Free Republic

Prime Minister’s Office and the Defense Ministry failed to inform Halutz about the decision to lift the air, sea and land blockade of Lebanon the following day. The chief of General Staff and other generals heard about the decision – which Halutz was vehemently opposed to – through the media. Olmert is now frankly telling his cabinet ministers and confidants that Halutz “was not a good military adviser to the prime minister during the Lebanon war,” although this is one of his primary functions. The prime minister is also accusing the chief of staff of having pressured him to approve...

The lingering lesson of Hurricane Katrina is the great value of self-reliance and the terrible danger of dependence. It was a huge storm. Possibly the largest natural disaster ever to hit the United States. It was the storm of the century. But it taught us more about human nature than it did about the power of nature. More frightening than the storm itself, was the widespread personal failure demonstrated in its wake. It was a peek into the entitlement culture and a sad display of the unwillingness and inability of some Americans to take the slightest responsibility for themselves and...