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War of the generals (more info on leadership change in IDF - must read!)
ynetnews.com ^ | 8/9/2006 | Ron Ben-Yishai

Posted on 08/09/2006 6:18:08 AM PDT by Dark Skies

As head of the IDF Northern Command, Udi Adam was responsible for several failures during the first two weeks of the fighting – beginning with the kidnapping, to the daylight attack on Maroun al-Ras and the mumbled rescue attempt, to a general impression that he has conducted himself more like a building contractor or a firefighter putting out fires, rather than a general who can initiate and lead.

At least that's the impression he's given several colleagues and senior officers under his command. It has appeared to them that General Adam was hurt by hinted criticism from Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and several colleagues behind closed doors.

Adam was also angry that the chief of staff and the political echelon refused to allow him to push forward his plans for a ground war, performed in training exercises about a month before the war began.

Humiliated silence

His frustration peaked when Halutz and the politicians let him and his staff shoulder the blame for the above-mentioned failures, and for the failure of the ground war to produce results.

Adam then sunk into humiliated silence, causing him to become small-minded, which in turn caused him to make a fatal mistake from his perspective: To charge the politicians with responsibility for the above-mentioned failures.

In a weekend interview last week, Adam hinted that the political echelon stopped him implementing the ground battle plan he wanted. Olmert and Peretz were furious, knowing full-well the political implications of such a statement the day after.

Their anger over Adam's unmeasured (and unfair) criticism, and Halutz's non-stop complaints about Adam's leadership, have forced the prime minister and defense minister to conclude they've got to do something before beginning the biggest campaign of the war.

Choosing Kaplinsky

Halutz went over Adam's head and got the green light to transfer the Northern Command to deputy chief of staff, General Moshe Kaplinsky. Kaplinsky is an experienced infantry man with reams of experience in Lebanon, a natural leader and served as the Sharon's liaison with the political echelon.

It is Halutz's right to feel that Adam, a veteran of the tank corps and logistics specialist, is not qualified to conduct a huge, complicated operation that is set to feature infantry and special forces, backed up by artillery, air force and navy support. It is also Halutz's right to believe that Udi Adam is not appropriate for the role he currently occupies.

More than that, it is reasonable to divide command between senior officers in a campaign such as the IDF is currently conducting in the north, a war that demands on-the-spot decisions, and in which forces commanded by the general staff are operating deep in Lebanon, alongside troops commanded by the Northern Command, and in which we must prepare for the possibility that Syria could get involved.

Half way

If this is an accurate description of Halutz's thoughts, he should have appointed Kaplinsky as battlefront commander and instructed the Northern Command to answer to him.

There is a precedent for such a move – during the Yom Kippur war Chief of Staff David Elazar appointed former Chief of

Staff Chaim Bar-Lev to command the southern front, over the head of Southern Command chief Shmuel Gourdish.

True, that was a more desperate situation, and the general staff received complaints that Gourdish had lost his mind and ability to function. But in principle, the situations are similar.

But Halutz didn't follow Elazar's example. Instead of creating a clear hierarchy and chain of command, he appointed Kaplinsky to be the "chief of staff's representative in the northern command." In doing so, he struck a blow to General Adam's ability and authority to lead, without giving clear responsibility to Kaplinsky.

For field commanders, it is now unclear to whom they must turn when they need quick decisions. It is also a huge opening for a war of the generals that could well trickle down to lower ranks.

Halutz apparently took pity on Adam, so he only went half-way. Hopefully, we will not be the ones to pay the price.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2006israelwar; idf; israel; lebanon; moshekaplinsky; udiadam

1 posted on 08/09/2006 6:18:09 AM PDT by Dark Skies
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To: Dark Skies
The Israeli Cabinet just voted to expand the operations which hopefully they will use overwhelming force to clean out these towns.
2 posted on 08/09/2006 6:26:13 AM PDT by tobyhill (The War on Terrorism is not for the weak.)
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To: tobyhill
Rapid advance as far as possible. Don't stop at the Litani. Advance as far as operational objectives require to remove the missle threat to Israel. The Hezbollah strongholds bypassed in the initial advance can be mopped up afterwards.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)

3 posted on 08/09/2006 7:00:56 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also

2006israelwar or WOT

..................

4 posted on 08/09/2006 7:18:29 AM PDT by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn't do!)
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To: goldstategop
Don't stop at the Litani

I don't see what stopping at the Litani can accomplish unless the Hezzies are destroyed. Haifa is still well in range of the Zelzal-2 missiles that Iran has supplied.

5 posted on 08/09/2006 7:22:56 AM PDT by Dark Skies
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To: Dark Skies

Aspirin for cancer.


6 posted on 08/09/2006 8:56:34 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: Dark Skies; SJackson; yonif; Simcha7; American in Israel; Slings and Arrows; judicial meanz; ...




Zec 12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.





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High Volume During IDF offensive operations!
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MikeFromFR ~
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spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)

Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
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"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
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The future of Arab controlled Gaza.

" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
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7 posted on 08/09/2006 5:52:59 PM PDT by Salem (FREE REPUBLIC - Fighting to win within the Arena of the War of Ideas! So get in the fight!)
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