respectfully disagree

Submitted by Paul Z (United States), Aug 15, 2005 at 11:30

Always admiring the depth of Dr. Pipes analyses, I have to respectfully disagree on the prospective of the current affairs surrounding current pull-out from Gaza.

The situation, as I see it, is much closer to the middle of the WWII than "French appeasement of Germany in the 1930s".
In October 1942, German 6th Army of general Paul us was surrounded by the overwhelming Russian forces west of Stalingrad. Despite numerous pleas from OKW generals to withdraw and re-group, Hitler insisted on holding the ground "at any cost and until the last man". Paul us' 6th Army was not short of dedicated and ferocious fighters, but the battle was lost and the seeds of German defeat were planted.

Six month later at Kurks, Marshall Zhukov let German armored divisions advance and capture some land, withdrew his forces, re-grouped, than delivered a crushing blow of counter-offence, annihilated German armies and advancing far West, sealing the destiny of Nazi Germany and the final victory for the allies.

The State of Israel is in the war, her enemies are numerous, dedicated and ruthless. They use bullets, shells, "dumb" Kassem rockets as well as "smart" (suicide bombers), as well as physiological warfare. Too bad the West and to some degree USA, do not comprehend that grim reality.

The closest to the current situation from the European prospective would be "Phony War", or in Winston Churchill's words the "Twilight War" of 1939. marked by no military operations in Continental Europe, that followed the collapse of Poland. Although the great powers of Europe had declared war, neither side had yet committed to launching a significant attack, and there was little fighting.
The "Sitzkrieg" or "Phony War" as it was called, held western Europe in a strange calm for seven months. Looks like Europeans do not care to remember what followed. Isn't "War on Terror" just a new edition of the Phony War?

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