Has the Camel gone too far?

Having read the Camel's last post and his venomous attack on lackluster prime minister Ehud Olmert, I have to come clean, break ranks and admit that I don't share his sentiment. It's time for the Penguin to have his say.

While we usually agree on most issues, my cantankerous friend's call for Olmert's resignation doesn't sit so well with me. We all remember the Euphoria of 'going to war' in the summer. We all remember the initial airstrikes on South Lebanon, and yes Mr Camel, we also all remember Olmert's stated aims of retrieving our soldiers and destroying Hizbullah. We were all impressed with Olmert, impressed with the speed of the response and quite frankly, we were all up for a good old fight. I find it a little unfair now that so many Israelis march on Rabin Square lamenting last summers unachievable war goals and foolhardy strategy for beating Hizbullah; hindsight is a wonderful thing. Olmert went on the advice of an arrogant Chief of Staff. Who was to know any better?

My Humped friend is right that the Winograd Report did highlight Olmert's ridiculous management of government; making a raving trade-union leader with no military finesse our defense minister was an irresponsible and cynical political move. I also agree that Peretz' inexperience is not his fault but is his concern. With that said, as the Camel should remember, of all the political parties, Labor was and is still the most back-stabbing, two-faced and nonsupporting of its leader. Whilst Peretz is to blame for being an imbecile, it would have been political suicide giving any on of his untrustworthy colleagues the top job of Defense. Ami Ayalon and Matan Vilnai could not have set their egos aside to serve under anyone else. In fact the Knesset's sickness is typified by the appointment of Peretz in the first place; the Labor Party only voted him in to snub Shimon Peres. A calamity akin to a British Lib Dem protest vote gone horribly wrong.

So all that said, it may be that the war was a failure and the political system let us down, but I think that the entire system is to blame. Everyone from Olmert to Halutz, Sharon, Mofaz, Bibi, Barak and Rabin should be under the same burning spotlight as the current beleaguered prime minister. Olmert inherited a corrupt, bureaucratic knesset and army that had taken itself down the wrong path for years, probable even decades.

Is it really all Olmert's fault oh Cantankerous one? Will it really all be solved by letting Olmert's unphotographic head roll? I think my Cantankerous friend that this will only serve to scapegoat the whole problem and the country won't be learn the right lessons. Winograd told us of an infrastructural corrosion of good governance and military prowess. I'm in favor of giving the country the government they voted for and letting them live with it. It's an important lesson to force the whole country to fix this problem together.

It may be written on the wall that Olmert won't survive another election, but I'd like to see him implement some of the recommendations of the Winograd Report. One last thought and you may call me a pansy, but I've felt uncomfortable with the victimization and bullying that has dominated the media headlines in the last few weeks.

As a spiritual zionist, I am a firm believer that our fate in this country is more determined by the way we treat each other than who we elect to Knesset. The accusations that Olmert should be blamed personally for the soldiers who were killed in the war (as many have suggested) is too much for me. Olmert is as much to blame as Sharon, Mofaz, Barak and all those others who let us grow so brutally unprepared and naive to the threats around us. What we need now is collective responsibility and accountability ..and our eyes focused forward on oiling our badly rusting State.


The Penguin has Spoken.