The War isn't working

After the tragedy of Qana, I found myself wondering if Israel can achieve its objectives by continuing this war. Yesterday, on Meet the Press, Tom Friedman has interesting comments on the situation. He said that the war wasn't working for Israel and that it should stop know because it is clear that the only thing that will be achieved by continuing the war is more deaths. Israel didn't choose this war and as Bernard Henry Levy wrote last week in Le Monde, the war chose Israel as fate, sometimes, chooses us to accomplish difficult tasks. Paul Krugman makes the most interesting point about the crisis in his column this morning:

For Americans who care deeply about Israel, one of the truly nightmarish things about the war in Lebanon has been watching Israel repeat the same mistakes the United States made in Iraq. It’s as if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been possessed by the deranged spirit of Donald Rumsfeld. [...] What Israel needs now is a way out of the quagmire. And since Israel doesn’t appear ready to reoccupy southern Lebanon, that means doing what it should have done from the beginning: try restraint and diplomacy. And Israel will negotiate from a far weaker position than seemed possible just three weeks ago. [...] Again, Israel has the right to protect itself. If all-out war with Hezbollah becomes impossible to avoid, so be it. But bombing Lebanon isn’t making Israel more secure. [...] The hard truth is that Israel needs, for its own sake, to stop a bombing campaign that is making its enemies stronger, not weaker.

The question is whether it is more difficult to admit that the war isn’t working and to stop than to continue it.

Comments

[Simon]

Israel have failed to note the art of war. I cant see any way of them actually achieving their goals the way that they are doing so now.

This isn't a war persay, they are at "war" against an organisation. Not a country, and the annoying thing is they are ATTACKING the country and not the organisation!

Isreal are playing right into the hands of Hezbollah in the sense that the only thing I can see coming out of this is extreme hatered of israel in the middle east :/

[Kiki]

I think what Chuck Hagel said yesterday is right, which is that the war cannot achieve Israel's objectives. I do not like to use words like "attack" because they are too inflammatory. The most important question again is can the current war work, that is to weaken Hezbollah and make Israel more secure. I don't think that it can. I hope that I am wrong because apparently, this war is going to last a while.