Greetings from the French Hill: Learned Your Lesson Yet? Or, Do You Need Another Time-Out?

Let's say you're the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company. You've got a huge project coming out, and you entrust your top managers, CFO, COO, head of marketing, etc. to handle the project properly and with precision, so it's ready for release on the due date. But, one thing after another goes wrong. You, the CEO, are confused on how to make the command decisions, and your managers are also giving you nothing to work with, because you realize, to the entire company's dismay, that these guys are a bunch of "yes" men with no creative or intuitive back-bone. The product is ready for launch, but it comes out late, and it's an absolute disaster, from the top - down. Now, you're losing money. The public is losing faith in you and your company. People are selling their stock, and your index is starting to drop. What do you do? Well, if you're a good CEO, if necessary, you would step down yourself and realize your faults. Before doing so, you would also shake up and rebuild the top level management with new creative and intuitive people. People who are more interested in getting the job done right, helping the company grow, than they are in securing their jobs by always kissing the CEO's butt.

You certainly don't give them bonuses and/or raises, and you most certainly do NOT give them promotions. You must learn from the lesson, move on quickly, so your entire company doesn't fold. Of course, this simulation only works in a real world environment where failure results in real monetary consequences. This absolutely does NOT work when it comes to the government, where money is always coming from some-where (You and I, Joe Shmoe, tax payer), and you really aren't held accountable unless you're caught.

The Army's higher echelon screwed the pooch royally in this past summer's war. Indecision, poor decision making, unclear strategy, and even more unclear tactics, are just some of the clusterf***s that went on. It just really seemed that the top brass of Israel's esteemed military skipped the day they taught war-fare and battle tactics in Officer School. So, what the biggest military screw-up of all, Ramatkal Halutz do to the 4 commanders in charge of 4 division that "yes" menned their way into Screwupville??? Demote them? Retire them? Slap 'em to a desk to ride out the rest of their military career?

NOPE. You guessed it? He PROMOTES them!!! Of course, the insane logic here seems to be that if no investigation has found them guilty of anything, then they're not guilty of anything, so it's perfectly legitimate to promote. Of course, Halutz hasn't waited for the investigation to start, let alone, wait until the decisions have been made. He's also been acting like his brazen cocky self. Well, he's no different than the rest of the decision makers here. Namely, one DM Amir Peretz and one PM Ehud Olmert. It's not his fault. Some-one else is to blame. I did everything right. We won points, if not the entire conflict (since we didn't fight a war). Why should this be any different?

Halutz slammed for promoting Lebanon war generals

[...] "Some of the appointments are not compatible with the conclusions of investigations by senior commanders in the reserves," the sources said, according to Army Radio.

Meretz head Yossi Beilin also called on Peretz not to approve the appointments until after the investigations into the war have been completed.
Meretz faction head Zehava Gal-On said Halutz's decision was the last nail in the coffin of the war and that the lesson was that no one who was involved in the decision-making process is taking responsibility, Israel Radio reported.

Following the unsatisfactory outcome of the Lebanon war this summer, the IDF's general staff surprised military analysts on Monday with better-than-expected decisions regarding the fates of of the four division commanders that managed the fighting on the ground.

After five hours of deliberation, the panel headed by Halutz promoted Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsch to head the Strategic Command unit of the General Staff. Brigadier Generals Erez Zuckerman and Eyal Eizenberg will remain in their present commands as heads of the reserved armored and paratrooper divisions, respectively.

Brig.-Gen. Guy Tzur, it was decided, will be transferred to command a major ground forces training base in the south of the country.

However, a senior security official told The Jerusalem Post Monday night that the appointments were not a closed deal and that the defense minister must approve every appointment above the rank of colonel.
[...]
Following the divisional-level investigations into the management of the war being submitted to the panel last week, harsh criticism was leveled at each of the four brigadier generals - commanders Gal Hirsch of the Galilee Division, Guy Tzur of Division 162, Erez Zukerman of the reserves armored division, and Eyal Eizenberg, commander of an elite paratrooper reserve division.

The generally positive outcome for the four division commanders was unexpected following allegations raised in investigations over poor management of ground forces in the war against Syrian and Iranian-backed Hizbullah.
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