Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., February 01, 2008 Shvat 25, 5768 | | Israel Time: 03:06 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

High-stakes roller By Yossi Sarid Tags: Winograd Report, Israel  Retired judge Eliyahu Winograd warned yesterday evening against a "think small" approach by the government and the Israel Defense Forces, but the committee itself came out with a report that did not think big - it was twisting, confused and studded with internal contradictions. If a report were to be written about the report, it would discern "serious failures" in it. For example, if the operation of the last 60 hours had no prospect of success from the outset, as the committee notes, why was it necessary? (As the same committee notes.) Some people expected a mountain, others wished for a molehill, but what we got was a river running through it - a river of words. Everyone can now catch whatever fish he pleases in the turgid waters; everyone can find a sentence that will please his palate and mix with the spices from his political pantry. Sometimes it seems that fish are less stupid than left-wingers. Will a wounded fish be tempted by the same bait more than once? Will it be hooked twice? But leftists will swim right up to the rod and avidly swallow hook, line and sinker, as though they had never been pulled out of the water by guile. All Shas had to do was exert moderate political pressure and presto, Jerusalem disappeared from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's agenda. And an agreement without Jerusalem is a midwinter night's dream. Advertisement Olmert has to go, with the report or without it. Hey, weren't we in a war here? What are we supposed to learn from a late report that our eyes did not see in reality, and early? Do we not have the scrutiny, information and proficiency to judge for ourselves? If Olmert remains in office, the value of responsibility that is a foundation of education will no longer have any value. "They ate my food" and "They drank my drink" are not acceptable excuses for negligence, conceptual laziness and not doing one's homework. They do not improve a failing grade. From the outset Olmert did not enter the Prime Minister's Bureau by virtue of natural leadership or innate qualities. He got there by sheer coincidence. By chance he was appointed acting prime minister, and Ariel Sharon left the stage unexpectedly. Sharon sank, Olmert floated to the top. He immediately decided to prove that his little finger is thicker than his predecessor's waist; he played with the luck with which he lucked out. His good luck betrayed him, this high-stakes roller. He launched a war without knowing it was a war; left the rear to its own devices without understanding that the rear was the front this time. He set unattainable targets for the war, rolled on with it without knowing where, and stubbornly tried to extract an imaginary last-minute victory photo from beneath the ruins. He appointed a committee of inquiry of his making and lopped off the branch on which it sat for a year and a half. No report on earth will change what happened, and what should not have been done will not be undone by an angler's tricks. Guilty or not guilty, he is responsible, and he shall bear the consequences. Prime ministers and party leaders in this country and elsewhere have resigned because they lost seats in elections. In wars, it's not seats but human beings - lives - that are lost. How the mighty did fall, and for what? Bookmark to del.icio.us   Painful lessons The IDF has already learnt lessons of the Second Lebanon War. Brothers in guilt 'We are all guilty; is an effective summary of the final Winograd report.   1.   To Olmert 15:23  |  Steve 31/01/08   2.   Consociationalism gone amuck 15:30  |  David Hoffman 31/01/08   3.   "Sometimes it seems that fish are less stupid than left-wingers." 15:30  |  bat yam 31/01/08   4.   He will go Mr Sarid 15:39  |  sh 31/01/08   5.   olmert to finish his time in office 15:48  |  chet 31/01/08   6.   This is no game of dice, Yossi Sarid. 17:12  |  Stephen. 31/01/08   7.   PLEASE DON`T GO OLMERT, YOU ARE THE BEST BABY 17:21  |  indrajaya 31/01/08   8.   Mr. Sarid, perhaps the last 60 hours of the war had no 17:41  |  Smadar 31/01/08   9.   To Chet #5 17:42  |  David Hoffman 31/01/08   10.   Nothing is wrong with Olmert. 17:43  |  Hin Boon Long 31/01/08   11.   Why should Oldmerd go? You Yossi did NOT go for Oslo! 17:46  |  Mega Chutzpah 31/01/08   12.   Winobla, Winoblabla, Winoblablabla...... 17:49  |  Nora 31/01/08   13.   Olmert is equally a responsible leader of Israel 18:06  |  The Archives 31/01/08   14.   Mr. Vinograd, please return your salary! 20:10  |  de d 31/01/08   15.   You better stay with a Devil you know. The in-waiting are worse 23:37  |  Jebei Noyon 31/01/08

Today Online Netanyahu: Olmert is incompetent, not fit to lead state Responses: 93 Jewish group to build 200 new homes in East Jerusalem Responses: 191 Winograd: Current use of cluster bombs not in line with int'l law Responses: 85 Israel says Libya unworthy of seat on UN Security Council Responses: 83 Visiting U.S. singer Erykah Badu says she backs Farrakhan Responses: 67 More Headlines 00:55 Opposition leader Netanyahu: Olmert is incompetent, unfit to lead 01:10 4 hurt, 2 seriously, in explosion at natural gas factory near J'lem 20:41 Solana, Blair to travel to Middle East next week to discuss Gaza border crisis 01:51 Amnesty Int'l: Winograd report fails to address Israel's war crimes 23:47 Israel's new TESCAR spy satellite transmits first top quality images 21:35 Brazil judge bans carnival float depicting naked Holocaust victims 17:30 Lebanon: Winograd war probe report sets scene for future war 23:45 Visiting U.S. singer Badu says she backs Farrakhan, Palestinian cause 16:56 IDF kills Palestinian approaching Israel border in southern Gaza 20:50 Cut in Internet cables off Egypt causes outages across Mideast to India 02:45 U.K. conservative angers EU parliament for making Nazi comment 16:18 German authorities charge 22-year-old man with stabbing rabbi 20:18 Jerusalem to build city's first non-Orthodox secular burial site Previous Editions Select Day 31 jan 30 jan 29 jan 28 jan 27 jan 25 jan 24 jan 23 jan 22 jan 21 jan 20 jan 18 jan

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