an unfortunate death of a family member. But, these loans are to be used for travel purposes only and not for anything else. The loan being an unsecured one has some eligibility criteria such as credit ratings that need to be excellent for the military personnel to be able to procure such a loan. Also, this will be very much detrimental to the rate of interest that the loan will be provided at.
The tenure of the loan is generally short and the amounts provided will also not be very high. But, usually the rate of interest is generally higher in comparison to many other loans. For this reason, the serviceman or woman should carefully weigh all the options that are available to them and to check on the pros and cons of each one of them before finalizing on the ideal loan to meet their requirements yet not be a burden on their pockets.
Many join the army with a need to serve the country. This feeling of patriotism carries a lot of weight and no importance is given to the kind of pay that is being provided to the people joining the military. Pay being on the lower side makes it very difficult for the military personnel to cope up with sudden unforeseen circumstances necessitating additional expenditure. This is true even for the need to travel in case of any emergencies when a loan military travel is definitely helpful. So, every military personnel should be aware of the various options that are available. The internet has really solved many a problem by being able to provide instant access to information. Using online search engines it is now very easy for anyone to find the information they require in a jiffy.
Using these tools, the military personnel can find the various sources from which they can get a loan military travel. But, they should be aware that there are many bad elements out there waiting to fleece anyone coming their way and should be wary of such people. So, they should carefully study all the details of the loan and read up on all the fine print to see if there are any hidden clauses to increase the total payment made towards the loan. Being unaware of such a scenario can land these people in trouble as they may end up paying high rate of interest.
Luckily, there are many ways for a serviceman or woman to get a loan military travel. There are different programs offered by the government too. One such example is a bereavement loan that is available for travel in case of an unfortunate death of a family member. But, these loans are to be used for travel purposes only and not for anything else. The loan being an unsecured one has some eligibility criteria such as credit ratings that need to be excellent for the military personnel to be able to procure such a loan. Also, this will be very much detrimental to the rate of interest that the loan will be provided at.
The tenure of the loan is generally short and the amounts provided will also not be very high. But, usually the rate of interest is generally higher in comparison to many other loans. For this reason, the serviceman or woman should carefully weigh all the options that are available to them and to check on the pros and cons of each one of them before finalizing on the ideal loan to meet their requirements yet not be a burden on their pockets.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Tapping Primal Life Force
When the residents of the Scottish spiritual community of Findhorn first encountered Pan in the forest, Pan asked them to convey a message from the Beings of Nature to the rest of humanity. Pan said: “Tell them, ‘We never left—you did.’”
The colorful toucans squawked from within their tiny cage: “Why would any free spirit ever confine another free being?”
The incarceration had rendered the once vibrant birds withdrawn and lifeless captives. Their eyes cried this piercing question just as the same bewilderment echoes from the dull gaze of every animal in every zoo:
“Why would any being with heart ever drive the dagger of imprisonment into the heart of another being?”
The answer is obvious. No being with heart would shackle another free being. No being whose spirit still lives would ever kill the spirit of another being—by any means.
The beseeching toucans were on exhibit at the country inn where I stayed in Costa Rica. The innkeeper explained he was building a huge cage around a tree so the birds would have a whole tree around which to fly and live. But the confined birds told me they didn’t want a larger enclosure. No cage would ever be big enough. Their spirits needed to be free. After a few days, I could no longer look into the toucans’ eyes. Before long, I avoided going near their cage altogether.
Instead of focusing on the plight of the caged toucans, I was guided by my inner coach to explore the free and untamed treasures of the stunningly vibrant and beautiful country of Costa Rica. During my travels, I was blessed by direct encounters with wild animals, virgin forests, raging rivers and an erupting volcano. In their natural state, these diverse elements of life were undomesticated, unbridled, unfettered and unspoiled. Every cell of my body felt the raw, free essence of each basic kingdom of nature: mammal, reptile, bird, plant, water and mineral.
The colorful toucans squawked from within their tiny cage: “Why would any free spirit ever confine another free being?”
The incarceration had rendered the once vibrant birds withdrawn and lifeless captives. Their eyes cried this piercing question just as the same bewilderment echoes from the dull gaze of every animal in every zoo:
“Why would any being with heart ever drive the dagger of imprisonment into the heart of another being?”
The answer is obvious. No being with heart would shackle another free being. No being whose spirit still lives would ever kill the spirit of another being—by any means.
The beseeching toucans were on exhibit at the country inn where I stayed in Costa Rica. The innkeeper explained he was building a huge cage around a tree so the birds would have a whole tree around which to fly and live. But the confined birds told me they didn’t want a larger enclosure. No cage would ever be big enough. Their spirits needed to be free. After a few days, I could no longer look into the toucans’ eyes. Before long, I avoided going near their cage altogether.
Instead of focusing on the plight of the caged toucans, I was guided by my inner coach to explore the free and untamed treasures of the stunningly vibrant and beautiful country of Costa Rica. During my travels, I was blessed by direct encounters with wild animals, virgin forests, raging rivers and an erupting volcano. In their natural state, these diverse elements of life were undomesticated, unbridled, unfettered and unspoiled. Every cell of my body felt the raw, free essence of each basic kingdom of nature: mammal, reptile, bird, plant, water and mineral.
Make War As Make Nice; Israel’s Commendable But Costly Military Tactic
Has a nation every conducted a war like the one Israel waged against Hezbollah? Instead of the usual “war is hell,” it was more like an attempt to conduct war as make nice.
Now that a cease fire is in place, fragile as it may be, let's review the tactic and how it weathered the war.
Did we hear announcements from Israel anywhere remotely near “We will destroy you to the last man”?
No, instead we heard niceties like:
"… terrorist elements ... are using you as human shields by launching rockets toward the state of Israel from your homes."
"All cars and vehicles of any type will be shelled if seen moving south of the Litani River because they will be considered suspect of transferring rockets, military ammunitions and those causing destruction.”
“You need to know that anyone moving in any type of car will put their life in danger."
Leaflets have warned of a "painful and strong" response to attacks by Hezbollah and warned the residents of three suburbs in the south of Lebanon to evacuate.
And, to make nice even more, Israel granted the Red Cross "freedom of movement" for its convoys, which have been providing aid to people in Lebanon.
Yes, many Lebanese civilians were killed – 689 at last count. But there was also a toll among the Israelis: at last, count, 36 civilians and 67 soldiers were dead. Each death is a heartrending tragedy. Yet even a make-nice war does come with some unavoidable loss of life.
During the conduct of this unprecedented war with warnings, numerous Israeli soldiers confessed that they felt the army should have hit Hezbollah harder but was held back by the government’s concern for civilian casualties.
Finally, just as the UN reached agreement on a cease-fire plan, Israel moved ahead with force.
Now the fighting seems all but over, at least, for as long as it's all but over.
Yet the initial tardiness rankled many.
Just days before the cease fire, Lt. Col. Svika Nezer, the commander of an artillery battery a few miles outside Kiryat Shemona, said his unit was only using about 20 percent of its firepower. "We could do much, much more. But the orders we get are limited."
Meanwhile, Ehud Olmert made nice without hesitation by declaring that a proposal by Lebanon to send 15,000 troops south to prevent attacks by Hezbollah is “interesting,” even though under the Lebanon’s watch the guerilla group has been able to amass an arsenal of thousands of missiles aimed at Israel. He also made nice big time by agreeing to put a larger offensive on hold to give the international community more time to work out a peace plan. But by Friday afternoon, he had finally had enough of make nice and announced that the larger offensive had begun.
Even Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, was in on the effort to make war while making nice, saying, “We are doing everything to allow these two efforts to complement each other .... We’ll see the military operation as having created the diplomatic climate and a new situation.”
Apparently, much of the Israeli cabinet wanted to make nice, too. Rafi Eitan, a cabinet minister, said on Israel radio, "There are diplomatic considerations. There is still a chance that an international force will arrive in the area. We have no interest in being in south Lebanon. We have an interest in peace on our borders."
To confirm the unusual facts before us, the standard parade of retired American generals appeared on CNN and Fox News, stating that Israel was prosecuting the war in a way that exceeds the requirements of the Geneva Accords and with more care to control collateral deaths than even the proudly idealistic US when it goes to war. And, by the way, did Harry Truman, generally recognized presidential hero but quintessential pragmatist, drop leaflets on Japan before we dropped the two A-Bombs?
If you still believe Israel erred on the side of violent excess, compare this indulgent kindness with what we heard from Hassan Nasrallah, the ruthless leader of Hezbollah, who, worst fear of all, may well live on to become a mistaken hero and, as such, a thorn of ever-festering magnitude in Israel’s quest for peaceful survival.
In a recent departure from his bunker to appear on TV, he threatened to turn southern Lebanon into "a graveyard" for the Israelis. "I say to the Zionists, you could come anywhere, invade, land airborne forces, enter this village or that, but I repeat, all this will cost you a high price.” Then, continuing with bravado as false as it is impractical, he said, “We will fight until the last bullet, as long as there's a grenade, as long as there's a rocket, there will still be fighting."
We suppose that this was an imposture to sound heroic to the uneducated Arab masses, who look to him simply because he is supposed to be a brave leader, while what he has led to most conspicuously is the death of many Lebanese citizens and the destruction of much of the infrastructure of the recovering country.
We can also add to his murderous manias the bonkers claim by his patron and boss in absentia, the madman of Iran, the vituperative vow to “wipe Israel off the face of the map.”
Given the above comparison, never has a nation waged a more ethically restrained war than the one in which Israel was engaged.
Yet, even in light of Israel’s unprecedented carefulness, the little state was still reviled by Arab nations and even the United Nations for its “overreaction” and “indiscriminate bombing.”
Considering the ingratitude elicited by its make nice war conduct, we find flickers of the old and sinister observation that it is better to be feared than to be loved, especially, we should add, when making war, in which case love may be unattainable.
Given the entire indecisive mishmash, Israel’s greatest general, Moshe Dyan must have been rolling in his grave and tearing at his black eye patch. If he had been in control, he would surely have planned an initial tactic other than entering Lebanon gingerly to combat Hezbollah’s on its own terms. How he would have ranted at inching across the border to battle the guerillas, entrenched in their cement bunkers on byways long booby trapped, and then marching back home to rest up, while another troop of soldiers wandered in, treading carefully among the booby traps and jack-in-the-box Hezbollah gunners and rocketeers.
We have only been curious observers of military strategy – from Caesar, at the head of 10,000 or so cohorts, patiently monitoring tribes of barbarians in excess of, we are told by him in his Gallic Wars, 100,000 persons, until he had them in a defile to our own swift and decisive thrusts of recent times. But even we can imagine that he would have planned a dramatic movement, like a breathtakingly rapid phalanx of tanks up the 20 miles to the Litani river, along the most accessible route, accomplishing the goal in perhaps less than an hour; then slicing across the narrow land to cut the guerillas in the south off and have them trapped in a pincer action as old as prehistoric combat.
Noting the hesitant conduct of the war, even the usually stoic Israeli public began to urge its government to let the army hit Hezbollah harder, so it could not threaten Israel again.
Why, even a Jewish grandmother was upset by the tentative prosecution of the war. Ehud Yaari, an Arab affairs analyst, said of his mother, who is 85: “She calls me all the time to ask me how come the army is still having a fistfight with Hezbollah in places 500 meters from the border.”
The daily paper Haaretz published a cartoon satirizing the group Peace Now, with a balding member, sporting a ponytail, saying, “It won’t end until we wipe Beirut off the map.”
And Yossi Beilin, leader of the dovish Meretz Party, went so far as to confirm that the Jewish people have the right to “a democratic and secure state.”
Of course, not every Israeli was for the war to be stepped up. Some wanted it stopped. Every Friday, anti-war activists demonstrated against it.
But recent opinion polls showed support for the war at about 80%.
Unfortunately, one of the collateral complications of Israel’s careful approach has been the steady publicity of buildings blown up and civilians killed, instead of the usual major attack and, hopefully, a swift end of the conflict.
The effort has been sort of like a dentist attempting to pull a tooth with his fingers, instead of using forceps. So he pulls a little here and there, and every time the patient winces, he stops, until he and the patient give up in sweaty despondency, and the tooth is still stuck right where it was.
Of course, there are those who are vocal critics of the gradually waged war.
Gerald M. Steinberg, director of the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University, said, “… there is a strong sense of hesitation, of the lack of military leadership needed in times like this.”
Yuval Steinitz of Likud, who is the head of the parliamentary subcommittee for defense preparedness, exclaimed, “Doubts? That’s an understatement. People are talking of failure…. The bombardment of Israeli cities was supposed to be over after 48 hours. The fact that only now the government is ready to even start the real ground campaign is overwhelming.” Then Mr. Steinitz remembered and referred to Israeli defense doctrine since the tiny nation’s founding, which is that it must immediately take the fight “deep into enemy territory to protect its civilian rear….This didn’t happen, and against who? Hezbollah, which is the size of a Syrian division without any air defense. So what would we do against Syria?”
And, after the announcement of the weekend delay to let the UN work its way, the columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Haaretz :"You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power."
Ben Caspit, a columnist for Maariv, agreed that it would be difficult for Olmert to stay in office: "The public in Israel will not keep silent about this month without reaching a victory or exacting an appropriate price."
And Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the conservative Likud party, is bestirring himself as he begins to take calculated potshots at the government for its management of the war, now that the smoke is clearing enough for him to develop risk-free hindsight.
But the slowness of Israel’s advance against Hezbollah was, given the flatfooted ground offensive, to be expected, much like our own difficulty in neutralizing the insurgents in Iraq. Security officials blame the delay on Hezbollah’s bunkers, which are fortified with cement, electrified, and well-stocked with weapons and food.
As if these “into the breach” complications on the Lebanese front aren’t enough, the Palestinian guerillas must still be dealt with.
The worst effect is, Israel’s hesitant assault on Hezbollah may give its other arch enemies with dire power, Syria and Iran, false confidence that they can launch an attack and actually rid themselves of the thorn in the toe of their own incompetent governance.
Insightful observers understand the provocation by Hezbollah that initiated the war was mainly motivated, not only by its admitted goal of using the kidnapped soldiers as bargaining chips to obtain the release of many of its members in Israeli jails, but also by its anxious need to justify its existence, along with the present need of Iran, its banker and arsenal, to provide a distraction from its nuclear dilemma.
In the end, Israel must do whatever it takes to survive and, if luck will allow, to live in peace with its neighbors, uncomfortable with the detente as either side may be.
Despite every ethical person’s abhorrence of war and its wages, history shows quite consistently that in this flagrantly treacherous world a nation needs, in times of treachery, leaders who are made of armor-hard and aggressive, if not outright mean, stuff.
And, remorseful as it sounds, it appears that the sudden taking of life, while terrible in itself, often, as the result of the shock it produces, prevents the loss of more life over a grueling pattern of half measures. These are terrible observatins, but what is more dangerous than to don blinders while the enemy is aiming at you?
While we are, in all our being, advocates of life, life in fact as our principal defense against death, we also know that a slow war of attrition can kill more people than a deft move that achieves a military goal suddenly.
The war, whether over now or not, will finally wane, either as a result of the UN resolution or Israel’s belated resolve to pick up the forceps and remove the inflamed molar by the name of Hezbollah.
Should peace prevail, it will be, in the remembered annals of the area, an unprecedented felicity. Not since recorded history began, some 5,000 years ago, cut in Sumerian cuneiform, has peace reigned in the persistently irate and combative region.
Now that a cease fire is in place, fragile as it may be, let's review the tactic and how it weathered the war.
Did we hear announcements from Israel anywhere remotely near “We will destroy you to the last man”?
No, instead we heard niceties like:
"… terrorist elements ... are using you as human shields by launching rockets toward the state of Israel from your homes."
"All cars and vehicles of any type will be shelled if seen moving south of the Litani River because they will be considered suspect of transferring rockets, military ammunitions and those causing destruction.”
“You need to know that anyone moving in any type of car will put their life in danger."
Leaflets have warned of a "painful and strong" response to attacks by Hezbollah and warned the residents of three suburbs in the south of Lebanon to evacuate.
And, to make nice even more, Israel granted the Red Cross "freedom of movement" for its convoys, which have been providing aid to people in Lebanon.
Yes, many Lebanese civilians were killed – 689 at last count. But there was also a toll among the Israelis: at last, count, 36 civilians and 67 soldiers were dead. Each death is a heartrending tragedy. Yet even a make-nice war does come with some unavoidable loss of life.
During the conduct of this unprecedented war with warnings, numerous Israeli soldiers confessed that they felt the army should have hit Hezbollah harder but was held back by the government’s concern for civilian casualties.
Finally, just as the UN reached agreement on a cease-fire plan, Israel moved ahead with force.
Now the fighting seems all but over, at least, for as long as it's all but over.
Yet the initial tardiness rankled many.
Just days before the cease fire, Lt. Col. Svika Nezer, the commander of an artillery battery a few miles outside Kiryat Shemona, said his unit was only using about 20 percent of its firepower. "We could do much, much more. But the orders we get are limited."
Meanwhile, Ehud Olmert made nice without hesitation by declaring that a proposal by Lebanon to send 15,000 troops south to prevent attacks by Hezbollah is “interesting,” even though under the Lebanon’s watch the guerilla group has been able to amass an arsenal of thousands of missiles aimed at Israel. He also made nice big time by agreeing to put a larger offensive on hold to give the international community more time to work out a peace plan. But by Friday afternoon, he had finally had enough of make nice and announced that the larger offensive had begun.
Even Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, was in on the effort to make war while making nice, saying, “We are doing everything to allow these two efforts to complement each other .... We’ll see the military operation as having created the diplomatic climate and a new situation.”
Apparently, much of the Israeli cabinet wanted to make nice, too. Rafi Eitan, a cabinet minister, said on Israel radio, "There are diplomatic considerations. There is still a chance that an international force will arrive in the area. We have no interest in being in south Lebanon. We have an interest in peace on our borders."
To confirm the unusual facts before us, the standard parade of retired American generals appeared on CNN and Fox News, stating that Israel was prosecuting the war in a way that exceeds the requirements of the Geneva Accords and with more care to control collateral deaths than even the proudly idealistic US when it goes to war. And, by the way, did Harry Truman, generally recognized presidential hero but quintessential pragmatist, drop leaflets on Japan before we dropped the two A-Bombs?
If you still believe Israel erred on the side of violent excess, compare this indulgent kindness with what we heard from Hassan Nasrallah, the ruthless leader of Hezbollah, who, worst fear of all, may well live on to become a mistaken hero and, as such, a thorn of ever-festering magnitude in Israel’s quest for peaceful survival.
In a recent departure from his bunker to appear on TV, he threatened to turn southern Lebanon into "a graveyard" for the Israelis. "I say to the Zionists, you could come anywhere, invade, land airborne forces, enter this village or that, but I repeat, all this will cost you a high price.” Then, continuing with bravado as false as it is impractical, he said, “We will fight until the last bullet, as long as there's a grenade, as long as there's a rocket, there will still be fighting."
We suppose that this was an imposture to sound heroic to the uneducated Arab masses, who look to him simply because he is supposed to be a brave leader, while what he has led to most conspicuously is the death of many Lebanese citizens and the destruction of much of the infrastructure of the recovering country.
We can also add to his murderous manias the bonkers claim by his patron and boss in absentia, the madman of Iran, the vituperative vow to “wipe Israel off the face of the map.”
Given the above comparison, never has a nation waged a more ethically restrained war than the one in which Israel was engaged.
Yet, even in light of Israel’s unprecedented carefulness, the little state was still reviled by Arab nations and even the United Nations for its “overreaction” and “indiscriminate bombing.”
Considering the ingratitude elicited by its make nice war conduct, we find flickers of the old and sinister observation that it is better to be feared than to be loved, especially, we should add, when making war, in which case love may be unattainable.
Given the entire indecisive mishmash, Israel’s greatest general, Moshe Dyan must have been rolling in his grave and tearing at his black eye patch. If he had been in control, he would surely have planned an initial tactic other than entering Lebanon gingerly to combat Hezbollah’s on its own terms. How he would have ranted at inching across the border to battle the guerillas, entrenched in their cement bunkers on byways long booby trapped, and then marching back home to rest up, while another troop of soldiers wandered in, treading carefully among the booby traps and jack-in-the-box Hezbollah gunners and rocketeers.
We have only been curious observers of military strategy – from Caesar, at the head of 10,000 or so cohorts, patiently monitoring tribes of barbarians in excess of, we are told by him in his Gallic Wars, 100,000 persons, until he had them in a defile to our own swift and decisive thrusts of recent times. But even we can imagine that he would have planned a dramatic movement, like a breathtakingly rapid phalanx of tanks up the 20 miles to the Litani river, along the most accessible route, accomplishing the goal in perhaps less than an hour; then slicing across the narrow land to cut the guerillas in the south off and have them trapped in a pincer action as old as prehistoric combat.
Noting the hesitant conduct of the war, even the usually stoic Israeli public began to urge its government to let the army hit Hezbollah harder, so it could not threaten Israel again.
Why, even a Jewish grandmother was upset by the tentative prosecution of the war. Ehud Yaari, an Arab affairs analyst, said of his mother, who is 85: “She calls me all the time to ask me how come the army is still having a fistfight with Hezbollah in places 500 meters from the border.”
The daily paper Haaretz published a cartoon satirizing the group Peace Now, with a balding member, sporting a ponytail, saying, “It won’t end until we wipe Beirut off the map.”
And Yossi Beilin, leader of the dovish Meretz Party, went so far as to confirm that the Jewish people have the right to “a democratic and secure state.”
Of course, not every Israeli was for the war to be stepped up. Some wanted it stopped. Every Friday, anti-war activists demonstrated against it.
But recent opinion polls showed support for the war at about 80%.
Unfortunately, one of the collateral complications of Israel’s careful approach has been the steady publicity of buildings blown up and civilians killed, instead of the usual major attack and, hopefully, a swift end of the conflict.
The effort has been sort of like a dentist attempting to pull a tooth with his fingers, instead of using forceps. So he pulls a little here and there, and every time the patient winces, he stops, until he and the patient give up in sweaty despondency, and the tooth is still stuck right where it was.
Of course, there are those who are vocal critics of the gradually waged war.
Gerald M. Steinberg, director of the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University, said, “… there is a strong sense of hesitation, of the lack of military leadership needed in times like this.”
Yuval Steinitz of Likud, who is the head of the parliamentary subcommittee for defense preparedness, exclaimed, “Doubts? That’s an understatement. People are talking of failure…. The bombardment of Israeli cities was supposed to be over after 48 hours. The fact that only now the government is ready to even start the real ground campaign is overwhelming.” Then Mr. Steinitz remembered and referred to Israeli defense doctrine since the tiny nation’s founding, which is that it must immediately take the fight “deep into enemy territory to protect its civilian rear….This didn’t happen, and against who? Hezbollah, which is the size of a Syrian division without any air defense. So what would we do against Syria?”
And, after the announcement of the weekend delay to let the UN work its way, the columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Haaretz :"You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power."
Ben Caspit, a columnist for Maariv, agreed that it would be difficult for Olmert to stay in office: "The public in Israel will not keep silent about this month without reaching a victory or exacting an appropriate price."
And Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the conservative Likud party, is bestirring himself as he begins to take calculated potshots at the government for its management of the war, now that the smoke is clearing enough for him to develop risk-free hindsight.
But the slowness of Israel’s advance against Hezbollah was, given the flatfooted ground offensive, to be expected, much like our own difficulty in neutralizing the insurgents in Iraq. Security officials blame the delay on Hezbollah’s bunkers, which are fortified with cement, electrified, and well-stocked with weapons and food.
As if these “into the breach” complications on the Lebanese front aren’t enough, the Palestinian guerillas must still be dealt with.
The worst effect is, Israel’s hesitant assault on Hezbollah may give its other arch enemies with dire power, Syria and Iran, false confidence that they can launch an attack and actually rid themselves of the thorn in the toe of their own incompetent governance.
Insightful observers understand the provocation by Hezbollah that initiated the war was mainly motivated, not only by its admitted goal of using the kidnapped soldiers as bargaining chips to obtain the release of many of its members in Israeli jails, but also by its anxious need to justify its existence, along with the present need of Iran, its banker and arsenal, to provide a distraction from its nuclear dilemma.
In the end, Israel must do whatever it takes to survive and, if luck will allow, to live in peace with its neighbors, uncomfortable with the detente as either side may be.
Despite every ethical person’s abhorrence of war and its wages, history shows quite consistently that in this flagrantly treacherous world a nation needs, in times of treachery, leaders who are made of armor-hard and aggressive, if not outright mean, stuff.
And, remorseful as it sounds, it appears that the sudden taking of life, while terrible in itself, often, as the result of the shock it produces, prevents the loss of more life over a grueling pattern of half measures. These are terrible observatins, but what is more dangerous than to don blinders while the enemy is aiming at you?
While we are, in all our being, advocates of life, life in fact as our principal defense against death, we also know that a slow war of attrition can kill more people than a deft move that achieves a military goal suddenly.
The war, whether over now or not, will finally wane, either as a result of the UN resolution or Israel’s belated resolve to pick up the forceps and remove the inflamed molar by the name of Hezbollah.
Should peace prevail, it will be, in the remembered annals of the area, an unprecedented felicity. Not since recorded history began, some 5,000 years ago, cut in Sumerian cuneiform, has peace reigned in the persistently irate and combative region.
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