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I note that in a draft of a forthcoming report by the world-renowned Center for Strategic and International Studies, based on extensive interviews with senior Israeli military officials, that the assault on Gaza had been planned months in advance with lessons learned from the 2006 July war in mind. "Senior Israeli officers and officials made it clear that Israel coupled these months of war planning ... with deliberate efforts to ensure it could achieve both surprise and deception," said the report, entitled "The Gaza War: A Strategic Analysis."
The war was partly an effort to restore Israel's military prestige after it was tarnished by a poor performance against Hizbullah in 2006, the report claims. "Gaza and Hamas was only one objective of the war. Rebuilding deterrence was an equal objective," it says, quoting an Israeli official who said the Jewish state had to make its enemies feel it was "crazy."
In recent times a number of people have lauded this concept of acting in 'crazy' whilst siting game theory studies which show this to be an effective stategy when dealing with hostile other parties.
The flaw in this approach is that in the process of convincing your opponent you're 'crazy' you may well also convince your friends and non committed bystanders you're 'crazy' and lead them to taking actions against your best interests in order to protect themselves from the 'Crazy'.
