"Failed" IDF Generals Caused Georgia's Defeat

Nasrallah: 'Failed' IDF Generals Caused Georgia Defeat In War

By Jack Khoury,
Haaretz Correspondent
Last Update - 16:48 15/08/2008
Courtesy Of Haaretz Newspaper Online

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday asserted that "failed" Israeli generals had caused Georgia's defeat in its current war with Russia.

"Israel exported failed generals in order to train the Georgian armed forces, including general Gal Hirsch, and we all know that the Georgian army was defeated by the Russian forces," Nasrallah said in a speech to mark two years since the end of the Second Lebanon War.

Brig. Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch was the commander of the Israel Defense Forces' Galilee Brigade when reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were abducted by Hezbollah on the northern border, sparking the Second Lebanon War. He operates a privately-owned Israeli military contractors that recently trained Georgian security forces .

Nasrallah also declared in the speech that Israel's defense minister and army chief's "failures" in the past meant they did not scare his Lebanese militant organization today.

"[Defense Minister Ehud] Barak, who accuses the political and security echelon of lacking experience during the period of the Second Lebanon War, what can he say to his failures during his term as prime minister, particularly the hasty departure from Lebanon?" The Lebanese militant organization leader asked.

Nasrallah continued: "I also remind [IDF Chief of Staff Gabi] Ashkenazi of his failures during the period when he served as GOC Northern Command. They both failed then, and therefore they don't scare us today."

The Hezbollah leader, against whose organization Israel waged the 34-day war in 2006, also said that the expected replacement of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signifies the end of Israel's wartime leadership's rule.

He even argued that he doesn't remember the name of the defense minister during the war - a mocking reference to Amir Peretz, who held the post during the conflict and famously said: "Nasrallah will remember the name Peretz."

Nasrallah added that the issue of the Second Lebanon will hold a central position in all public and media debate in Israel in years too come.

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