[Editor's Note: Aug. 23, 2006-The final week of the unjustified killing Blitzkrieg that Israel launched against the civilian population of Lebanon was witness to the most outrageous falsity repeatedly broadcast to the American public: President Bush and Condoliza Rice, and numerous 'Israeli government spokesmen' on TV said that Hezbolah was 'responsible' for the deaths in Lebanon because they "started" the war. Over and over, I would hear the liars trot out the 'need to defend ourselves' mantra against Katusha rockets that Hezbolah, they say, fired first at Israel. That is NOT the order of events that occurred. In July, Hezbolah sent a team of men into an Israel border area and captured two Israeli soldiers, planning to use them as bargaining chips in prisoner exchange negotiations with Israel. Israel demanded their immediate release and started bombing civilian areas throughout southern Lebanon when their demand wasn't met. They quickly escalated their bombing targets to include all of Lebanon, with little restraint or concern for the Lebanese people below. Following the first Israeli bombing runs, Hezbolah then started sending Katusha rockets into northern Israel, exactly opposite of what the Bush/Israel Team has claimed publicly.

The TV news last night showed video clips of Lebanese children who were maimed (and killed) by the thousands of small cluster bombs dropped from Israeli planes. Cluster bombs are intended to inflict continuous casualties against innocent civilians for days, weeks, and months-following the bombing run. The use of clusters bombs, along with depleted uranium, is a crime against humanity and should be classified as a war crime and banned. There is no strategic justification for using these weapons other than rank attrition and genocide-against children and non combatants. Israel was also using some sort of secret, high tech chemical or biological weapon during the Lebanon bombings that has not been reported in the media. Scores of civilians exposed to the bombings have gotten very ill and quickly died due to some sort of breakdown of the immune system. I first heard these reports on KPFK radio out of Los Angeles, but haven't heard a peep anywhere else. That story needs to be looked into...Ken]

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/idfgeneralcitesmilitaryarrogance21aug06.shtml
Auigust 21, 2006

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/752774.html

Original Title
Outgoing infantry chief says military 'guilty of arrogance'

The outgoing Chief Infantry and Paratroopers Officer of the Israel Defense Forces, Brigadier General Yossi Hyman, on Sunday became the first senior officer to concede a degree of failure in the Lebanon war.

"We were guilty of the sin of arrogance," Hyman said at the changing-of-the-guard ceremony at the Kastina base, where he was replaced by Brigadier General Yossi Bachar.

Also Sunday, the Lipkin-Shahak Committee, appointed to investigate the conduct of the war, convened for the first time.

Hyman said that "despite heroic fighting by the soldiers and commanders, especially at the company and battalion level, we all feel a certain sense of failure and missed opportunity ... At times, we were guilty of the sin of arrogance. Everyone tells about his mission, but not what he didn't do and where he went wrong."

He added: "I feel the weighty responsibility on my shoulders. I failed to prepare the infantry better for war. I did not manage to prevent burnout among professional companies and platoons. I feel no relief whatsoever in the face of the array of excuses ... At this time, it is not easy being part of the system. Part of the public, and perhaps also parts of the leadership, is expressing lack of faith in us."

Hyman has always been considered an officer who never hesitates to express his opinion vociferously, a fact that frequently aroused the ire of the military establishment. At Sunday's ceremony, too, IDF Ground Forces Commander Benny Gantz said that now is the time for the army to move forward, not express remorse.

The Lipkin-Shahak Committee held a preparatory session Sunday, at which Major General (reserves) Herzl Bodinger requested to be relieved of his duties as a committee member, for personal reasons. He was replaced by Major General (reserves) Giora Rom, likewise an air force man. Rom, a combat pilot, headed the Israel Air Force's general staff and served as Israel's military attache in Washington and director general of the Jewish Agency.

The committee is expected to accept the army's position that all testimony should fall under the confidentiality article of the Military Justice Law.

For a Haaretz Q&A with Yossi Hyman click here. (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/QA.jhtml?qaNo=119)

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