I'll let you decide...

Here are some excerpts from a diary of one of the present middle eastern combatants.

Do you think the diarist is an Israeli or a member of Hezbollah?

I'll let you decide...

"X walks into the room, still in his jeans. He's been called to come ASAP. What's happening? He asks me. I update him, and we brief for our mission quickly. He is concerned about making mistakes, and bombing the wrong targets. He is experienced, and has been around long enough to see mistakes happen and innocent civilians killed. A friend of his... once mistook a letter in a target's name, and ended up shooting at the wrong target, killing a whole family. X does not want the same thing to happen to us. He emphasizes that there is no rush, that we must check and recheck every coordinate we receive, make sure we understand EXACTLY what we are supposed to target.

m o r e ...

It's strange how the focus in these missions is not to succeed, hit the target precisely, but rather - not to make any mistakes. The message is clear. Hitting the target is expected, no misses are acceptable. There aren't any congratulations for a well-performed mission. Only a hammer on the head if something goes wrong.