Reply #4: The Israelis are NOT happy.

[Karenina]

Amateur hour is over
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 4, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525803697&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The good news is that Israel has not lost the war. We can win. As the IDF's long awaited ground assault is demonstrating, on a tactical level, the IDF has been able to learn on the go, and learn well.

The bad news is that Israel's national leadership has so far managed to
take every political and strategic advantage that Israel has, and turn it into an impediment. Today, assuming Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will let us win, what three weeks ago could have been a rapid victory will now be costly and slow.

Regionally and internationally, the threats that Israel faces mount by the day. While all eyes are focused on Lebanon, Syria and Iran have both upped the ante. Diplomatically, Israel is a guppy swimming with the
sharks. And as the dangers mount, far from learning from their mistakes, Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen Dan Halutz have gone from acting like rookies to acting like amateurs.

And so, as the IDF marches on to an uncertain but still forward marching
trumpet, it is becoming increasingly clear that Israel's chief impediment
to victory is its government.