Solid Cogent Criticism

Two well-expressed opinions from today's NYTimes:-

Gerald M. Steinberg, who directs the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-Ilan University, says Mr. Olmert and Mr. Peretz have been badly damaged. “This is not the disaster of the Yom Kippur war” in 1973, when Golda Meir was pushed out of office after Israel was judged to have been taken by surprise, he said. “But there is a strong sense of hesitation, of the lack of military leadership needed in times like this.”

Once the war is over, Mr. Steinberg said, regardless now of the outcome, “there will be investigations, and serious questions in Parliament and out, and you could have some defections from the current government.”

Yuval Steinitz of Likud, head of the parliamentary subcommittee for defense preparedness, is already loaded for bear. “Doubts?” he asked. “That’s an understatement. People are talking of failure.

“The bombardment of Israeli cities was supposed to be over after 48 hours. The fact that only now the government is ready to even start the real ground campaign is overwhelming.”

Israeli defense doctrine, formulated by Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, is that tiny Israel should immediately carry the fighting “deep into enemy territory to protect its civilian rear,” Mr. Steinitz said. “This didn’t happen, and against who? Hezbollah, which is the size of a Syrian division without any air defense. So what would we do against Syria?”