West Bank Improves

The well travelled Michael Totten talks about a NYT report on the West Bank and relates it to his own experience there. He says cities like Ramallah and Nablus are doing 'OK' and said the former is actually a nicer place to visit than Cairo.

The corrupt kleptocracy of Makmud Abbas may pay lip service to the cause of Israeli destruction, but right now it is at war with its rival, Hamas. Whose presence in the West Bank is much weaker than in Gaza. Here the Israelis allow some movement, though there are still numerous

checkpoints and roadblocks, and there is some economic interaction between the two states.

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Israel is using Abbas and his Fatah party to fight Hamas, and helping them by allowing arms shipments and fostering economic growth. This is the only effective way of fighting an insurgency, a proven method that has worked against numerous insurgencies, from the Apaches in Arizona to the Sunnis in Iraq.

It is now up to the United States to find some way to make it work in Afghanistan.

Will's book about the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the Battle of 73 Easting, is called A Line Through the Desert. It may be purchased at Amazon.

United States vs Hamas & Hezbollah

Hamas, all of organizations, with Israeli help, recently foiled an assassination attempt on former president Jimmy Carter.

Question, had the effort succeeded, would that mean war? I think so. But how to proceed? Might it simply be a matter of outsourcing the job to our Israeli friends, who no doubt would love to eradicate Hamas once and for all? Or would national honor require US Marine landing on Gaza Beach. Americans, of course have been killed by Hamas and Hezbollah.

Had the attempt succeeded, Hamas one suspects, could be crushed relatively easily, with Gaza pinned up against Israel.

Hezbollah, ensconced as it is in southern Lebanon, would be a far tough nut to crack, requiring a Marine Expeditionary Unit, in this case the II out of Camp Lejune, supported by elements of the Army and the 6th fleet.

The 22nd MEU would land north of the Litani River and drive for the Bekka Valley. The 26th MEU would make up the follow on wave and push north to the Bekka . To cut off Syrian help from the north, would below Beirut and take up blocking positions. Sealing up the Bekka would be critical. To that end, the 173rd Airborne Brigade could be dropped into the valley, with one battalion keeping a watch on Syria while the other guards the southern approach.

The key would be to pin Hezbollah south of the Litania River and destroying their paramilitary forces, amounting to several thousand well armed and organized militia boasting a large arsenal of anti tank rockets. Hezbollah could certainly slow an American advance, and inflict casualties, as they did upon the IDF in 2006.

Of course, all this begs the question, what would the 12 infantry brigades and special operations brigades of Lebanese army do. They could not stop the Marines, they could barely fight them, but the sight of Lebanese Army troops being slaughtered by American forces would be bad publicity to say the least.

Are Hamas and Hezbollah stupid enough to give the United States a reason to go to war with them?

For more about Will, visit http://www.gulfwarone.com/. His novel, 'A Line Through the Desert' can be purchased here.

Israeli Victory in Gaza

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I have a new piece in the current issue of Strategy & Tactics covering Israel's Operation Cast Lead. For those who may not recall, Cast Lead saw the Israelis bomb and invade Gaza last January in an effort to stop Hamas' daily rocket attacks.

The operation was well planned and executed, with the Israelis killing more than 700 Hamas fighters, destroying dozens of arms cashes, and hundreds of smuggling tunnels. Cast Lead also helped restore the credibility of Israel's deterrent, something which had been lacking since the inconclusive Lebanon War of 2006.

Interestingly, Israeli intelligence made good use of disgruntled Fatah operatives, Hamas main rival, several dozen of whom were killed when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a coup in 2007. Fatah sources pointed out the location of smuggling tunnels, terrorist homes, and arms caches.

Israel has also been aiding Fatah in the West Bank, with intelligence sharing and limited cooperation between the Israeli Army and Palestinian Authority security services. The Israelis seem to be adopting the age old counter insurgency tactic of co-opting some of the locals and using them to fight the insurgents. Its an idea that has worked time and again, most notably in Iraq, where Sunni insurgents turned on al Qeada.

Of course this begs the question, is Fatah any better than Hamas? Hamas is a religious organization offering a variety of social services tethered to a political program centered on the destruction ot Israel. Fatah is a more or less secular but corrupt thugocracy, it is at best and worst, like the entrenched government of Egypt's president for life, Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak stay afloat because of a few billion a year in American dollars. Perhaps Fatah can be kept up with a few hundred million Israeli shekels?

For more about Will, visit http://www.gulfwarone.com/. His novel, 'A Line Through the Desert' can be purchased here.