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2006-08-22-Introducing Norman Mann
 
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Norman Mann
 

Norman Mann, letter writer,

now you too are a columnist!
jewishsightseeing.com, August 22,  2006


Editor's Note: Dr. Norman Mann, a retired San Diego dentist who has long been active in the Jewish community, is an inveterate letter writer not only to jewishsightseeing.com, but to publications near and far. His opinions range over many topics. We thought it would be fun to run as an occasional column those letters bearing directly on matters of interest to the Jewish community.  So, with the most recent letter first, here's Norman!

By Norman Mann

SAN DIEGO, Calif., August 21, 2006—Who’d have thunk it? President Bush after stalling almost a month to encourage Israel to lay siege to Hezbollah towns and strongholds, while Israel did its best to throttle rocket launchers, shielded by civilians and fought to a draw, now our President wants to provide Lebanon with $240 million to start rebuilding.

Lebanon we now know and realize is nothing more than a look alike Taliban run country since it has aided and abetted the Hez to build up a mighty military machine with the help and support of Syria and Iran .

Now Bush wants to push through another UN resolution demanding the disarmament of the Hez. Just who is he fooling? He finds out today that the Iranians will not stop their march on the road to a nuclear capability and who will have the guts to attempt to disarm the Hez? Sending 15,000 Lebanese troops to the south is a meaningless gesture since they were the look the other way guards who allowed and probably encouraged he Syrians to pour missiles through the frontier and finding their way into South Lebanon .. No European nation can dig or pry the missiles away from the Hez. What’s needed is an immediate technology which will neutralize and reduce the missile threat. Without that all the UN resolutions will fall on their face and the merry build-up of Missiles will continue at a rapid pace. Asking the Lebanese to police the Hez is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

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August 20, 2006—How come there are no United Nations' cease fires ordered for the conflicts in Iraq, Sudan, Columbia, Afghanistan, Haiti and Sri Lanka? Why not give these people the blessing Israel and Lebanon are getting? They are also human beings, aren't they? Why can't the UN handle more ceasefires than one at a time? Must they wait till they know that the last will hold and then look around for another peacemaking situation? I guess working on too many conflicts at a time would cut into their cocktail parties and junkets.

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August 17, 2006-—When Israel accepted the ceasefire proposal so quickly it reinforced my conviction that the mighty David of the Mid East has on the battlefield for a month met its equal or almost its master in the name of the Hezbollah. From the moment of the invasion of the military post and the capture of the two IDF men, I felt that there was evidence of some carelessness afloat. With the next loss of the tank and the crippling of the navel vassal by rocket fire, I was sure that it would be necessary for Israel to stop and evaluate what was happening which was not a good omen.

The anti tank weapons and the possession of more sophisticated long range rockets were a message that for years Israel neglected to update its war plans, strategy and intelligence gathering. Was it purely a matter of over self confidence or was it carelessness?

I fault the government which had no leadership with extensive military knowledge. It learned nothing from the years of Iraqi insurgency, the Vietnam war or the way to fight a un-uniformed military which uses civilian cover to launch their war and to give them cover and to provide martyrs. The Technion, IDF and think tanks completely neglected plans for rocket defenses believing that the Patriot and the Arrow would provide a rocket shield. Both of these measures were worthless.

I had suggested barrage balloons which helped protect England but were never considered. Had the years of rockets falling on Sderodt been immediately used by Israeli R and D and a defense found, this conflict would have been over in a week. The question of enemy tunnels was another shortcoming as was the complete lack of Israeli intelligence about the Hez accumulation of rockets, ground to ground missiles and the well trained fighters. I believe overconfidence and ill preparedness were the enemies which did the most damage as well as optimistic reports from the field such as given by a Gen. Adam that in a week or two victory would be announced.

The only good was that Israel got an early wakeup call on how serious the situation would have been if the Hez waited another year to build up its weaponry with the help Syria and Iran in Lebanon .  It could have created a real disaster for Israel . The security situation is very serious. Are Israelis up to regaining their strength?

I do not like France being in charge of the UN force and see only trouble ahead. The Hez would like to have UN helmets along with the Lebanese civilians as shields. This is the way it looks to me.

Bush's American gift to Lebanon only demonstrates that he feverishly seeks to give a tiny bit of acceptance to the Lebanese  people who really totally have gained new admiration for the Hez. Our pitiful bucks would have been better spent on raising the educational qualifications of the African Americans in Oakland and getting them to be prepared to enter UC Berkeley .

As Bush flails around, his policy we see is going from bad to worse. He should have demanded that the Lebanese people if they want peace and freedom should expel the Hez and send them back to Syria and Iran , but of course this is wishful thinking. With all this, Lebanon remains a Taliban look alike, contributing a training ground for terrorists and a bit worse because it is helping to fulfill the dreams and goals of the Iranian Ahmadinejad and that spells trouble.