Word: lebanon
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...Prime Minister reacted with gentlemanly relief, praising the outgoing Chief of Staff as "brave and courageous" even though Halutz was the strategist behind Israel's ill-conceived summer war in Lebanon, since which the public had been clamoring for his ouster. Ministerial sources told TIME that Halutz tendered his resignation to Olmert on Sunday but didn't bother informing his immediate superior, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, until late Tuesday night. Peretz's office promised secrecy to allow Halutz time to break the news to his troops, but then immediately leaked the news...
...Critics say Peretz's inexperience in security matters showed during the Lebanon war, when the defense minister issued conflicting orders of advance and retreat to his generals. By now, Peretz should have learned the first rule of military strategy: never leave your flank exposed. But that is exactly what Halutz's departure has done: With the general gone, Peretz will be next in line to take a bullet for the Lebanon fiasco. Olmert will be glad to see him go; according to an opinion poll last week, Peretz's approval rating hit bottom at 1%, a fallout over the military...
...defense minister and his position as leader of the Labor Party, the main coalition partner of Olmert's Kadima party. Peretz, too, may choose to resign instead of waiting to be sacked. Most likely, says one Peretz aide, he will wait until after the official inquiry into the Lebanon debacle, the Winograd Commission, is completed next month. If the report blames Peretz, he will then resign or consent to be moved to a lesser cabinet post, his aides say. The defense portfolio would most likely go to one of Peretz's two challengers as Labor leader, either ex-Prime Minister...
...their national interest, or they want us to ask them to stabilize Iraq so that they can - we can pay a price for it. I don't see other outcomes. So how does this conversation go? Well, help us stabilize Iraq. Fine. Recognize our strategic interests in Lebanon. In fact, in that (inaudible) interview, they said well, they'd have to recognize their strategic interests. Well, what do people think their strategic interest are at this point? It's to reestablish Syrian authority and dominance in Lebanon, which they're not reconciled to having lost. And it is to shave...
...secret new soul mate, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Both are women with razor-sharp intellects, center-right convictions and an odd blend of rigid righteousness and pragmatism. Both work under men whose popularity has plummeted because of the bungled conduct of a war (Iraq for George Bush, Lebanon for Ehud Olmert). And both realize that this vulnerability, combined with the even greater weakness of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has made the timing ripe for a new strategy for an Israeli-Palestinian peace...