160 IDF infantry soldiers accuse their commanders
We are still only 36 days after the start of the 33-day war, and already a group of some 160 IDF infantry soldiers have decided they wanted to join a "demonstration that would call on the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz." However, that piece by Nir Hasson in Friday's HaAretz noted, "their release was put off until Friday, preventing them from reaching the protest."
Hasson reported these comments from angry soldiers:
- "I've been in the army and reserves for 26 years and what happened this time was not merely a fiasco, it was a complete debacle. We felt like tin soldiers in a game of Olmert and Peretz's assistants and spin masters," said Avi, a soldier in the brigade...
"They sent us into a village they knew 15 Hezbollah fighters were holed up in at mid-day, we were like sitting ducks, it was total insanity. Two of our comrades were killed because of that. We are being used as though we were in the Chinese army, where it doesn't matter how many are killed," he said.
- A few dozen demonstrators arrived at Rabin Square Thursday to take part in the protest that had been organized on Internet sites.
They called for Olmert's resignation and blasted halting the war before its goals were achieved.
Ariella Miller, one of the protest's initiators, said she was not acting on behalf of any political body. "We are family people who used the Internet to form a group. When we went to war they promised us to bring back the soldiers and restore Israel's deterrent force."
Kudos to those soldiers. The IDF needs more people like them.
One thing I've been wondering, though. Is Olmert really unpopular enough to be ousted if an election were held right now. If so, then who would be Israel's new prime minister? In particular, what person could Israeli peace activists rally behind for prime minister; someone who could resolve the situation with the Palestinians and allow for a viable Palestinian sovereign state to form, and who could normalize relations with the neighboring states? Last year I thought Amir Peretz was going to be that man. But his work as Defence Minister has completely discredited him, to say the least....Who else then?
Lone Soldier: War
Posted by LONE SOLDIER |
"After being called to emergency reserve duty two weeks ago and much indecision on the part of the officers of how we would be utilized in the raging conflict, my unit was assigned a complicated mission. We were to penetrate some ten kilometers into Lebanon and root out and engage Hezbollah guerrillas that were concentrated in bunkers on a mountain slope facing northern Israel. Intelligence and aerial photographs described a site that was heavily fortified and defended by several cells of well-trained and equipped jihadists. Despite a sustained aerial bombardment by the air force, Katyusha rockets continued to be launched from the area into Haifa, Nahariya, Tzfat. The decision was made that the launchers could only be destroyed and the guerrillas eliminated by ground troops."
http://blogcentral.jpost.com/newsItems/viewFullItem$1183
I wouldn't be so quick to write off Peretz. He was put into a job he couldn't do, and let himself get led. His postwar statements about negotiation with Syria show the right instinct - after the shooting stops, start talking.
Jonathan - If Peretz is the kind of guy who takes a job he can't do, and lets himself get led, why shouldn't he be written off?
If you wrote off every cabinet minister who's been guilty of that sin at some point during his career, who'd be left? Also, Peretz has been known to actually learn from mistakes.
IDF wants to feel better! Have a little vacation in Gaza. Shooting those kids much better than those hizbo fanatics. Less stressful.