(ConservativeInsider.org) – David Petraeus, a retired general from the United States Army and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), spoke words of caution to Israel over their ongoing conflict with Palestine.
Petraeus pointed out that when the United States invaded Iraq and Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States military didn’t have a “phase four” plan, or in other words, a plan for after the conflict ended. The retired general said he believes Israeli military officials are aware of the failures of Iraq invasion and are hopefully trying to avoid a similar outcome while urging the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to “plan ahead.”
Petraeus, who recently released a book called “Conflict” about the evolution of warfare from World War II to present day, said that the surprise attack on Israel was “far worse than 9/11” because a greater proportion of Israel’s much smaller population were killed. He said if an equivalent attack happened in the United States, over 40,000 people would have died. The former CIA director was unsure how both Israeli and American intelligence failed to foresee the attack but suggested that Hamas has “dramatically improv[ed]” their operational security.
In an interview with CBS News, Gen. Petraeus noted that Gaza City has a similar size to Mosul, Iraq, one of the ISIS strongholds that the U.S. had to take down. He said that Israel will face challenges much like the U.S. faced when capturing Mosul, which took approximately nine months to accomplish. Petraeus hypothesized that Hamas has or will set booby traps all over Gaza in preparation for Israel’s likely ground invasion.
Reiterating the failures of the United States in the invasion of Iraq, Gen. Petraeus suggested that Prime Minister Netanyahu not just speak about his plans for dealing with Hamas, but also speak about his plans for the future of Gaza and the innocent civilians in Palestine. He hopes that Israel can learn from the “cautionary tale” of how the United States responded to 9/11.
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