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Memorial Day, and A Lesson in Information Operations
Okay, first things first: Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Please take some time today to say a prayer for the fallen and for peace.
I woke up this morning to the news that Israel has managed to kill at least 10 people participating in some peace flotilla to Gaza. As you all know, I try to avoid commenting on matters related to Israel and the Palestinians, but this is a pretty good teaching opportunity relating to issues that concern this blog's readership.
One could, from the start, think a number of different things about those participating in the peace flotilla to Gaza. (Naive? Righteous? Courageous? Anti-Semitic?) But for the sake of argument, and putting ourselves in the shoes of an Israeli naval commander, let's assume the most malevolent of motivations for the people participating in the peace flotilla. If I am in charge of doing that for the Israeli Navy, I am going to assume these people are smart and are deliberately trying to provoke a crazy response from my sailors and soldiers that will produce ready-for-television images that both isolate Israel within the international community and further raise the ire of the Arabic-speaking and Islamic worlds. I mean, that is my base assumption for what this group is trying to do. So naturally, the last thing I would want my forces to do would be to overreact, right? It's like when your convoy gets fired on inside a crowded market: the last thing you want to do is return fire with 7.62mm, killing a bunch of civilians and giving the enemy exactly the effect he was looking for.
If something does go wrong, meanwhile, I am going to have a response ready. I am going to have my very best spokespersons on international and Israeli television. I am most certainly not going to let people like Danny Ayalon provide my government's response, right? Because a live wire like Ayalon -- who the Turks already hate, with an understandable passion -- will just say something incredibly crazy like how the people in the aid flotilla were terrorists with ties to al-Qaeda. (Even if you can prove this is somehow true, everyone you need to be speaking to right now -- the international community, the Turkish people, the Arabic-speaking world -- is just going to think you are nuts for saying it or will roll their eyes and say, "Oh, of course he's saying that.")
In reality, what happened today is the Israelis got their butts handed to them. The Israeli response to this aid flotilla was a fabulous gift to Hamas and Iran. (Try to imagine, if you will, the Israelis trying to go before the U.N. Security Council to gather support for sanctions on the Iranian regime right now. They would be more likely to leave New York with sanctions on their own regime!)
Again, I really have little interest in Israel and Palestine given the way in which people on both sides tend to fling accusations of anti-Semitism, war crimes, terrorist-sympathizing, fascism, etc. But as a student of low-intensity conflict and information operations, one really does have to marvel at the incredible own goal the Israelis have just scored. The fact that Hamas and its allies didn't even have to do a thing to earn it is what I find to be most remarkable. Not that they care what I think, but the Israelis should not be talking about the people on the aid flotilla right now. They should be examining themselves and their response and asking how they hell they fumbled this so badly.
How about just learning to
How about just learning to dummy-cord your pistol?
Your advise only applies if
Your advise only applies if you don't think you can get away with it.
If you do, then you do what you want.
But there will be a heavy price to pay. No doubt there will be a fierce tongue lashing from the Administration.
And a wink and a nod.
According to this
According to this (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3896796,00.html) article in ynet the IDF was expecting little resistance and therefore were only equipped with paint ball guns and normal handguns.
Can somebody with knowledge of military stuff tell me if this is probable - I mean does it really happen that soldiers use paint ball guns in an operation?
"The native mentality does
"The native mentality does not allow them to gather for a peaceful demonstration. For them to gather means violence."
No less true today than when spoken some 60 years ago.
They will probably end up
They will probably end up doing retribution to those they killed just like they did before when they attacked the US ship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
Very well put.
Very well put.
Ayalons comments are even
Ayalons comments are even more tonedeaf than you paint it, because all those ships were carrying intelectuals, politicans and grown up activists from all over Europe. To imply that Henning Mankell, the famed swedish crimewriter, is a AQ member is just ridicolous. As is claiming that 15 dead and 30-60 seriously wounded came from a few turks trying to fight hand to hand w elite forces. Thats a whole lot of live fire on a boatdeck. I wonder when/if we will get to see the bodies?
Wich leads to another own goal: The new regime of press censorship. 12 hours later, we here in Norway know nothing of the fate of the 4 norwegians on board. The dead bodies have been whisked away, and no details are coming out despite intense pressure. Wich makes it look premeditated. Theres already been speculations in the press here that this is an act of insubordination from the commandos, in order to make the peacetalks impossible so as to preserve the settlements.
I dont get the Israeli tactics and strategies at all these days, they seem to have become almost willfully violent to spite the peaceprocess.
It's not a "fabulous gift to
It's not a "fabulous gift to Hamas and Iran" - it is something that the people of Gaza and all those who support them around the world need to use to lift this terrible blockade.
In many ways, it can be
In many ways, it can be fruitful to analyze current Israeli actions as a comlex form of insurgency against the concept of the globalized state. The settlers and AQ have a lot in common, except for the killing. They both thrive on the defeats of the forces of "stability", they both oppose their own governments for "higher principles", they both eist in paralel societies and they both see the media as a prime battleground.
General rule: If you're
General rule: If you're going to get beat up by "Peaceful Activists" (the apparent scenario) do it on VIDEO. Good Video! Not the crappy stuff the Israelis are putting out. I watched the Israeli video of their commandos getting "Beaten Up" by the people on the ship and I couldn't tell one from another. Out of focus! Poorly framed! I watched it three times and couldn't tell heads from tails! That's the real scandal.
I am not being facetious. Reality is what's on TV, or on You Tube.
The naval commander should be replaced by a TV producer. A good one.
Ummm, isnt this an open act
Ummm, isnt this an open act of War against Türkey, if it was under turkish flag and in international waters having cleared customs legaly btw? Isnt that kind of tricky? Lawyers? This will at least cement the myth that Israel owns the US in the ME if there is no reaction to this.
(Im sitting hoping that a friend of my mother wich was on the big boat didnt get killed. How the f. did so many get wounded?)
Visitor #3: As any
Visitor #3: As any infantryman will tell you, the action and barrel on the M4 can be replaced with one that fires paint rounds (which hurt like hell and can kill you but are generally non-lethal). Maybe they used these? I dunno. I have never heard of them being used for real-world operations before.12:56 : Yea, all u could see
12:56 : Yea, all u could see clearly was one guy hitting with a ventilation pipe, one guy throwing a white object, and one fight that looked like one of the IDF got a good kicking. The firebomb was stupid and looked fake, Ive seen lots of photos of those before.
And in another shrewd
And in another shrewd political move, the Israeli authorities have decided that no EU countries get any info on the fallen/wounded until tomorrow, so making sure that we all wait for the reports of whos alive and whos dead for another news-cycle. Are they trying to optimalize this thing?
Here's the "good video"
Here's the "good video" someone was requesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWo&feature=
Ex, the difference with your
Ex, the difference with your convoy example and this situation is that on land, there are often many escape routes. At sea, as in this case, there's often only one: the ropes from the helo. There's no side streets or bridges, just a rope or two dangling from a hovering helo. If they really did board and inspect the other five ships without incident (some perhaps in daylight), even if outnumbered, why would they have expected this result on the sixth?
Al Jazeera crew video from
Al Jazeera crew video from the ship.
Thanks for the astute blog.
Thanks for the astute blog. As a member of the Special Operations Community I am astounded by the sheer tactical incompetency demonstrated in this raid. I can't envision any scenario, except maybe some ticking nuclear bomb on a ship of terrorists ala 24 and jack Bauer, where one could even imagine fast roping a couple of squads of shooters onto a ship of 600 people. Seriously....? What was the IDF thinking?.....my Orwellian inclinations tend to make me wonder if Israel somehow thought they might throw their own lambs to slaughter in order to create some good PR of their own and all this just backfired when the soldiers caught wind of the little scheme and refused to get their heads smashed in for a false flag PSYOP. Whether you are pro-Israel or whatever, its pretty hard to defend Israel's actions as anything other than completely stupid and clearly illegal under international law. Your average ROTC could have planned a better op.
The mistake was sending
The mistake was sending ninja's, instead of actual pirates.
Paintball Commandos = FAIL
Of course they were expected.
The change in Israeli tactics may have come as a result of realizing peace process = Arbeit Macht Frei.
And given the last "peace process" offered by a "European Union" can't blame them.
Valediction for a generation: "Reality is what's on Youtube".
And Happy Memorial Day.
Gods. Al Jazeera are heroes,
Gods. Al Jazeera are heroes, even if u hate them. Thats one mighty firewall, they been under constant attack on the comm-front for days now. And still they get the stuff out. Hope they didnt get the neckshot.
As Chris Albon pointed out
As Chris Albon pointed out on Twitter, look at :52 second into the IR video from the IDF. IDF soldier has a pepper gun. Guess they weren't expecting hand to hand combat on deck? If I'm hearing the Al Jazeera video right, the IDF doesn't board until the white flag is flown. Still...
Elf: Some of us still prefer
Elf: Some of us still prefer the distinction between warfighting vs. policeaction as opposed to the ninja vs. pirate dictonomy ;-) Seriously, across the plitical board, this was a screwup beyond recognition. I cant wait to see the forensic reports.
America turned a blind eye
America turned a blind eye during the massacre in Gaza (12/08-01/09) and this may helped to fuel Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's rampage at Ft. Hood. Remember that Hasan's family were Palestinians that were displaced by earlier war with Israel.
Israel's actions tend to cause us large headaches. Are they worth it?
It is simply unbelievable
It is simply unbelievable how naive the Israelis were in planning this operation. Their pre-operational briefing warned of "attempts to throw cigarettes, spitting, cursing, etc." as the only resistance expected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yphfyN0dqi8&feature=player_embedded
They actually believed the flotilla organizers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/10195838.stm
"The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn't get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance."
My comment is that they
My comment is that they over-reacted to a few streetpunks who charged them. Ive been "fighting" the police myself, theres a certain etiquete about deadly violence involved. But w 10 dead and 30-50 wounded, it seems they let loose the snipers or the copter crews? Its just too high a count for me to make it fit. They seem like they are securing it on te vid, xcept a bit of improvised aggro. Its like watching the Genova cops in 2001 (before the 11/9). They crushed a lot of hippies w dreads just to prove apoint, raped em w batons and forced em to sing Mussolini songs.
Sorry, i know people from that convoy, im a bit pissed.
I think you guys are reading
I think you guys are reading this all wrong. This wasn't Israeli brutality. This was Israeli guys going in with NO IDEA what they were in for, thinking that at worst they would be pushed or spat at, falling into the arms of a mob armed with clubs and knives beating the crap out of them, people trying to take away their sidearms, throwing them overboard from one deck to another. This was an operational disaster, but it happened first and foremost because Israel behaved naively and completely failed to plan for a hostile engagement. That lack of planning endangered lives, and Israeli commanders will be held accountable.
I am sorry Fnord, you have
I am sorry Fnord, you have lost me.
I can understand the argument Israel should not have boarded these ships in international water. I can understand the argument that they should not boarded the ships the way that they did (i.e drop a few guys off one at a time from a helicopter).
But the idea that the commandos over reacted to a few streetpunks is pure bull crap of the highest order. I don't know what videos you are seeing, but I am seeing a few commandos get bum rushed and beat on with metal bars once they are down on the ground. The videos I am seeing make it clear that the guys with the metal bars were trying to kill the commandos. All's fair in love and war, but if you beat on a guy with a gun with a steel bar, you should expect what you get. No cop in the world would be convicted for shooting based on the videos I am seeing.
Being commando does not make you able to fight hand to hand against overwhelming odds. Once the commandos were put in the situation that they were put int, they did not have a lot of choice. I think Israel was criminally stupid but I don't have any sympathy for the people who got shot wailing with an iron bar on a guy with gun.
As for shooting from helicopters, its only natural. I would have done the same thing if I drooped a couple of buddies being overwhelmed as soon as they hit the deck. What where the guys in the helicopters supposed do? Watch their buddies get killed?
Its not like the guys in the helicopters had water cannons. When the only tool at hand is a gun, that is what you are going to use.
Having said that, heads should roll for putting the commandos in that position.
4.11: I sincerely hope so. I
4.11: I sincerely hope so. I hope I dont come across like an antisemite for saying that I am wary of very religious people of all kinds? ;-)
4: 20: "The videos I am
4: 20: "The videos I am seeing make it clear that the guys with the metal bars were trying to kill the commandos. All's fair in love and war, but if you beat on a guy with a gun with a steel bar, you should expect what you get. No cop in the world would be convicted for shooting based on the videos I am seeing."
If it was one or two casualties, and 5 wounded, yes. But the numbers indicate a hosing. U dont get 30 injured and 10 killed in that kind of maneuver unless u screw up big time. seriously. Backup temas? Alternative routes? Theres also the wuestion if they used covering fire in the approach. We dont get to see that part.
The screwed up, anyways. Europe is shocked.
Abu Muqawama, I appreciate
Abu Muqawama,
I appreciate many of your comments, especially regarding what the base assumptions SHOULD have been. On the other hand, it's so obvious when you're not in the middle of it, hours later. This is the reality that is now. Think of this as an exercise. How does Israel - or any combat unit that finds itself in a similar situation - extract itself, from an information warfare perspective? Rallying supporters and getting the video footage of the attack on the soldiers out is one thing, but it's playing defense. Is there any effective messaging that can regain lost ground?
It seems to me there is no way to turn. If Israel apologizes, it demonstrates weakness that will only encourage flotilla #2 to run the blockade. If Israel goes on the offense, it is seen as a bully. A strange dichotomy - both weakness and brutality are attributed to it. It may rally supporters, but will not be likely to regain control of the message, without some game-changing piece of video/information.
Has anyone though a situation like this through, successfully, ever?
4.41 Yup. You just tangle
4.41 Yup. You just tangle the propeller using placed wire by divers (and minisubs if u want!). Selfcontraction, just time it to scrape the hull and tangle.
Fnord, Are pirates warriors
Fnord,
Are pirates warriors or policemen?
Ponder this question through your memorial day G&T's.
I go with both, but as a pirate I don't have to follow rules. Just a code, and it's really more sort of a guideline...
This was lose/lose, especially going in light on men with nerf guns. WTF were they thinking?
I'd be interested into where they seized it...was it truly international waters, or in a space they control by terms of Oslo or agreement with PA?
There will be another "peace" flotilla, the next one needs to be met by an armada. Overwhelming force tends to disarm.
Happy Memorial Day. Remember the fallen.
Fnord, I agree with you. I
Fnord, I agree with you. I think sabotaging the boats was an idea with lowest risk to all involved. The Israelis opted for a show of force, which would have worked had they planned for the operation properly, and employed crowd control measures prior to descending on the boat like they were going for a picnic. What's done is done.
Stratfor has a piece out, comparing the information warfare message of this flotilla with the Exodus ship the early Zionist leadership used to such great effect against the British. They seem to suggest the only way out of this for the Israelis is by labeling the flotilla as organized by extremists, which necessitated the use of deadly force, and running hard with that narrative. The videos help a lot, but I'm not impartial, and how many people will see those videos? Furthermore, there were 600 people on one of the ships. Claiming that they were all extremists is difficult, and these people who were below deck the entire time will offer cover to the real extremists who went out with clubs and knives to challenge Israeli soldiers and get a violent response.
I'm just saying, from a purely intellectual point of view, is there an "out" in such propaganda war situations?
Elf: The term "pirate"
Elf: The term "pirate" implies plundering, no? In this instance, I think "blockade runner" is the correct term, its from the 30s. Its a hounourable tradition, see the Spanish Civil War.
But seriously, that they dont release data on the captives from all over EU is just stupid policia. Mexican cops in israeli uniforms.
5.14: In Europe, on that
5.14: In Europe, on that video we just see a lot of Isreis using deadly force against a few stupid enthusiasts. In the suburbs of Lille and Nantes, not to mention Greece and Thessaloniki, or Istanbul, thats an expected level of resistance. And they killed em all stone dead, isntead of deployng plan B. And that was a huge loss for Israel, Norwegian authors came out in protest today. Friends of my family on that boat. Just weird, the choices they made.
Hey, everybody, think twice:
Hey, everybody, think twice: the Israelis have discovered fireworks. And slingshots. And rocks. (Which you can't get in Gaza.) Had the Israelis not raided that ship, the Palestinians might have marched on Tel Aviv! http://ht.ly/1Sc8s5.14: "Some actions are
5.14:
"Some actions
are beyond remorse
to taper with"
Fnord, I've noticed that in
Fnord,
I've noticed that in Europe law enforcement is expected to take a much higher level of abuse before responding with force. If someone raised a club or knife to a American cop's head, he'd be shot, no question about it. So, watching a bunch of people really whacking away at soldiers holding paintball guns... the use of force doesn't sound unreasonable to me at all. I think if 100% of Americans watched this video, 80% would agree that deadly force was authorized. It's not that way in Europe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LulDJh4fWI&feature=player_embedded
I understand you had friends of family on that boat. I appreciate your perspective.
Here's the link to that stratfor article:
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100531_flotillas_and_wars_public_opinion
Europeans are not always
Europeans are not always that restrained. Does the name Rainbow Warrior ring a bell?
There you go again..... Get
There you go again.....
Get you mind right..........only goof I see was Israel boarding in international waters.
The "peace flotilla" was running a known and estabilished blockade. The flotilla was warned and re-warned.
So what is the responsibility of the people on the flotilla ? If it was only peaceful, then why did they try to beat the crap out of the Israel soldiers that boarded a ship that had intentions of running a known blockade and had been warned................
Maybe the rockets being launched from Gaza should be stopped so the normal flow of the people's needs can happen.......maybe that would be too easy.
Don't get me wrong.....I am not siding with Israel. I am not a chosen one. Just devils advocate. Both sides are being stupid.
The IDF should have
The IDF should have subcontracted the job to North Korea.
Absolutely no sympathy for these fools.
A peaceful flotilla should adopt non violent resistence and act accordingly.These campaigners are apologists for a filthy regime of thugs and wanted little more than to act out their desire for aggression towards jews.
15 soldiers who boarded the
15 soldiers who boarded the ship one by one were disarmed, beaten half to death, and had their private pistols stolen.
They were practically captives of the extremist bunch, and by that time, the IDF had no choice but raid the ship with live ammo.
Notice this event only happened on 1 ship, out of almost 10 in the entire flotilla.
Israel obviously had poor intelligence on the Turkish ship and IHH members.
What can be done now? Even proving the soldiers were brutally attacked won't appease public opinion.
Is it true that all the
Is it true that all the violent extremists who ambushed Israeli forces are Turkish? That would be a stunning revelation on a ship with 600 internationals from 50 countries. I hope someone in Israel understands the value in debriefing and positively identifying these individuals, along with their backgrounds. It would be interesting if they are linked to Turkish military or security agencies.
Hey, I heard they were
Hey, I heard they were carrying a nuclear weapon on board the aid ship Rachel Corrie - an Irish nuclear weapon, at that - but the bomb sank into the Mediterranean and will likely never be found. That's the latest word from the Israeli foreign office, anyhow... so be happy, got it?
P.S. Here's some
P.S. Here's some pre-conflict, pre-spin reports on the Israeli Gaza aid blockade issue:
www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0519/1224270655541.html
"Mr Gilon condemned the latest attempt to bypass Israel’s blockade on Gaza as “a provocation and a breach of Israeli law”. Activists aboard the 1,200-ton cargo ship Rachel Corrie, named after an American who was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, have vowed to defy the Israeli blockade.
"The vessel set sail from Dundalk at the weekend, and will be joined by three ships from Turkey and five from Greece, co-ordinated by the Free Gaza Movement, when it arrives in Cyprus."
www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/boycotting-the-boycotters-1.290573
Even an obvious, logical step - like the Palestinian Authority's boycott of products made in the settlements - is viewed by hypocritical Israeli eyes as provocative. Moreover, while the international boycott against apartheid South Africa is credited with leading to the regime's downfall, here it is considered irrelevant and unworthy of comparison.
It would be possible to identify with these intolerant reactions were it not for the fact that Israel itself is one of the world's prolific boycotters. Not only does it boycott, it preaches to others, at times even forces others, to follow in tow. Israel has imposed a cultural, academic, political, economic and military boycott on the territories...
As far as what happened specifically? Don't even bother with the flurry of squid ink put out by the spinmeisters at this point, on any side. That'll have to wait for credible reports from people who are currently in Israeli custody and banned from speaking to the press.
Technically, the Israeli
Technically, the Israeli action constitutes a breach of the NATO treaty, under articles 5 and 6. It would be interesting if the Turkish government invoked the collective right of self-defense from its NATO allies. The Marmaris Mavi was not just a Turkish flagged ship, it is a ship owned by the government, even if on rent for the flotilla. Complicated.
Also, it appears that Israel had a list of the "dangerous" elements on board the ships that it gave to the commandos involved in the attack. The document was taken from one of the commandos and shown on Turkish television during the attack. In other words, the Israelis knew who were the live wires on the fleet.
What gets more worrying is that the attack on a Turkish naval base in Iskanderun, leaving 5 officers dead, on the same night is now being linked by the Turkish deputy PM and the media to Israel.
This could get very ugly.
For a country with vaulted
For a country with vaulted SOF and Intel operators such as Israel to allow this to go down like it did makes me shake my head. This was amateur hour.
Did they really expect to fast rope commando down and be welcomed with open arms.
Now I work for a media company that currently has two if its staff held in a Israeli detention center, when they get back to Sydney I will trust what they say far more then either the IDF spokesman or whatever propaganda the flotilla organizers throw out.
In terms of what went down, if you hit a cop expect to get hit back, if you whack a SOF operator armed to the teeth with a metal bar do you really expect to remain unhurt.
As to what AM has said about base assumptions is what gets me mad, the Israelis should have known the outcome, they should have expected what they got. Free press for the flotilla, bad press for them and a lot of questions about their professionalism. They had to know that there were journos on board, and I don't mean the rabid pro what ever side you barrack for type I mean pro like Paul McGeogh who tell it like it is , good or bad, and I know what story Paul's bringing back to Sydney.
Who let the Hasbara troll at
Who let the Hasbara troll at the end wreck the best comment thread I have ever encountered in a decade of study of this conflict... shame on you Hasbara troll, Cohen.. everyone else, thanks for an excellent discussion.
I've just seen a report
I've just seen a report stating that the Turkish Navy intends to escort aid ships to Gaza. That would up the ante. Wonder what Bibi will do next?
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/05/31/turkey-promises-to-send-s...
"Close-Up Footage of Mavi
"Close-Up Footage of Mavi Marmara Passengers Attacking IDF Soldiers"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWo
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