The Israeli Connection

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The US military is without a doubt the most powerful fighting force in the

 

world. The forces arrayed in the Kuwaiti desert are stunning by any

 

standard. Last Thursday night and Friday morning, the Fifth Corps, which

 

commands all army ground forces in the country staged a rehearsal of the

 

invasion of Iraq.

 

The main purpose of the exercise from the perspective of the individual

 

battalions was to ensure the smooth flow of traffic along the lanes cleared

 

by the engineering companies.

 

In the pre-dawn light of Friday, the convoys of tanks, Bradleys, mortars,

 

trucks and humvees started moving. The vehicles taking part in the exercise

 

comprised just one-fifth of the total number of vehicles that are set to

 

cross over. And still the column was never ending.

 

US forces are acutely aware of their unprecedented power. While overall they

 

disdain the Arab world's armies, they exhibit a strong respect for the IDF.

 

Soldiers and officers at all levels are quick to mention the Israeli

 

officers with whom they have trained and to extol their abilities.

 

Capt. Jason Happe, the fire support officer for the 2-7 mechanized infantry

 

battalion trained with an IDF tank company commander at the US army's armor

 

advance course.

 

'He was an amazing talent,' Happe remarks while recalling their first

 

meeting.

 

'In the course we had an officer from Egypt, one from Jordan and one from

 

Saudi Arabia, in addition to the Israeli. The first day of the course the

 

Arabs were all talking with each other and the Israeli was keeping to

 

himself before class began.

 

'Then all of the sudden, the Egyptian said to him, 'Get out of here,' and

 

the Saudi joined in. The Israeli officer ignored them. But then the

 

Jordanian officer called him a 'dirty Jew.' After that the Israeli jumped

 

out of his chair, jumped on the Jordanian and broke his nose. The Egyptian

 

and the Saudi tried to come up to him from behind, but he put them both

 

down, too. He was bloodied up some but he was okay.

 

'I was standing at the door with another American watching and we walked in

 

then. I put my arm around the Israeli and said, 'Hey, you're a tough one.

 

You can come sit down over here with us.' He was the best student in the

 

course.'

 

Commander of 1st Brigade, Col. William Grimsley, attended the war college

 

with an Israeli officer as well. His Israeli counterpart, whom he refers to

 

as 'a gifted officer and great soldier,' is now OC Central Command,

 

Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky.

 

The 2-7 battalion commander, Lt.-Col. Scott Rutter, attended Command and

 

General Staff College with Israeli artillery commander, now Brig.-Gen.

 

Lawrence Moullion. He too extols the abilities of his colleague.

 

In addition to their personal experiences with Israeli colleagues, the US

 

forces are quite aware of the war going on in Israel and have very clear

 

views of the conflict.

 

Battle captain Rob Milan from Florida approached me a few days ago and

 

raised a pointed question.

 

'Why do you guys keep giving those Palestinians land?' Three or four

 

officers who were standing near us chimed in in agreement.

 

'You guys know how to fight. Why don't you just win and move on?'

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