Pressure Mounts on Olmert to Resign

[bemildred]

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz came under renewed pressure to resign Wednesday after the Israeli army's chief of staff stepped down in the wake of the flawed Lebanon war. The sudden departure of Israel's top military official, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, delivered another setback to the prime minister, whose popularity has plummeted following last summer's war and a string of political scandals. On Tuesday, Israel's attorney general opened a criminal probe into Olmert's role in a 2005 bank privatization.

Halutz stepped down after dozens of internal inquiries into the monthlong Lebanon war found widespread problems in the military's performance. Halutz had previously rejected calls to resign, despite the growing loss of confidence of his political superiors and subordinates in the army.

With Halutz on his way out, critics quickly clamored for the heads of the country's other wartime leaders, Olmert and Peretz.

"The war clearly was mismanaged, and when a war is clearly mismanaged, there is no doubt the chief of staff is responsible," said opposition lawmaker Ran Cohen, a former high-ranking military officer. "The responsibility is shared by him, the prime minister and the defense minister, and sooner or later, they, too, will have to leave."

AP

[John Gauger]

1. What about the war was seen as unacceptable?

I know I find the fact that it occurred at all unacceptable. And then the targeting of civilian areas by Israeli jets (and the same with Qassams, but that's beyond the Israeli government's control.) And then the fact that the war strengthened Hezbollah's position. But what is the primary objection of the Israeli populace? That last one seems like a good candidate to me.