Israel's Biggest Problem: Defense Minister Barak

I don't know about you but I'm sick of this guy. Once again we see considerable in-fighting among Israeli leadership regarding the operation in Gaza and reports are that Prime Minister Olmert is one pissed off dude at Barak. Here's some of the details from the article at The Jerusalem Post:

Senior officials close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed veiled criticism at Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday for his backing of Egypt's truce efforts conducted via Defense Ministry Security-Diplomatic Bureau chief Amos Gilad.

Hamas senior officials see these images and hear these voices and draw encouragement from the notion that Israel is looking for a way out. We regret the irresponsibility of ministers leaking information regarding their own private initiatives - as high ranking as these ministers may be," officials said.

"Announcements of this kind can only harm the progress of the operation and hinder achieving the goals the government has set for itself, and constitutes irresponsibility on a national level," they said.

This all comes down to Barak thinking he's some sort of celebrity and flapping his gums too much. He has IDF troops on the ground in Gaza and makes comments about ceasefire efforts which Israel isn't even a part of...it's ridiculous.

It's not hard to see that these divisions at the top are filtering down all the way to the operations in Gaza as seemingly little IDF progress has been made in the past three days. I, personally, cannot believe that Israel would set itself up for a repeat of its ineptness in the 2006 Lebanon War but it sure seems that they are on that track again. If I may...go into Gaza City, Israel, and gut that city of Hamas - if you don't, you will have lost this operation.

Olmert, Barak at odds over ending op

Earlier on Wednesday, after Gilad's arrival in Cairo was postponed to Thursday, it was widely reported that a potential truce would initially consist of a slowing down of IDF activities followed by a temporary ceasefire and a halt to troop movement into the Gaza Strip. Agreements with Egypt regarding smuggling into the Strip would then be finalized, including the introduction of US monitors, and, after calm has been reached, a full cease-fire would be established and IDF forces would withdraw from Gaza.
In the prime minister's milieu, officials expressed regret that news of the potential draft for a ceasefire had been revealed "on behalf of government ministers, of all sources."

Meanwhile, Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan warned Olmert in a harshly-worded letter on Wednesday that if Operation Cast Lead did not return to its initial goals, he would resign from the Security Cabinet in protest.
Eitan recollected that he called for the postponement of the February 10 election at thestart of the operation, saying that his fears that politics would impact the war hadbeen proven justified.
"Some of those who had led an impressive military and diplomatic campaign until the last few days have returned to function as politicians," Eitan wrote to Olmert. "I am warning you that the closer we get to the opening of the ballot boxes, the more intertwined politics will be in decisions about the operation."
Eitan, who worked in Israeli intelligence for decades, warned that time was running outto complete the operation and that if Israel did not achieve its goals soon, the nextIsraeli prime minister would have to decide to return to Gaza in a few months with a newpresident in Washington.