Olmert needs to resign. The time for diplomacy ended in 1948, and only the terminally stupid should be talking about it today. Too many innocent Israelis are going to die/have died because of Olmert's disporportionate need for international approval. All the "international community" is going to approve of with regards to Israel is if all the Jews line up in an orderly fashion for the ovens.
I agree, This war is a sham.
Olmert is a stooge.
I do feel bad for those poor IDF guys though...
Huh? Judging by this news and what I've seen he should be given a raise and bonus.
I actually have the exact opposite opinion. Judge by his actions rather than his words. While his speeches are all "diplomacy" this and "UN peacekeeper" that, the actual boots on the ground are making the exact kind of forceful military strides that Israel has needed to do for decades.
I think this Olmert guy is absolutely brilliant. I think he's playing the UN and Israel's own Left like a fiddle. He's learned a great deal from the way Arafat and the other Arab ringleaders have handled the UN - by making sure to keep the UN mired in talking (what it loves to do best) and not letting the UN's empty words get in the way of getting the job done.
There is no way on Earth that there will ever exist a cease-fire plan that simultaneously pleases Israel, Lebanon, and Hezbollah. This becomes especially true when it's not these parties specifically that are in the process of drafting a plan, but rather when it's the US, France, Germany, etc., who have taken it upon themselves to argue about what the embattled parties *really* want, and how best they can achieve it without fighting.
Well, those parties can pretty much keep arguing forever. Olmert recognizes this, and intends to let the UN offer proposal after proposal, constantly thinking it's getting closer to a solution. He won't necessarily outright reject every single proposal the UN offers; either Lebanon or Hezbollah will reject a huge number of them, or he'll demonstrate that any given UN proposal is unworkable and tell them to go back to the drawing board, or both.
The way I see it, Olmert is a smart, smart man.
"Olmert needs to resign. The time for diplomacy ended in 1948, and only the terminally stupid should be talking about it today. Too many innocent Israelis are going to die/have died because of Olmert's disporportionate need for international approval. All the "international community" is going to approve of with regards to Israel is if all the Jews line up in an orderly fashion for the ovens."
He may need to resign but not because of the reason you mentioned. He did the right thing and went to war, but his lack of experience being a lawyer with no military experience and his primary general being an air force guy.
You can't bomb away Hezbollah you need to go in with ground troops. This cost Israel lives and hundreds of millions dollars worth of damage from ever increasing rocket attacks.
He was too caring about the Lebanese which is part of his culture to care for other humans. Now normally this is a nice way to think but in general it doesn't win wars. We all hated dropping the bomb on the Japanese but it saved more lives then destroyed them by ending the war.
Lot's of civilians die when war breaks out Olmert must ignore what the world thinks because - lets face it - Israel is hated no matter what road they choose and in fact it will save lives winning the war. As with the Japanese, appeasement and negotiation without a full surrender would have failed.
Remember, it's the leaders of Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the UN that hold the responsibility for starting/enabling this war, not Olmert. It was Israeli leaders before him who tried appeasement with murderers that led up to this boiling point. We in the USA waffle on the issue of killing all the bad guys to appeasement. Europe is all about appeasment and what did they get when dealing with Iran? The middle finger and an Iran that has or will soon have nukes that someday will be used on the civilized world.
Well-said, and true on all counts.
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For the good of Israel and for the world...
Olmert needs to resign.
I was listening to ROger Hitchcock earlier and he said something about the Israeli military had a preemption strike planned which would have taken out Hezbo leadership before they went to ground.
But Olmert ruled against it.
He has to go. We need Bibi in there.
I don't know enough about the man but I do know there is a lot of second guessing right about now.
I suppose it was his fault that their ship was hit in the early days too. He told the Captain not to use the radar?? His fault that they didn't know the hezzies had a missile from Iran?
All this second guessing is bad for morale and sounds a lot like the bull that is happening here in with regard to our prosecution of Iraq war.
Hindsight is just wonderful, but it hurts the troops to bash the CinC
B.B. Netanyahu needs to run again next time there's an election. Israel needs him now more than ever.