Grumbling in the Ranks
HAIFA, ISRAEL-Sgt. Josh Brannon didn't mind the 70-plus pounds of equipment he lugged across the rough terrain of south Lebanon even as his Israeli reconnaissance unit came under fire from Hezbollah. Nor was the tall, 27-year-old former athlete troubled when he ran out of water during the mission. And he could deal with sleeping only an hour a day while taking cover on the bathroom floor of a Lebanese home.
What makes Brannon and many other Israeli soldiers angry is a sense that the war ended prematurely."We were disappointed with the end result," says Brannon, his voice heavy with exhaustion two days after crossing back into Israel. "The war was suddenly over, but the two soldiers were still captured, and Hezbollah was still armed."
After the cease-fire took effect, his company commander held a meeting to discuss the problems the soldiers faced so they could be better prepared for the next round-if need be. "It turned into a shouting match," says Brannon, a California native who volunteered for the Israeli Army 2
Tough enemy. The enemy was another surprise. Hezbollah fighters were well trained, well equipped, and well motivated. "This was not like the [Palestinian] territories, where you drive into Nablus in 30 minutes, surround a house, take a wanted guy, and drive back," he says. Hezbollah fighters attacked with antitank missiles. They hit soldiers during rescue operations. They used guerrilla warfare tactics, which, in the six years since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, Israeli soldiers had either forgotten or not learned.
Israeli security experts point to shortcomings in Israeli leadership and military intelligence. "The leadership reacted from the gut-it went into the war without thinking," says Eitan Barak, a military affairs expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Another factor, he says, was Israeli arrogance regarding air power. "Israelis thought: 'I destroyed the whole Syrian air force without losing a single plane, I fly freely over Lebanon, I flew over [Syrian President Bashar] Assad's palace, and no one does anything.'"
Brannon, who was hospitalized for severe dehydration and exhaustion, is bitter. "After five days in the bush and constantly thinking about my family, there are times when a cease-fire sounds good," he says. "But if we would have known the conditions of the cease-fire-then we would have preferred to stay in the bush."
This story appears in the August 28, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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