Page "Martin van Creveld" Paragraph 15

They soldiers are very brave people ... they are idealists ... they want to serve their country and they want to prove themselves.

The problem is that you cannot prove yourself against someone who is much weaker than yourself.

They are in a lose-lose situation.

If you are strong and fighting the weak, then if you kill your opponent then you are a scoundrel ... if you let him kill you, then you are an idiot.

So here is a dilemma which others have suffered before us, and for which as far as I can see there is simply no escape.

Now the Israeli army has not by any means been the worst of the lot.

It has not done what for instance the Americans did in Vietnam ... it did not use napalm, it did not kill millions of people.

So everything is relative, but by definition, to return to what I said earlier, if you are strong and you are fighting the weak, then anything you do is criminal.