Mideast Lessons From 1973
By David Ignatius (THE WASHINGTON POST, 08/02/06):
Groping for a way to understand the ruinous mess in the Middle East, I find myself looking backward to an earlier ruinous mess, the Yom Kippur War of October 1973.
That long-ago war, like the current one in Lebanon, began with an Arab sneak attack -- a potentially devastating Egyptian thrust across the Suez Canal, cruelly launched on Israel's holiest day. The Israelis initially fumbled against a surprisingly ferocious Arab assault, and then recovered thanks to aggressive military operations.
Then as now there was a diplomatic uproar over a U.N. cease-fire. The Israelis wanted more time to transform their initial reversals into military gains.… Seguir leyendo »