re: #413 lawhawk

Ignoring James Baker of course. Or that Nixon and Kissinger limited Israel’s advances after holding off the initial onslaught in the Yom Kippur War. Or LBJ likewise limited Israel’s advances to avoid capturing Damascus and Cairo.

The latter two were politically motivated as a result of the Cold War, but had Israel captured the capitals of those two countries in either 1967 or 1973, the Middle East would look radically different and quite possibly have resulted in a more stable region as those countries would not have fomented violence against Israel thereafter. Egypt and Syrian defeats would have been complete and not explained away or ignored.

Maybe. Or perhaps it would have lead to Soviet intervention on behalf of the Arab nations, which would have been disastrous. There’s a lot to criticize LBJ and RMN (Richard Milhouse Nixon) over, but I think they have to be allowed their judgement regarding the Six Day and Yom Kippur Wars.