Israel's military commander resigns under pressure. CNN TV reports

[itsmesgd]

I post this as yet another sign of the probable war on Iran. This former military commander had been criticized for his failure to defeat Hezbollah this past summer.
I wonder if he will be replaced with someone who will launch nuclear missles at Iran to get the war going. We will then step in an nuke Iran in defense of Israel.


more details to follow: breaking.

[roamer65]

1. ...or he does not agree with the Iran attack.

I doubt they'll nuke Iran, but he may not agree with attacking Iran period. I do think some sort of attack on Iran is imminent. Our Vietraq fiasco has removed Saddam as the "buffer zone" to Iran and that seems to have Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel all freaked out in unison. All thanks to the moron ignoring Daddy's very good reason for staying out of Iraq.

[itsmesgd]

3. that's what I think. He will be replaced by a pro war commander

It looks like what happened here a couple of weeks ago with the changing of our own military heads and commanders.
We're bringing in the "War Team", get ready folks.

[scarletwoman]

4. Not a chance. The attack on Iran is ON. No one who's against it would be appointed to this post.

Take it to the bank.

sw

[xchrom]

2. israel will not nuke iran.

not now or in the future.

[itsmesgd]

5. kinda like they wouldn't bomb Iraq's nuclear power plant?

Or are you saying that they would go "conventional"?

[xchrom]

6. look, iraq represented a totally different scenario -- and you know it.

saddam was not the symbol in the muslim world that iran is.

saddam didn't have hezbu'llah in it's back pocket.

do not inflate the importance of saddam to that of iran -- it isn't the same.

nor will it ever be.

[Journeyman]

7. Here's some alternative commentary. . .

This is an article by Martin van Creveld of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel’s most prominent military historian. He is "the only non-American author on the U.S. Army’s required reading list for officers."

The article is titled, Knowing Why Not To Bomb Iran Is Half the Battle. It can be read in its entirety here: http://www.forward.com/articles/knowing-why-not-to-bomb-iran-is-half-the-battle/

A pertinent excerpt:


The second question that needs to be asked is whether bombing Iran’s nuclear installations can successfully be accomplished. Israel’s strike in 1981 against Iraq’s Osirak reactor was successful and is often cited as a model of its kind. But since then, of course, many things have changed.

As the world’s sole superpower, the United States has at its disposal forces and weapons far superior to anything that existed a quarter century ago. On the other side of the coin, the Iranian nuclear program is much larger, more dispersed, better protected and better camouflaged than Iraq’s program was.

Most important of all, the vital element of surprise will be absent. The Israeli strike owed much of its success to the fact that it came like a bolt from the blue. By contrast, Washington has been publicizing its intentions for months, if not years. A precision-guided surgical air strike may take out some vital installations and set back the program — or it may not.

Perhaps more troubling than either of these outcomes is the possibility that the attackers, trying to hit camouflaged targets said to be buried deep underground, will not know whether or not they have succeeded. As a result, they may have to go on bombing for much longer than the few days Pentagon sources say the operation might last.


Edited to insure it is read as the polite post it is intended to be.

[Tempest]

9. So they won't use nukes when they attack Iran

The attack is still coming.

Most every Middle East and Israel expert is saying an attack is coming, and there's no reason not to believe them.

They're the same people who in 2002 said Bush would attack Iraq.

[xchrom]

11. israel will not attack iran.

the political fall out from that would be devastating.

i'm not saying the u.s. won't -- but israel will not.

[leveymg]

8. There's been pressure for Halutz to resign since last summer.

The Lebanon operation is rightly viewed as a disaster, as it exposed the IDF'S weaknesses and failed in its main objective of breaking Hezballah. Several generals were forced out.

The linkage to the mythical Iran attack is entirely after-the-fact and convenient.

Here's Reuters:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16698494.htm
Israel military chief quits amid Lebanon war probe
16 Jan 2007 22:52:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
Printable view | Email this article | RSS XML <-> Text <+>


By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The chief of Israel's armed forces has tendered his resignation after internal probes pointing to his responsibility for the setbacks of last year's Lebanon war, a military spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

She said Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, 58, told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz that he was quitting "as the investigations have run their course".

"With the echoes of battle having faded, I have decided to act on my responsibility," the spokeswoman quoted Halutz as saying in his resignation letter.The July-August assault on Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas drove them from Israel's northern border but failed to retrieve two captive soldiers, prompting many Israelis to call for a purge of the top brass in hope of restoring a military edge.

A retired Israeli general, Dan Shomron, recently handed in the findings of a probe he conducted into the war's execution. A government-appointed committee of inquiry is separately looking into the conduct of Olmert and Peretz. Shomron's report, released in part last month, criticised Israeli military commanders for poor organisation during the war but stopped short of calling for Halutz's resignation. At the time, Halutz said he was staying on, though two generals who had served on the northern front stepped down.

[Kagemusha]

12. I guess that version sounds too normal for people here.

Doesn't make a good story with all the Iran war talk. But, the miracle is this guy lasting in his position so long in the first place. He lasted long enough that some kind of IDF body said he screwed up so now it won't look like he's accepting being pushed out by the government for wrongful, political reasons. The shelf life of that story has expired, and now he goes while the going's still good.

[Scurrilous]

10. IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz announces his resignation

<snip>

"Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz on Tuesday night announced his resignation as head of the military. The deputy chief of staff, Moshe Kaplinsky, will act as the interim head of the armed forces.

Senior IDF officers welcomed the resignation, saying it was "high time."

Ehud Olmert's bureau said the prime minister knew ahead of time of Halutz' intention to resign, and had asked him reconsider his decision. Olmert accepted the resignation, however, once he became convinced of Halutz' determination, and expressed deep regret at the decision.

Halutz' decision to step down comes against a backdrop of failures in IDF functioning, his own performance and the performance of the army during the war against Hezbollah in July and August of last year.

Two weeks ago, Halutz said he would resign if the government-appointed Winograd committee of inquiry found him responsible for the mishandling of the war in Lebanon. The Winograd committee is also separately looking into the conduct of Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

"If the committee hands down an unambiguous sentence, it would obligate me ," Halutz had said. The resignation, however, comes before the committee has released its conclusions."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/814310.html

[Scurrilous]

13. Ynet presents: Halutz's full letter of resignation

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3353301,00.html