horse of george

"... they say their goal is to stop Hamas firing missiles into Israel... to me that's a mistake to announce such since it's probably impossible to do, unless of course one is prepared to destroy Gaza... which may indeed be a good idea... but unless you're prepared to do that don't make promises that would require it... as well Barak says the operation is just beginning... again, I don't see why you'd want to box yourself into a corner like that... you take away the option of just stopping right now and acting as if all your goals have been met... I mean, Hamas is going to claim victory no matter what happens, but the limited credibility of these claims will be very much compromised if no one really knows what you're ultimate intentions actually were... and certainly destroying Hamas' credibility is a much more practical goal than attempting to destroy Hamas itself... it's no easy thing to root out an ideology, and indeed anything that allows purveyors of an ideology to portray themselves as sympathetic victims lends a false strength to their cause... but preparing the ground for an ideology's slip into irrelevance?... doable..."