Former US General says it will be 'exceedingly difficult' to destroy Hamas - CNN

[TexasTowelie]

Retired US general and former CIA director David Petraeus explains to CNN's Fareed Zakaria why it will be “exceedingly difficult” for Israel to destroy Hamas.

[RockRaven]

1. Many subject matter experts have been saying the same thing...

Though not always with the same explanation/reasons.

But what do any of them know?!?!

You know, we here in the US heard many aspirational slogans, promises, and the like after 9/11 about destroying/wiping out/"bringing to justice" Al Qaeda...

How did that work out? Did we do it? Does Al Qaeda still exist? (they do)

Well, we killed a hell of a lot of people. Including the leadership of Al Qaeda on 9/11. That should count for something, right? (yet "they" still exist)

So when we try to justify the thousands of dead Americans and hundreds of thousands of dead Afghani and Iraqi civilians on the grounds that we were wiping out Al Qaeda or more generically "terrorists" or "radial Islamic terror"... how does that work exactly? When we didn't actually do it, nor did we ever really have any prospect of actually doing it? Do those justifications hold water?

Is there any lesson for anyone outside of the US to learn from this? Of course not! Every situation is different! It's apples and oranges! Move along, nothing to see here!

[The Mouth]

2. No reason not to try, though

We never completely destroyed Nazism, either. But we neutralized it as a political force to a great extent and realize we have to fight it wherever it pops up.