Analysis: Halutz hung out to dry

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has a rich record as a courageous pilot and leading air force officer. But once the story in Maariv broke out Tuesday that he had sold his investment portfolio the day the war broke out, it was hard to find anyone among the IDF officers who would stand in his corner. Opinion in the IDF is near unanimous: Halutz must go home the minute the last soldier leaves Lebanon.

When radio stations began dealing with the news in earnest, a shock wave blasted through IDF headquarters all the way to various units in the front. Officers found it difficult to believe. Could it be that between an emergency meeting of IDF leadership, in which Halutz promised to "take Lebanon back 20 years," to a consultation with the defense minister in which he recommended war, the chief of staff found the time to call his investment adviser and order him to sell stock worth NIS 120,000? Indeed, according to the response of the IDF Spokesman and Halutz himself."

<snip>

"Halutz did not see a problem with his behavior. But he was critical of the newspaper that published a "malicious, evil story that certainly some is behind its leak."

But from the point of view of the infantry and tank troops, deep in the mud, with supply lines that sometimes are slow in delivering the goods, things look differently. At noon, on July 12, when brigade commander Colonel Chen Livni and his soldiers were trying to rescue the bodies of four soldiers from the burned remains of a tank near the site of Hezbollah's raid, the chief of staff was talking with his bank. Did the reservists who were rushed to the north under emergency orders (and some did not return) have time for similar arrangements?"

<snip>

"Over the years, Halutz has been characterized by statements that suggest something fundamentally opaque about the man: starting with that "minor bump in the aircraft" (with reference to the killing of civilians in Gaza during the assassination of Salah Shahade), to the "I don't care" (told to Ilana Dayan two weeks ago, regarding criticism on the way the war was run), to the sale of the stock."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/750997.html

[eleny]

1. "malicious, evil story that certainly some is behind its leak."

But if the story is true.... Sheesh.

[tocqueville]

2. see thread here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1917108&mesg_id=1917164