Billmon:
Halutz bought the house while his soldiers bought the farm.
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August 15, 2006
WB: A Liar, a War Criminal and a Thief
Comments
“bought the farm?” don’t you mean raided it for water and bread, which their utterly incompetent brass had somehow forgotten to provide for them on their supposed “all-out major ground offensive?” Hmmm, sounds more like an impromptu day excursion to me. Oh, and after they raided the farm, they called in the air support to reduce it to rubble.
Posted by: Bea | Aug 15 2006 16:01 utc | 2
Its the whole IDF officer corps that is rotton:
Haaretz photographer beaten by IDF troops on Lebanese border
“I hugged and kissed the soldiers, since I know most of them well, and began to photograph. Suddenly, a major leapt out at me and told me, ‘Stop shooting!’ and began to choke me.
“Shortly thereafter, two more officers joined him – one was a lieutenant colonel and the other a colonel – and they all pushed me, tried to shove me to the floor and take my equipment. Eventually they succeeded,” Kaminsky said.
Bea — “bought the farm” is old GI lingo for being KIA.
b — Hey, at least they didn’t shoot him. I know of more than a few photojournalists in Iraq who can’t say the same thing about the U.S. Army.
Posted by: billmon | Aug 15 2006 16:28 utc | 4
Yeah, I knew it was lingo for something that I couldn’t recall, but I couldn’t resist!
Thanks for enlightening me.
Posted by: Bea | Aug 15 2006 16:48 utc | 5
looks like someone has been taking lessons in war profiteering from richard perle, james woolsey et al. my god, how fucking depraved. if i was the parent of a soldier who got killed in this little stock transaction, i’d be a very dangerous adversary…
Posted by: linda | Aug 15 2006 17:23 utc | 6
While Halutz claims he did not know, at the time he sold his portfolio, that war would break out, examination of newspaper and website archives shows that, by around 13:00 that day, Halutz’s threat in response to the abduction of the soldiers, to “put Lebanon back 20 years”, was published. By the early afternoon, the IDF had commenced operations in Lebanon, and the Chief of Staff had ordered the call-up of a reserve division.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 15 2006 17:43 utc | 7
looks like someone has been taking lessons in war profiteering from richard perle, james woolsey
or ken lay
Posted by: annie | Aug 15 2006 17:57 utc | 8
I guess Israeli citizens could do with a massive gun carraige funeral to take the spotlight away from current events (pun intended).
Ariel Sharon has not regained consciousness since a massive stroke in January. (Reuters)
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 15 2006 17:57 utc | 9
Isn’t it intriguing that Halutz SOLD?
I guess one would have to know what he sold, and what, if anything, he held. Wouldn’t the usual war profiteer, with advance knowledge of a war, BUY companies that traditionally profit from war? And could converting a substantial portfolio to cash, just before beginning the attack, indicate that Halutz may have doubted the success of the war?
Posted by: small coke | Aug 15 2006 18:00 utc | 10
CP, they are probably keeping him on ice until they really need that bump his funeral would provide.
Posted by: annie | Aug 15 2006 18:00 utc | 11
Looks like that Ha’aretz story about Israeli soldiers attacking the photographer has gone down the memory hole. I was able to google up the Ha’aretz story earlier, but now I can’t find it on the Ha’aretz site, and now I can’t find it on Google either.
Posted by: lysias | Aug 15 2006 18:03 utc | 12
small coke
Until we know his original portfolio contents we can speculate either way. And, where did his NIS go after that sale?
Just the fact he sold means he had insider info’, being the boss that is.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 15 2006 18:19 utc | 14
Any problems w/the link have been fixed. It’s even worse than b- reports. The photographer was a member of that battalion he was photographing til a year ago. This is paragraph just before one he quoted….
The officers also confiscated the photographer’s equipment. “I arrived at the site at 6:30 A.M. and reserve soldiers who belonged to the battalion I myself served in until a year ago were arriving.
…
“If the army did not want us to take pictures, all they had to do was ask us. Do you know how embarrassing it was to stand in front of members of my battalion and get beat up by the officers?”
Posted by: jj | Aug 15 2006 18:22 utc | 15
I wonder who else in Israel sold their portfolios? And bets on xUS elites selling theirs on eve of assault on Iran?
Looky here kids at what just showed up in Haaretz – an article by a Lebanese economist in England:
What is the logic that will emerge from this war? If Israel can exist only by destroying the neighborhood, then it’s time to declare it a failed state. The Zionist dream has turned into a nightmare and is not viable. If the future holds more of the same, then the time has come to reconsider the whole project. Every state has a duty to defend its citizens, but also it has a duty to provide them with security and the two are different. The prospects are for more destruction, fanaticism, violence and hatred. No unilateral separation can isolate Israel from this, nor can the region or the world live with the consequences. This seems to be the only choice, and Israel must do itself and others a favor and go away. Israel should pack up and go
It’s WakeUp & Smell the Skunks Time for Israel!!
Posted by: jj | Aug 15 2006 18:37 utc | 16
“If the army did not want us to take pictures, all they had to do was ask us. Do you know how embarrassing it was to stand in front of members of my battalion and get beat up by the officers?”
One inconsistency with this: the reporter talks about being “beat up” by a Major, a Lt. Col. and a full Colonel. A battalion command is a Lt.Col. position. Who was the Colonel?
It may not be important but I wonder why three higher officers are getting into this. Usually they order folks to get into something. This stinks, and I do believe the reporters account, but I have no idea why this stinks.
Maybe they do not want to let out that the IDF has completely withdrawn from Lebanon?
CP –
where . . .
A private account in the Caymans?
Posted by: small coke | Aug 15 2006 19:38 utc | 18
“Do you know how embarrassing it was to stand in front of members of my battalion and get beat up by the officers?”
He makes it sound like the Russian army.
Posted by: billmon | Aug 15 2006 20:42 utc | 21
Good point linda #6
If they, the parents only knew; I suspect some of them do, and play the game anyway.
How we reconcile these types of delemas is what makes us each an invididual. The bad news is that personal growth is not only work but also usually very painful. Many go to their graves without ever questioning or looking inside or deeper into themselves their lives and the lives around them; or even for that matter, their own children. Never bothering to open to another way of thinking, living, loving, changing.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Aug 16 2006 3:15 utc | 23
Here’s: the chart. It looks to me like the market keeled over in early May, like many other smaller emerging markets around the world. Halutz presumably was already feeling a bit of pain and, while he wasn’t adverse to slaughtering a few hundred women and children, damned if he was going to lose any money in the markets. Unless he covered at the bottom in mid-July he isn’t actually ahead.
The phrase ‘bought the farm’ was said by my grandfather, who served in WWII to refer to the payment a family received when a member was killed in action. Not sure if this was insurance, or from the army, but it was usually enough to pay off the mortgage on the family farm.
Posted by: PeeDee | Aug 16 2006 8:38 utc | 24