Timing is Everything
So, Chalutz decided to resign. Funny country this is; the president is about to be indicted for rape, the prime minister can’t go a day without having a new corruption investigation opened against him, and for as long as I have lived here, one public servant after another has failed to fulfill his duties. Still, this is the first time that I remember a public official taking responsibility for his faults and shortcomings and doing the right thing. Chalutz has done a few controversial things over the course of his career, and never has he admitted any wrongdoing. This is a first for him, and I hope it represents a new sense of responsibility throughout the country.
Perhaps what is most interesting, and most respectful, is the timing. Immediately after the war, everyone was calling for his head, but he insisted on staying on. Had he resigned then, it would have looked like he was hurt and weakly running away from the debacle of a war that he led. Had he waited a few mores weeks for Winograd to officially scourge him, the chief of staff would have looked like another pathetic politician trying to hold on to his seat at all costs. Chalutz’s decision to resign now, when tempers aren’t flaring and when accusations aren’t flying, is mark of dignity, and a sign of man who has examined his actions and taken responsibility for them. For this, he deserves our recognition.
For resigning, he deserves our recognition? Is this a joke? Resigning was the LEAST he could do to rectify the botched job he did as Chief of Staff… perhaps he should be forced to turn over the proceeds from dumping stock on the day the war broke out?
I’m with Josh, People deserve credit for acknowledging wrongdoing. Halutz has made some mistakes, but he has also tried to serve the country in his other actions. Perhaps others will fess up to what they’ve done as well. But like I wrote when I talked about Olmert’s new investigation, it is good that Israel does not stand by and allow corruption as America does. The fact that the public knows about these things and that investigations are being done, and demanded is great. The US and other countries could take some lessons from that, and ditch the passiveness that seems to grip the American public especially.
‘Scuse me…isn’t Halutz the guy who feels that slight bump when he drops the megaton bombs — and then sleeps quite well afterward?
Or, am I confusing him with another war criminal?
miriam – right guy, but watch the exaggeration. It wasn’t a megaton bomb, bu that was what i was referring to when I wrote, “”Chalutz has done a few controversial things over the course of his career, and n ever has he admitted any wrongdoing.”
And no, I don’t like him, and yes, it’s the very least he should do it, but the fact is – he did. Let’s see if Katzav resigns even after he is convicted? Let’s see if Olmert resigns? Let’s see who else is willing to say, “my bad.” It’s a shame when the very minimal is worthy of recognition. But, in my country, it is.
umm why do people fall for the same tricks all the time, chalutz is obviously peretz & olmert’s scapegoat. he didn’t resign until he didn’t have a choice, or until, more than likely, he negotiated a good deal in exchange for resigning and taking the heat.
it’s such a pathetic media manipulation thing, i can’t imagine how people can still be ‘hopeful’ or ‘optimistic’ about changes in the government. what has changed? nothing.
Josh, I did get what you were referring to, but I still can’t see why war criminal Halutz should be applauded for resigning any more than war criminal Rummy should have been (he subsequently received an award in Philly, at the anti-union “Union League” which has a history that includes supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War).
And yeah, I do think it’s that ‘scapegoat’ thang, also not unlike the Dick and his idiot-boy accepting Rummy’s resignation AFTER the votes were in.
And no, the size of the bomb doesn’t really make a difference. Just the effects of it, and Halutz’s subsequent comments.
First off, I did think that Rummy did the right thing when he finally resigned. That he should of done that years earlier, well, that’s a different story. But, perhaps not. The poitn of my article was ‘timing is everything.’ I felt whe I wrote it, that it was precisely the timing, with seemingly fe political implications that made it worthwhile. Think back to Rummy, had he resigned before the elections it would have meant a lot more. Yes, we still would have attacked Bush for playing political games, and yes he should have resigned before that. But, a resignation before the election means an acknowledgement of error, and an attempt to fix it, after the election, well that just seemed to be a recognition of a political loss, and not of anythign bad hapenning in Iraq.
🙁 Where did my Israeli flag go?
When the Abu Graib photos first made the rounds, was the time that Rummy should have fallen on his sword. Instead, idiot-boy said, “Rummy, you’re doin’ a great job!”
That Rummy resigned after the elections, was idiot-boy and his Dick (or, vice-versa) demanding a beheading. Since the various military leaders (ie those, especially, who have seen combat) hate Rummy’s guts, he became the concession, the appeasement.
Most likely — as you’ve suggested, Josh — the departure of Halutz is based on the very unpopularity of the Olmert/Peretz duo, and no applause is necessary, no honor or dignity deemed, for he who exists.
Who knows? Perhaps he will resurface as candidate for PM, if Olmert collapses under the weight of his blepheplasty.
Yitz, the “scapegoat” explanation would have made sense had Halutz resigned fairly soon after the Lebanon debacle. But his resignation now probably does not protect Olmert and Peretz, but rather increases pressure on them to go, too. Have you seen their poll numbers lately?
I would not be surprised if Halutz was pushed out by the same folks who leaked the outlines of a Syria agreement. And who might those folks be? Tzipi and friends, perhaps?
I think the general feeling in Israel (where I am) is that Halutz resigned now only because he was about to be destroyed by the investigation committee report which will be coming out soon, and he wanted to resign on his own terms.