A General Assessment of Generals

September 20, 2006 - 3:12 PM by

Over the past week, there have been no fewer than five in-depth interviews in the Israeli press of generals, past and present, on the way the war in Lebanon was waged. Bert at Dutchblog Israel offers some background and opinion on how to look at these interviews with a properly critical eye:

In the generals’ war, enormous egos, personal accounts and old sores play as much a role as professional insights and genuine concern for the army and for the state that that army protects.

Moshe Ya’alon, the predecessor of the current Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, still has not forgiven Halutz, Ariel Sharon and his own predecessor, then Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, for the fact that he basically was replaced ( his appointment was not automatically extended, which is highly unusual ) during the build-up to the disengagement from Gaza. Even while in uniform he used every opportunity to tell the world how wrong the disengagement was, using the word ‘spin’ at several opportunities. The same word reoccurs in his attacks on Halutz, current Defense Minister Amir Peretz and PM Olmert. If I am not mistaken he is considering to join Likud, hoping to become Bibi’s candidate for the Defense Ministry. One should not forget, as the former head of Military Intelligence Uri Saguy said, that Ya’alon also bears responsibility for some of the flaws that already have been ‘uncovered’ in the army’s tactics, preparations etc. After all, those flaws often originate from decisions that were made or already being implemented when Ya’alon was Chief of Staff or Deputy-Chief of Staff.

The criticism of generals who left the army service years ago often is less driven by personal motives and therefore should be taken even more seriously. The Israeli public should know about the failures made by generals and politicians during this war, but the main aim should not be waging private wars and settling political and personal scores but making sure that mistakes are corrected and not repeated, so that in the next confrontations with our enemies we will be better prepared and motivated.

Tags: • Category: A New Reality 

Comments

One Comment on A General Assessment of Generals

  1. David on Thu, Sep 21st 2006 3:59 AM

    2. The failure is not the generals. The failure is systemic. It revolves around the general collapse of rational philosophy in the West as a whole.

    To blame are the intellectuals. Generally Liberal and therefore utterly confused and their ideas being contradictory and emotional.

    Intellectuals are the transmission belts for ideas. When they fail a nation fails and at this stage the West is struggling in the existential fight that we have on our hands.

Leave a Comment





© 2012 ISRAELITY | Sitemap