Olmert cannot remain in the prime minister's office --Haaretz

Fri., August 11, 2006 Av 17, 5766

By Ari Shavit

Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate.

However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.

There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front.
Still, if Olmert had come to his senses as Golda Meir did during the Yom Kippur War, if he had become a leader, established a war cabinet and called the nation to a supreme effort that would change the face of the battle, a penetrating discussion of his failures could be postponed. But in blinking first over the past 24 hours, he has become an incorrigible political personality. Therefore, the day Nasrallah comes out of his bunker and declares victory to the whole world, Olmert must not be in the prime minister's office. Post-war battered and bleeding Israel needs a new start and a new leader. It needs a real prime minister.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749484.html

Unfortunately it looks like he's determined to take a lot more people down with him before he goes.

in this article remind me of another leader's failings.....one we all know too well! I give the author credit for recognizing failure in what, thirty days of war? How many days have we been in Iraq? Afghanistan? If Olmert steps aside do you think our leader would even "think" about resigning?

Olmert is relatively new to national politics, prior to being PM, he was mayor of Jerusalem which while being a challenge to say the least still is not the challenge he faces now. Adding to that is the fact (I believe) that he is the first PM not of the "old guard" or the first PM who did not fight in the war of Liberation. Does he feel he has something to prove, or is he just that unskilled in international politics?

Olmert blinked over the last 24 hours. And I'd like to know what their original plan was that he didn't implement. Is he implying the offensive wasn't strong enough?