More quotes for our time:

...the preparation now seems to be less for a ground invasion than for more punishing airstrikes to try to eliminate Hezbollah military assets and stockpiles, which the Israelis say are distributed and hidden through the civilian population, in houses, garages and apartments.

"We want the freedom to attack these places," [a "senior Israeli commander"] said. "I believe in air power. I believe in our ability to destroy Hezbollah without going into Lebanon again the way we did in 1982."

New York Times report, July 23

In fact, the Maginot Line, the chain of fortifications on France's border with Germany, was indicative neither of despair about defeating Germany nor of thought mired in the past. It was instead evidence of faith that technology could substitute for manpower. It was a forerunner of the strategic bomber, the guided missile, and the "smart bomb".

Ernest R. May, Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France, published 2000