Dying for Spin
The question is similar to John Kerry's about the war in Vietnam "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" I personally think the entire war was a spin move, a mistake, but I think however you viewed the war as a whole the way it ended was a pointless waste of life, both Israeli and Lebanese. And that innocents will continue to die and to be maimed by bomblets left by the cluster bombs is criminal. I have to hand it to Moshe Ya'alon he pulls no punches, he thinks they all should resign. I'd like to hear some voices describing our misadventure in Iraq in similar terms. It looks like internal Israeli politics will be boiling for some time. Former IDF chief: Soldiers were sacrificed for spin - Haaretz - Israel News
Former chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon believes the prime minister and chief of staff should resign, and the defense minister should be replaced for mismanaging the war in Lebanon.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Haaretz which will be published in Friday's Magazine, Ya'alon condemned the decision to launch the ground operation at the end of the war, in which 33 soldiers died.
"That was a spin move," Ya'alon said. "It had no substantive security-political goal, only a spin goal. It was meant to supply the missing victory picture. You don't do that. You don't send soldiers to carry out a futile mission after the political outcome has already been set. . .
Comments
I enjoy this blog a lot but I don't understand the huge Israeli coverage. If the US were not so messed up, perhaps we could start pointing to our allies more but...right now, I feel like it is the pot calling the kettle black. I'm not saying the kettle isn't black but it's really hard to talk about how f@cked up their administration is when I'm not even sure we're going to get our own losers out of office in the next election - even though they are a nightmare.
If it is looking at how the Middle East is completely screwed up (and we're not just talking about Israel here, are we?), I think we should also talk about how Bush went into office saying he wasn't going to continue Middle East peace negotiations. If it is that Israel is the source of all the problems in the Middle East, I think the fundamentalism there will continue to be a problem - whether or not Israel exists.
Obviously, this is your blog and you should focus on whatever interests you, I just don't think I've ever seen a post to explain why your huge personal interest in Israel so the intense level of focus is a little puzzling.
You're right it has been excessive. Ever since the day that I posted the article by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt on The Israel Lobby I've received more hate mail than I have on any topic I've ever posted on this blog. Threats, warnings, and a lot of general nastiness has been directed at me. I suppose I was just trying to make the point that I wouldn't be intimidated. You'll probably see less on the topic in the future unless I get another bee in my bonnet. I do think the topic is important, and believe our foreign policy sometimes works at odds with our own interests due to what I consider an unhealthy relationship with the state of Israel. We were once a considered a fair broker of peace in the region, but no longer. The president seems to think that Israel's and our interests are identical. Our unquestioning support is at the root of the problem and so it is an important topic. I was directed to this particular article by our friend from Israel Jonathan who thought I would find it of interest.
Ohhhh...this explains it. If people hassled me, I'd probably do exactly the same thing - not least, to bug 'em.
Yes, I agree the President's take on Israel is wrong - unlike his take on um....well, he did read some Shakespeares.
Anyway - great blog with many unexpected posts that are always interesting.
I agree that Israels seems to be much better at self-inspection than the U.S. So are the Europeans. So is every civilized county. About the only people I can think of right now who do less self-inspection than us is Hezbollah.
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