re: #70 maddogg

Chobham armor.

Unfortunately although the coalition lost no tanks during the Iraq War 2003, the new Russian ATM is very succesful against the Merkava as demonstrated in the 2006 Lebanon war. 49 Tanks in fact. This was 1/6th of the entire armour sent acroos the border. Also despite Israeli Claims NO tanks have been lost in Gaza, unfortunately videos posted by Hamas DO in fact show the opposite. The tanks themselves actually are hampered in streets and are really designed for old style ‘national’ warfare. The first Merkava to be destroyed in Gaza was before the withdrawal by members of the Saladin Brigade in an ambush that tooks months to plan. A 30kilo IED held up a convoy and when the Merkava turned up for rescue it was wiped by a 120kilo charge. The second was destroyed near the Rafah crossing by members of the Al Quds Brigade using an RPG on the back door weak point. You can check the latest Hamas videos showing tanks in Gaza as we speak being ambushed and knocked out on You Tube. Luckily Hamas does not possess the latest Russian gear unlike Hizballah or Israel would be losing a hell of a lot more. The IDF soldiers are an entirely different matter and if the politicians zippy liverless etc gave distinct orders (such as Maggie Thatchers famous ‘Get the Islands Back’) the IDF would do far better. Like the hunt for Saddam Hussein and the ‘DEck of Cards’ the IDF should just aim for capturing or killing the leadership and then holding them hostage for Gilead Shalit and then copying Nasrallah send those leaders back in body-bags ‘after’ the exchange.