The US policy was deeply shaped by the Japanese death cult.
Since the Japanese enemy fought with no regard for their lives, we felt compelled to killing them in ways and in numbers which would not give them a chance to use their lives as weapons.
The death cult syndrome is not an action with no reaction.
The ones upon whom the death war is waged will respond.
Since this is asymmetrical warfare, the Palestinians need to really think about this soon.
If they are going to go back to a campaign of suicide bombings, they had best get used to the idea that Janin was an example, in reality of VERY restrained warfare.
They should instead think of Dresden.
If they kid themselves into thinking the Israelis are acting like the Nazi Germans did, they should get some VHS from the Discovery Channel and see what shape the Warsaw Ghetto was in after the much smaller, military-target only Jewish uprising.
The biggest failure of Israeli strategy, in this current phase, is their inability to control the agenda.
Instead they seem intent on highjacking the American agenda.
That is too bad.
Ed