Yeah.
1. Ehud Olmert. If you don't know why it's probably not worth explaining. Plus he's Jerry Falwell's best friend until he has to choose between converting to Christianity and burning in hell for all eternity.
2. I hate to say it. John Murtha. Congressman, the last time YOU considered impeachment as just one more way to deal with a recalcitrant President was 1974. Give me a break. It's not, as you said to NPR, "one of the things that we always consider", but it is now, in large part because you decided to say the word. Thanks for the props, the blogosphere has been ahead of you for like, oh, three or four years at least, but please don't think you're fooling anybody that impeachment is just one more card you always have in your hand. It's the joker you are sneaking in the deck. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Backgrounder on the Olmert thing: it's not just about Olmert. An official committee headed by an Israeli Supereme Court justice (Vinograd) has denounced as incompetent everyone who had anything to do with the war in Lebanon last summer (that would be Lebanon War II. The war in 1978 was merely the Litani Operation, not a full-scale war. And the 1948 deal was only part of a bigger war, so didn't get a name of its own. Israel only counts 1982 and 2006 as wars).
ReplyDeleteIncompetence engulfed the entire Israeli cabinet, the generals who lied to it, the "homeland security" folks who had zero preparedness for the civilians inside Israel, and the vicious idiots who decided to ravage the infrastructure of Lebanon and Gaza by way of making their nefarious point.
The last three days of the war, when Israel put together a ground offensive, ravaging fleeing villagers (including friends of mine, whose convoy was bombed despite having had their movements coordinated with the Israelis) and killed and displaced many more civilians as well a few dozen more of its own soldiers, were specifically denounced. This is because the ground offensive was conceived and executed AFTER the cease fire was negotiated. It was pure bullying, for no gain whatsoever.
The only people in Israel's leadership who were not denounced are the president (who's awaiting indictment for rape of two of his staff members and had nothing to do with the war) and the chief rabbis. I don't *think* they've been indicted for anything - at least not lately. One of the two was part of a terrorist plot in the 1950s, though. An anti-Israel terrorist plot.
That country is a MESS.
As Shunra said, it's not just Olmert. The report slammed the entire troika - prime minister, minister of defense, and chief of staff - and much of the IDF. Vinograd, however, is a retired Supreme Court Justice, not an active one.
ReplyDeleteBasically, what happened during the war is that the silent military putsch we've been living with since 2001 suddenly became audible.
And, oh - most Israelis want Olmert's head on a pike. His approval ratings are within the margin of error. But - they don't blame him for going to war, they blame him for mismanaging it. And so there's a hell of a chance for another round. Pretty soon, too: this is the season. As Shunra knows, my money is on June 5th. Traditional.
3. George Tenent. Mr. Big-Time Poopy Head.
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