Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, an Israel-based news organization which provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict. imra@netvision.net.il
Preparing for the Winograd Report: has Olmert changed his spots?
By Dr. Aaron Lerner
January 19, 2008 Bookmark to del.icio.us
No matter how critical the Winograd Report may be of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, its relevance will be challenged by Olmert's supporters on the grounds that the New and Improved, Post Second Lebanon War Olmert already has implemented the principal Winograd recommendations.
And while bereaved families of soldiers killed in that fiasco as well as furious IDF reservists will certainly be give broadcast time and column inches, they will be hard put to make Olmert's resignation seen as a truly national imperative if Olmert's spinners succeed in establishing a beachhead with the New-Improved-Olmert argument.
But there is no reason that Olmert's spinners should be allowed to get away with this.
After all, the New-Improved-Olmert has been pretty much as incompetent in running the country as the old one.
The challenge is to come up with concrete examples of this incompetence that can be described in a sound bite, are intuitive and don't lend themselves to being dismissed by a counter sound bite.
The Gaza Haj Pilgrims fiasco which ended with Hamas bringing in an estimated $100 million in cash thanks to the absence of inspections at the Rafah Crossing comes to mind.
The on again off again fuel cuts to the Gaza Strip also has potential.
The Olmert team's apparent preference for yet another terrorist strengthening ceasefire in the Gaza Strip might also be used to illustrate the absence of any serious strategic thinking on their part.
Examples of incompetence not related to the Arab-Israeli conflict could also help make the point.
One thing is clear. This is not something to be prepared on the fly as a parade of talking heads argue and comment upon the release of the Winograd Report.
Again. The potential to rebuff the Olmert team's New-Improved-Olmert argument is certainly there. But it would be a tremendous mistake to assume that it will be a cakewalk.
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