The first friend I talked to about the Baalbek raid was very angry do to the make up of the troops that were sent. You see he is part of the unit that he felt should have been given the task.

I just hung up the phone from an other friend, who is no less qualified and he was totally singing the praises of the raid and said if anyone is complaining it is because of ego.

This friend makes the following points about the raid that were relayed during our phone call.

1. The IDF went in clean and came out clean no dead and no wounded.
2. It was a great intelligence catch as the hospital was a Hizballah operational center. The IDF brought back computers that were used by Hizballah. Who know what intelligence we can get out of these computers?
3. It was a great PR move, it proves we can hit Hizballah every where we want to.

This friend is not religious and does not live any in Judea and Samaria (west bank) and he is very angry with Olmert for bringing up further retreat from these areas when most of the soldiers fighting come from these areas. He asked "How can you ask a man to risk his life for a country that is going to throw his family into the street while he is in combat"