israeloutlook.com

I was immersed in my document. I was in my own world of words, buttons, links and screenshots. Nothing outside of the screen in front of me existed.

Then, something intruded on this world.

“A plane has hit one of the buildings of the World Trade Center.”

It was a blip.

Some part of my mind thought on this piece of information as I continued dealing with start screens and checkboxes. Maybe it was one of those single engine aircraft. A Piper Cub, flown by someone who’d made a terrible mistake. That must be it.

I was immersed in my document. I was in my own world of words, buttons, links and screenshots. Nothing outside of the screen in front of me existed.

Then, something intruded on this world.

“A plane has hit one of the buildings of the World Trade Center.”

It was a blip.

Some part of my mind thought on this piece of information as I continued dealing with start screens and checkboxes. Maybe it was one of those single engine aircraft. A Piper Cub, flown by someone who’d made a terrible mistake. That must be it.

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In my post, The Unthinkable, I presented a number of options for dealing with Iran. Those options were, and are, doomed to failure.

The one option that is NOT doomed to failure is so horrible, that I find it hard to even mention.
There is yet another alternative. It is also doomed to failure, but it is something that must be tried.

Regime change.

It has happened before and offers some hope that it will happen here. However, it requires several factors to coincide: popular discontent and apathy in the armed forces.

In my post, The Unthinkable, I presented a number of options for dealing with Iran. Those options were, and are, doomed to failure.

The one option that is NOT doomed to failure is so horrible, that I find it hard to even mention.
There is yet another alternative. It is also doomed to failure, but it is something that must be tried.

Regime change.

It has happened before and offers some hope that it will happen here. However, it requires several factors to coincide: popular discontent and apathy in the armed forces.

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You cannot satisfy Evil. It is insatiable and a bottomless pit.

Remember Hitler?

All that he wanted was the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia. The West was uncomfortable about this. They felt that they were abandoning a friend in central Europe, but they reasoned that they needed to neutralize Hitler.

They reasoned that the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’ must always prevail.

They wanted peace in their time.

The problem is that by handing over the German speaking parts of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, Germany was given an easy invasion route into the rest of the country. Czechs and Slovaks were doomed.

You cannot satisfy Evil. It is insatiable and a bottomless pit.

Remember Hitler?

All that he wanted was the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia. The West was uncomfortable about this. They felt that they were abandoning a friend in central Europe, but they reasoned that they needed to neutralize Hitler.

They reasoned that the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’ must always prevail.

They wanted peace in their time.

The problem is that by handing over the German speaking parts of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, Germany was given an easy invasion route into the rest of the country. Czechs and Slovaks were doomed.

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I was listening to the BBC yesterday, as I often do, and the program host introduced a colleague, Peter Taylor. He had a new documentary called ‘Al Qaeda: Time to Talk?’.

Talking to Al Qaeda? Legitimizing their aspirations and demands? Giving them credibility?

Israel has been through this before, and learned the hard way that talking to terrorists never leads to anything but more terror. True, there are exceptions.

For instance, Israel is getting Gilad Shalit back – in exchange for a bunch of prisoners that Israel probably doesn’t want anyway. And of course, Hamas has paid such a heavy price for kidnapping Shalit, that they’ll hesitate the next time.

I was listening to the BBC yesterday, as I often do, and the program host introduced a colleague, Peter Taylor. He had a new documentary called ‘Al Qaeda: Time to Talk?’.

Talking to Al Qaeda? Legitimizing their aspirations and demands? Giving them credibility?

Israel has been through this before, and learned the hard way that talking to terrorists never leads to anything but more terror. True, there are exceptions.

For instance, Israel is getting Gilad Shalit back – in exchange for a bunch of prisoners that Israel probably doesn’t want anyway. And of course, Hamas has paid such a heavy price for kidnapping Shalit, that they’ll hesitate the next time.

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Right now, Israel is in the midst of some real soul searching.

Oh, not the normal kind where you sit and think hard about why you did this, or why you feel like that. No, Israelis are searching the souls of their leaders. They want to know the whys and wherefores of the war in Lebanon. They want to know why the war wasn’t won more decisively. They want to know why certain units didn’t have enough supplies. They want to know why this group wasn’t talking enough to THAT group.

And on and on.

Right now, Israel is in the midst of some real soul searching.

Oh, not the normal kind where you sit and think hard about why you did this, or why you feel like that. No, Israelis are searching the souls of their leaders. They want to know the whys and wherefores of the war in Lebanon. They want to know why the war wasn’t won more decisively. They want to know why certain units didn’t have enough supplies. They want to know why this group wasn’t talking enough to THAT group.

And on and on.

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