Looking at the actions of the Americans is all the foreshadowing one needs.
The coming Israeli response, which the Americans obviously have some (not complete) knowledge of, has so concerned the Pentagon that the American military is positioning for a mini-war of their own.
When we posted "U.S. Sends 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Navy Ships to Israel" last week it wasn't to fill space. We don't do that. It was posted because the MEU's are one of those groups that, like the Turkish Brigade* in Korea or the Ghurka on the train**, don't even think they might be outnumbered until it is 5 or 6 to 1 against them. They are the point on the tip of the spear.
The American's plan to be ready for any Hamas or Hezbullah or Syrian of Iranian blow back from the Israeli action.
If you've long-forgotten your Greek mythology, here's a quick sketch of the Furies.
Via ZeroHedge, October 25:
Israel Delays Gaza Invasion (Again) As US Scrambles To Put Missile Defenses In Place
Update(1128ET): Both US and Israeli officials have told The Wall Streat Journal in a breaking major development that Israel has decided to further stall its planned ground invasion of Gaza, at the request of Washington.
Though airstrikes have been ramped up, resulting in the Palestinian death toll soaring past 6,500 - it has become clear in the last several days that Israel has been waiting in terms of a ground assault. This also as four hostages have been freed due to negotiations involving Qatari mediation with Hamas. The WSJ frames this further delay, however, as related to putting additional air defense from the US in place.
"The Pentagon is scrambling to deploy nearly a dozen air-defense systems to the region, including for U.S. troops serving in Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to protect them from missiles and rockets," the report says. "U.S. officials have so far persuaded the Israelis to hold off until those pieces can be placed, as early as later this week."This is a sign that Washington is bracing for significant escalation to come. US Central Command (CENTCOM) yesterday revealed that last week US troops and installations in Iraq and Syria came under more than a dozen drone attacks, resulting in two dozen troop injuries, albeit described as "minor".
Crude prices jumped, as stocks fade, on the headline portending escalation, given the Pentagon is building up yet more major military assets in the Middle East...
Also yesterday, NSC spokesman John Kirby issued unprecedented words saying that more "innocent people" are going to die in Gaza. "This is war. It is combat. It is bloody. It is ugly, and it's going to be messy. And innocent civilians are going to be hurt going forward," he stated in a press briefing. The US has warned Iran against its proxies attacking US forces in the region.
As the WSJ details further, even though the White House has been pressing for more humanitarian aid to get into Gaza, it remains that "the threats to the U.S. troops are of a paramount concern, U.S. officials said. U.S. military and other officials believe that American forces will be targeted by various militant groups once the incursion begins....
....MUCH MORE
Another way to tell how serious the Americans are is the fact one of the advisors they sent to the IDF was a rifle platoon commander in Operation Desert Storm.
Thirty-two years later he's a Marine Corps Lieutenant General, having been, among other commands, the Commander of United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command.
As the Associated Press put it in their headline: "Pentagon rushes Marine Corps general, other advisers to Middle East." Here's the Times of Israel blurb of the AP piece:
US general who fought ISIS in urban setting to advise Israel
Among the “military advisers” being dispatched to Israel is Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Glynn, who previously helped lead special operations forces against the Islamic State and served in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the most heated urban combat there, according to a US official who is not authorized to discuss Glynn’s role and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Glynn will also be advising on how to mitigate civilian casualties in urban warfare, the official says.
You see what the Israeli press is highlighting.
And the Turks? In 2011's "Just a Friendly Heads-up: Don't Mess With a Gurkha, They Think 1 on 40 is a Fair Fight" I led with a quick vignette:
Twenty-odd years ago I found myself talking to an old Turkish soldier about his experience in Korea.
He said the Turks didn't think they were outnumbered until the odds got over 5 or 6 to 1.
Here are a couple comments on one of their battles:
"The heroic soldiers of a heroic nation, you have saved the Eighth Army and the IX'th Army Corps from encirclement and the 2nd Division from destruction. I came here today to thank you on behalf of the United Nations Army."
- General Walton H. Walker, Commander, Eighth Army
"The Turks are the hero of heroes. There is no impossibility for the Turkish Brigade."
- General Douglas MacArthur - United Nations Forces Commander in Chief
You read that right. An American four-star said they had saved a freakin' division of the U.S. Army.
A five-star was a bit more flowery with his language.
The Gurkhas have a similar reputation, here's a story at Republica (Nepal):
Lone Nepali Gorkha who subdued 40 train robbers
POKHARA, Jan 13: Gorkha soldiers have long been known the world over for their valor and these khukuri-wielding warriors winning the British many a battle have become folklore.
A retired Indian Gorkha soldier recently revisited those glory days when he thwarted 40 robbers, killing three of them and injuring eight others, with his khukuri during a train journey. He is in line to receive three gallantry awards from the Indian government....
A well-used Kukri.
.....“They started snatching jewelry, cell phones, cash, laptops and other belongings from the passengers,” Shrestha recalled. The soldier had somehow remained a silent spectator amidst the melee, but not for long. He had had enough when the robbers stripped an 18-year-old girl sitting next to him and tried to rape her right in front of her parents. He then took out his khukuri and took on the robbers.
“The girl cried for help, saying ´You are a soldier, please save a sister´,” Shrestha recalled. “I prevented her from being raped, thinking of her as my own sister,” he added. He took one of the robbers under control and then started to attack the others. He said the rest of the robbers fled after he killed three of them with his khukuri and injured eight others......
| Got that? With his khukuri knife he charged 40 low-life punks armed with pistols, knives and swords. Killed three. Wounded eight. Chased the other 29 away. A different approach to gang-rape from that evinced by, say, the South Yorkshire Police in Rotherham, know what I'm sayin'? Singapore hires Gurkhas as cops. Pretty smart if you ask me. |
