Open Space: Self-defeating Tactics

The ³search and destroy² mission was a frequently employed
tactic in the Vietnam War. American combat troops would search
through the countryside, hoping to find and destroy the enemy, the
Vietcong. This was no easy task. The Vietcong were elusive targets
and blended in with the civilian population. 
Mistakes were made. Our soldiers would often have to guess at
whether a remote jungle hamlet, apparently populated only by rice
farmers and their families, was in fact a base of operations for
the Vietcong. In the Vietnam War, as in all wars, errors were not
made on the side of caution ­ which, of course, led to even worse
errors. 
³We had to destroy the village in order to save it² became one
of the hallmark non­sequiturs of the Vietnam War. In the nihilistic
logic of the situation, the destruction of an entire town was
justified under the doctrine of necessity ­ depriving the enemy of
a hiding place. Of course, the entire premise of this military
tactic was absurd, and carrying it out was self-defeating, since it
assured the alienation of the very civilian population on whose
side we were supposedly fighting, and whose ³hearts and minds² we
were attempting to win over. 
As a consequence of destroying so many villages, we never did
find the ³light at the end of the tunnel² in our occupation of
Vietnam, which has gone down as the greatest failure in the history
of American foreign policy (though this dubious honor in time will
go to our colossal misadventure in Iraq).  
With the massive Israeli bombing of civilian populations in
Lebanon we are again seeing the same self-defeating tactics that
were employed so heedlessly by the United States in Vietnam.
History is being repeated, disastrously, by those who should know
better. And when I say ³those² I mean not just Israel, but America
as well.   
By now it should be clear that the United States is not just a
passive observer in the Israeli ­ Lebanon conflict. Whatever
transpires in the region, militarily and politically, comes about
as the direct result of American influence, if not actual
orchestration. We are shaping the future of the region, and at this
point it looks like we are intent on destroying Lebanon in order to
save it. 
According to Frida Berrigan of the World Policy Institute, the
United States supplies about three billion dollars annually to
Israel in military equipment. That works out to about $500 per
Israeli citizen. 
To be sure, for its very survival Israel needs the material
support of the world¹s super-power. That is not the issue. No one
seriously disputes that Israel has the right to defend itself, and
that defending itself requires a huge array of weaponry which only
we can provide.
But the use to which Israel puts all its American-supplied
weapons is surely a legitimate question. We are so closely
identified with Israel in the minds of the Islamic world that we
will suffer the consequences of the Israeli excesses ­ we should
expect more, not less, terrorism as a result of the anti-Hezbollah
campaign. Israel may be taking out Hezbollah military positions and
protecting itself from future attacks. But it has not escaped
notice in the Islamic world that the United States has been
expediting shipments to Israel of the precision laser and satellite
guided bombs that have been so deadly for the Lebanese people
caught in the crossfire.
Some of the American-supplied munitions to Israel include
5,000-pound laser-guided bombs capable of destroying concrete
bunkers used by Hezbollah. Of course, these same bombs can also
flatten apartment buildings in Qana, Lebanon, inhabited by women
and children.
– Guy Wilson is a Sonoma West Times & News columnist