The Limits of Shock and Awe
Watching the violence in the Middle East unfold, I cannot help but feel that Israel is making the same mistake as the Bush administration in responding to terrorism. After the September 11th attacks, America had the moral legitimacy and sympathy of the world on its side. The Bush administration intelligently used this worldwide support to build a case against the Taliban and then it brought military force against the regime in a targeted and skillful way. But then the Bush administration began seeing its role and legitimacy to act well beyond the contours of self-defense. Even though Iraq had ambiguous ties at best to September 11th and no certified weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration tried to use this link to justify its war. Although the administration quickly won the combat, thanks to a robust military strategy of “shock and awe,” America soon realized that it was quickly losing the battle for hearts and minds
Although a very different case, I fear that Israel may be making a similar error in judgment. Yes, Israel may have the military strength to shock and awe its neighbors, and yes a strong response to Hezbollah is justified, but to the extent Israel diverges from a targeted path and begins using its shock and awe capacity more widely against innocent Lebanese citizens by bombing their airports and bridges, it runs the risk of quickly wiping out its international sympathy and losing the war of ideas. Worse yet, just like America’s war in Iraq, Israel runs the risk of furthering the cause of insurgents and widening the conflict. As this week’s Time reports:
…there is a real risk that the move may have the same unintended consequence of the raid 38 years ago: pushing Lebanon further into a spiral of internal strife and even a civil war that embroils the entire Middle East.
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