Sunday, November 12, 2006

Gunner's nightmare

From Jerusalem Post, November 8, by Steve Linde ....

...In response to Kassam rocket attacks on southern Israel following the IDF withdrawal from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun on Monday, gunners were ordered to "fire at the source" - the spots from which the rockets were launched. And they did, firing a dozen or so shells. .... The Palestinian terrorists firing at civilian targets in Ashkelon, Sderot and other communities in the western Negev must know that the IDF can and will retaliate, and respond swiftly and strongly.

....There's a key difference between the Hamas and Hizbullah fighters and Israel's. They intentionally fire rockets at civilian targets, hoping for maximum casualties and damage. We don't. The artillery troops who fired shells at Beit Hanun yesterday weren't hoping to hit civilians. They were targeting terrorists firing rockets. A CNN interviewer asked the prime minister's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, for her response to suggestions that Israel was using "a sledgehammer to crack a nut." Eisin, like other Israeli spokespeople, was very apologetic for the "tragic mistake." And rightly so.

But what does the international community expect Israel to do if it is hit daily by ...rockets? Ignore them? Make our own? Fire our artillery pieces more inaccurately? ...

... Of course, the army now will carry out a thorough investigation of the tragic incident, and the necessary lessons will be learned and taught to future generations of artillery men.

But the basic lesson is this: War is a dangerous game, and once you start firing rockets or guns, people will get hurt, and not always the people you plan to hurt. That's the sad fact, in a nutshell, and no one feels good about it.

The writer, managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, served for 15 years in the IDF artillery.

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