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Lessons from the IDF Paratroop Commander

[Maariv-Hebrew, 4Sep09] Amir Buhbut and Ofer Shelah - Col. Hertzi Halevy, commander of the IDF Paratrooper Brigade, discussed the challenges of the Dec.-Jan. Gaza operation: "Your biggest nightmare is sending a platoon of 25 people into a three-story building, and half an hour later the entire building collapses. This was a totally realistic scenario. A platoon leader threw a grenade into a building, opposite our command post, and the entire building exploded and collapsed in a single moment. It had been completely booby-trapped....In the Sultine neighborhood we found 50 explosive charges spread over an area of 70 meters. If an armored personnel carrier had gone in, we would have lost ten men. These are facts, not impressions. And why didn't they set off all of these explosives? Because we entered using the proper degree of force." "I've met many military men from around the world and I've learned from them. Most of the dilemmas that we deal with simply do not exist for military officers in other Western armies. For them, in a case like the Sultine neighborhood, it would first receive massive air bombardment, followed by softening up with artillery and mortar fire, and only afterwards would the first soldier be sent into the area, if at all. But the IDF set aside the principle of surprise in order to warn the civilians that we were about to enter the area." "During the first year that I served as commander in northern Samaria, which included Jenin, suicide bombers from my area of authority were responsible for the deaths of more than 40 Israeli civilians. The entire infrastructure of the Islamic Jihad, who presented us with such difficult challenges during this period, was comprised of terrorists who had been released in the 2004 prisoner exchange."
2009-09-07 08:00:00
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