Israel army in disarray over Lebanon failures
Afp, Jerusalem
A general resigns, a colonel is disciplined and the command structure is battered by an unrelenting storm of criticism: the Israeli army is in disarray as it struggles to cope with the failures of the war in Lebanon. A month after the 34-day campaign against the Shia militia Hezbollah ended, the barrage of brickbats continues, with the military and political leadership both under fire for their handling of a deadly conflict that failed to achieve its main aims. Two days after Israel's northern army commander resigned, it emerged that embattled army chief of staff Dan Halutz disciplined the head of an armoured brigade for criticising a superior in front of his subordinates during the war. Colonel Amnon Eshel, head of the seventh brigade, reportedly complained that his immediate boss, General Gal Hirsh, was "completely cut off from realities on the ground" as his badly prepared men battled to counter Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel. Halutz "severely reprimanded" Eshel for disrespecting the military hierarchy and suspended him from promotion for two years, an army spokesman told AFP.
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