War Failures

August 18th, 2006

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Posted by ChrisG at 4:06 pm

Via Juan Cole, an interesting analysis of Israel’s campaign in Lebanon from Anthony Cordesman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, undertaken with a view to understanding the lessons of the war for US foreign policy. He notes, pretty unambiguously, that Israel failed to achieve almost all its (unclearly stated) war aims, and makes the following observations:

Like the US in Iraq, Israel went to war focused on its own values and perceptions, and not those of its Hezbollah enemy, the Lebanese state it was seeking to influence, the Arab states around it, or the broader perceptions of Europe and the outside world. Israel saw its war as just, but made little effort to justify it to the outside world as a key element of strategy, tactics, and the practical execution of battle. The Israeli government and IDF—like their American counterparts—have always tended to see this aspect of war more in terms of internal politics and perceptions than those of other states, cultures, and religions. In Israel’s case, Israel also seems to have felt it could deal with Hezbollah relatively simply, intimidate or persuade Lebanon with limited leverage, and assume that its defeat of the Hezbollah would counter Arab and Islamic anger and lead to only limited problems with outside states.

The obsession with omnipotence, as I wrote previously, is a particularly damaging and self-disabling aspect of the deterrence doctrine that is woven deeply into Israeli politics. Despite the insights, however, Cordesley can’t get by without his Orientalism:

Israel, however, was dealing with both a non-state and a state actor that were not Western and which operated with different values and goals.

Like what, exactly? What about the motivations of either the Lebanese government or Hizballah is so alien that it’s impossible to understand? A bizarre remark, but the attitude it betrays as underlying even Cordesley’s relatively clear-sighted analysis of the events is one that’s something both the US and Israel need to learn to survive without.