'My first war'
Saturday, July 12, was the second anniversary of the Second Lebanon War. The weekend JPost included an article about Yariv Moser, an IDF officer who took something a little unusual off to war with him: A video camera. Moser has made a documentary movie which was released here in Israel in April. Unfortunately, it's gotten too little attention.Generally, a feeling of disorganization and bedlam worsens as the war progresses. Rockets fall, tanks are destroyed with sophisticated anti-tank missiles, more and more soldiers are killed and the atmosphere is one of defeat and senselessness. Orders are given and then retracted. "Somebody sent soldiers to die," says the bleary-eyed Capt. Reuven Sa'adon to Mozer as he drives back from Lebanon in an armored Humvee. "That is the clearest thing I can say."The 'most controversial element' in the documentary is not one I have seen. But it's one that is frightening for the IDF's future on a lot of levels.
But perhaps the most controversial element in the documentary is when the hero, ruggedly handsome Lt.-Col. Ilan Levy (whom Mozer refers to as an Israeli Sean Penn and is the elder brother of a former Miss Israel, Ilanit Levy) tells a group of fellow officers after the cease-fire about his choice not to take a patrol into Lebanon.There were much longer write-ups of the movie in the Washington Post and in Haaretz three months ago. Here are more details of the Levy incident from the Haaretz article:
Levy describes his reasons to fellow officers, who have been discussing the failures of the war - from Armored Corps soldiers abandoning their tanks to leaders who lacked confidence. "I was at the gate with an armored personnel carrier, with 11 soldiers and three officers, after a briefing on entering Lebanon, after everything, and they told me, 'Go,'" Levy says. "I decided at that point, in terms of the need that existed at that moment and the risk that existed, that I wasn't taking them in, and I informed the division's chief of staff who was standing next to me: 'I'm not taking them in.'
"In my understanding, the way things were prepared, in that constellation of things, the risk exceeded the benefit. I didn't get it from anyone in an organized fashion. And by the way, the convoy that did enter was almost all burned up. And I made the decision, not anyone else."
A hailstorm of criticism focused on the praise that Levy has gotten for saving his soldiers' lives by disobeying a direct order. "He didn't defy a direct order," says Mozer, whose shaved head accentuates his large, brown eyes. "He decided to complete the mission in a different way, and in so doing he saved the lives of his soldiers. I could have met him after the war in front of coffins," he says vehemently, taking a moment to regain his composure.
From the start of the war, the artillery corps operated from within Israel. Ahead of the operation that took place during the final 48 hours of the war, it was decided to send artillery units into Lebanon to provide cover for the advancing forces. Levy's regular battalion was chosen to be the first artillery battalion to enter.Recall that the final 48 hours of the war was when Olmert sent the IDF to reach the Litani River - after the 'cease fire' had been signed - so that he could pretend that the war accomplished something and then the troops who were left alive could turn around and come back.
"I was at the gate," Levy says, describing the decisive moment when he decided not to take his soldiers in, "with an armored personnel carrier, with 11 soldiers and three officers, after a briefing on entering Lebanon, after everything, and they told me, 'Go.' I decided at that point, in terms of the need that existed at that moment and the risk that existed, that I wasn't taking them in, and I informed the division head of staff who was standing next to me: 'I'm not taking them in.' Because in my understanding, the way things were prepared, in that constellation of things, the risk exceeded the benefit. I didn't get it from anyone in an organized fashion. And by the way, the convoy that did enter was almost all burned up. And I made the decision, not anyone else."
The Washington Post says that the movie was to be televised in Israel in conjunction with the second anniversary of the war - I have no idea whether it was or not. I have a video of the trailer for you. Let's go to the videotape and then we'll talk.
The thing I find most disturbing about the Second Lebanon War is that there has been no real accounting. Olmert and Livni are still in power and are still pretending that the war accomplished something, even as they pay the same price for the return of two dead bodies that they could have paid on the day the war started. Defenseless 'defense minister'
I'm not saying that going to war was wrong - I supported the war - but you can't go to war without knowing what you want to accomplish and you cannot go to war and then hesitate over doing what you have to do to reach your goals. Maybe the government should have waited a few days and done some planning before going to war. The problem with the war - and we hear it over and over again in the descriptions of the "feeling of disorganization and bedlam" - is that the government had no clue of what it wanted to accomplish and didn't go all out to do what they said they wanted to do. The 'confusion' was because the soldiers kept getting conflicting and senseless orders. And unfortunately, the people at the top have not paid the price.
That last part is even more unfortunate because I fear what will happen the next time there's a war (and there will be a next time). Will junior level officers refuse to carry out orders because (they think) it's clear they're being sent on a mission to nowhere in which their troops will all be killed? Will commanding officers issue orders that they know are sending soldiers to certain death for no reason? Will the country be 'led' by a baboon who is willing to sacrifice hundreds of lives to save his political skin? Will the IDF continue to sacrifice training to 'fight' to remove Jews from their homes?
No one in Israel wants to talk honestly about what happened two summers ago (or for that matter, three summers ago). And unfortunately, Olmert's removal on corruption charges (which appears more and more likely) is not going to resolve anything. It avoids a reckoning for the war's results.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:22 AM
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The war accomplished none of its goals because Ehud Olmert had no goals and those under him were unclear as to what objectives the IDF should meet. It was a senseless war from start to finish. And the irony of it all is Olmert finds himself paying the very ransom to Hezbollah he swore he'd never pay. While he may yet have to leave office on account of corruption, its all but certain it won't be because he bungled and lost Israel's first war on his watch. Its not by any means clear whether in fact the lessons of the Second Lebanon War have been learned.
There's also the issue of the IDF's mission: is the IDF going to defend the country or its primary mission tasked with kicking Jews out of their homes and demolishing entire communities? The IDF seems more prepared for the latter than the former. If that's the case, the difficulties the IDF encountered in the last war will be small potatoes compared to what it will face in the next one if it is not ready to fight as an army. Until the government and the country makes up its mind, Israel could well very find itself unprepared to cope with the next crisis around the corner.
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