Israel's military chief resigns

Israel's Lt Gen Dan Halutz, the man who headed their armed forces during their ill fated war with Hizbullah, has finally fallen on his sword.

This occurs as inquiries into the Israel-Lebanon war near completion, with much criticism of the armed forces for failing to achieve it's war aims.

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Jerusalem says every aspect of the conflict has been scrutinised and the conclusions have been damning.

The military leadership has been criticised for poor planning, poor strategy and poor execution.

In particular, Gen Halutz is accused of relying too heavily on air power and waiting too long to send in ground troops.

When they were sent in, many complained of being poorly equipped.

Gen Halutz said he has decided to step down now because military inquiries into the conduct of the war had been completed.

"With the echoes of battle having faded, I have decided to act on my responsibility," he is quoted as saying in his resignation letter.

Now that Halutz has finally stepped down, one can only imagine that the spotlight will now fall on Olmert, the man who came up with the plan to destroy Hizbullah: the war aim that Israel failed to achieve.

It is worth remembering that the war came about because of the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, two soldiers who were kidnapped in the hope of doing a prisoner swap. Olmert refused to enter into such a deal, despite the fact that Israel has previously done many such deals, and launched a war to rescue them.

The resulting war brought condemnation upon Israel for the heavy civilian casualties it produced and the almost insane and illegal way it was carried out. The bombing of power stations, the dropping of cluster bombs, the destruction of bridges, were all condemned at the time. Indeed, Israel's actions were viewed by many as a war crime, as it sought to punish the people of Lebanon for crimes that they did not commit.

I said at the time:

I am honestly unsure if Olmert will even survive. The damage he has wrought to Israel's reputation is immeasurable.

And this is to a very large extent attributable to the fact that Olmert appears to have embraced the neo-con logic, the unshakeable belief that military superiority will allow victory in all circumstances and against all foes.

And just as Bush has learned in Iraq that military superiority counts for little when faced with an enemy which Mao Zedong described as, having an ability to "move among the people like a fish in water", so Olmert learns the same lesson in Lebanon.

In short, this is not simply a defeat for Israel, it is a defeat for the whole discredited neo-con philosophy which should now be placed on the rubbish heap of history as an example of a flawed way of thinking that briefly afflicted a great power at her moment of maximum grief.

Of course, there is no way that the neo-cons are ready to admit that their thinking is flawed; they continue to confuse confidence with success, desire with achievement, military muscle with the ability to achieve practical goals.

But to all observers, the neo-con experiment is over. And southern Lebanon might be the ideal place to bury it.

Now that Halutz has stepped down, Olmert's position is even shakier. Indeed, since I wrote that article on 3rd August 2006, the whole neo-con experiment has taken a bit of a beating with many former supporters jumping ship.

Olmert now looks like the latest follower of Bush's failed logic likely to face the consequences and be forced to fall on his sword.

But, as Bush attempts to force the US into an escalation in Iraq that even his generals do not want, the resignation of Halutz is a timely reminder of the failure of Bush's logic and the fate of all who practice it.

George Bush's policies have been a catastrophic failure. So far, the price has only been paid by the people who supported him and his neo-con philosophy.

Berlusconi? Gone.

Aznar? Gone.

Rumsfeld? Gone.

Blair? Going.

Olmert? Teetering on the brink.

One day Conservatives will have to answer for all that they have supported during the past five years. At the moment that price is being paid by others, but one day these chickens will come home to roost. And, on that day, the supporters of all of Bush's worst excesses - Guantanamo, secret prisons, illegal wars, the destruction of Habeas Corpus - will have to answer for what they have defended.

I fully expect, when that day comes, that they will be like Germans after the fall of Nazi Germany. Puzzled, and insisting that they did not know what was being done in their name.

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tag: Israel, Lebanon, Gilad Shalit, Olmert, Habeus Corpus, Gaza, kidnap, negotiations, Hizbullah, neo-con, Perle, Frum, Israeli incursions, West Bank, Donald Rumsfled, Guantanamo Bay, surge and accelerate, Liebermann, Richard Perle, William Kristol