No, Olmert is losing his nerve, IMO. He's looking for the easiest possible way to stop the offensive without losing face and his job.
He's had little choice but to allow the IDF to bomb Lebanon due to circumstances, but I'm of the opinion he's still a pussy and doesn't have the spine to follow all the way through with a full assault on hezbollah.
This "development" seems to be another sign that he's incapable of taking this offensive the distance, IMO.
The deaths in Haifa should have been enough to insure a ground offensive into southern Lebanon at least, but who knows what the Israeli government is thinking currently.
At this point, I would have assumed that a full out ground offensive would be under way. I know it takes time for logistics to satisfy the demands of such a plan, but it still seems to me that Olmert and Peretz are simply relying on air strikes as a 'show of force' that will stop the attacks, which of course is unlikely to happen.
This 'restrained' BS needs to stop, IMO.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I bet there is some serious internal strife going on between the IDF and the Olmert govt.
Douglas Urbanski, who has inside Vatican contacts, reports that the views expressed by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who issued the statement while the Pope was on vacation, are renegade views and asks the question that needs to be asked: Does the Pope back Sodano's statement? Urbanski points to this story on the rift between Pope Benedict XVI and Sodano. He'll have more tonight as a guest host on the Rusty Humphries show. Tune in.
A dirty trick indeed if Benedict didn't authorize this response.