Retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus said in an interview last week that an Israeli ground invasion in Gaza could be long and bloody, and compared it to U.S. forces in Iraq.

Petraeus, who was interviewed by “60 Minutes,” noted how U.S. forces swiftly took control of Baghdad but faced mounting losses as they squared off with ISIS fighters in Mosul, which is in the northern region of Iraq.

“ISIS is a good analogy here for what Hamas has done,” he said. “It took nine months to clear that.”

He said Israel seemed ready to order the ground invasion but Israeli officials are wondering what the cost will be. 

Petraeus also asked, “Then what?”

President Joe Biden warned Israel against trying to reoccupy Gaza, which he said would be a big mistake. But Petraeus said if Israel does not reoccupy, “Hamas will reconstitute, and they know that, and so you’re going to go to enormous loss, casualties, the Israeli civilians, of course, Hamas fighters, terrorists, and then you’re just going to leave?”

The Financial Times noted that the fight for Mosul in 2016 took longer than originally planned and resulted in 10,000 civilians dead “and killed more coalition soldiers than expected.”

Ben Zvi, the Israeli ambassador to Moscow, said the decision for a ground invasion has been made, according to RT, the Russian news outlet. Israel’s top priority is to destroy Hamas and rescue hostages taken during the Hamas attack earlier this month.

“We shall do all efforts to bring our hostages alive,” he said, according to the outlet. He said it remains Israel’s “first and last priority, even if it takes a year.”

TRENDPOST: President Joe Biden said during a presidential address Thursday that he has agreed to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wage his war and “achieve the war aims.” It is the White House’s hope that the Israeli aid can be wrapped into one $106 billion package for Ukraine and Israel. (See “MORE WAR, NO PEACE: U.S. ANNOUNCES $200 MILLION MORE TO KEEP UP THE BLOODSHED IN UKRAINE” 17 Oct 2023 and “U.S. CAN SUPPORT ISRAEL, UKRAINE AT SAME TIME, SAYS U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY” 17 Oct 2023.)

Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, said the campaign will have three phases and the goal is to establish a “new security reality,” according to Al Jazeera.

Phase 1: Destruction of infrastructure.

Phase 2: Low-intensity engagement to wipe out small pockets of fighters.

Phase 3: “The removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel.”

Military analysts say any ground campaign in Gaza will be bloody for the Israeli side because Hamas fighters are likely dug in and Israeli forces will likely face a plethora of dangers, from boobytraps and fighters dressed as civilians. 

There have been questions if Israel would commit to sending its forces on the ground but Gallant told his troops earlier this week: “You see Gaza now from a distance. You will soon see it from inside. The command will come.”

So far, about 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the start of the war, and 3,800 Palestinians.

TRENDPOST: Petraeus is a failed U.S. warmonger who led the 2009, Afghan troop surge that sent 33,000 U.S. troops to escalate the failed Afghan War that current Joe Biden ended in disaster.

From leaving the U.S. military as a loser who is championed by the Presstitute media, he went on to get a job with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, KKR), one of the world’s largest private equity cartels. Once again, the mainstream news media calls from their bullpen of establishment players who have memorized Washington’s propaganda. 

Petraeus oversaw the so-called U.S. “surge” in Iraq, and despite his battlefield and personal failing, he “somehow remains a bellwether for conventional thinking about America’s wars,” The Nation reported in 2019. (See “WAR LOSER GENERAL PETRAEUS APPLAUDS U.S. ARMY COMMAND TO TRAIN UKRAINE TROOPS,” 4 Oct 2022.)

The magazine noted that the retired general admitted that the U.S. “never had an exit strategy” in Iraq, but he said what they did have was a “strategy to allow us to continue to achieve our objectives…with the reduced expenditure in blood and treasure.”

That kind of confusing logic plays well in Washington, and got Petraeus a job at KKR, the investment company. 

Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector, is not invited on “60 Minutes” because he does not share a worldview that is tolerable by the mainstream media whores. Like Petraeus, he sees an Israeli ground invasion fraught with danger. 

“The Israeli Army is not very good,” he told the podcast Redacted, before noting that it did have some very capable units.

“Most of these reservists spent their time walking the streets in the West Bank learning how to break the arms of 10-year-old children, how to rough up 15-year-old girls, how to belly shoot 60-year-old men,” he said. “That’s what they did. Brutal occupation. It was horribly demoralizing for many of these people, they didn’t like doing this, and when they left the military, they didn’t have a high regard for the military.”

He said most have no interest in fighting in Gaza because in 2014 “they went into Gaza and Hamas handed it to them. In 2006, they went up against Hezbollah, and Hezbollah handed it to them. The Israeli Army just isn’t that good, and they’re scared to death because Hamas is waiting for them. This is one giant ambush, and the Israeli intelligence is blind. They don’t know where they are. They’re going to have to go in there and probe, and as they probe, they’re going to be blown up, ambushed, slaughtered. And they know this. The other thing that scares them is that once they go into Gaza, they’re going to be committed to that battle with the bulk of their reserves. And if at that time, Hezbollah decides to open up a northern front, Israel’s got nothing left, and even if they had something left, they can’t beat Hezbollah.”