It's Called Accountability

Three and a half years after the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration has not been held accountable for its disastrous actions. A week after a ceasefire was declared in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is being held accountable for its actions.

What the heck is going on?

It's pretty simple, says Kevin Drum at the Political Animal:

Astonishing, no? Israel fights a four-week war that fails to achieve its aims and the public is so irate that the prime minister is almost immediately forced to create a panel with the teeth to (possibly) bring down the government. Here in America, we fight a three-year war that has not only failed to achieve its objectives but has demonstrably weakened our national security, and the collective response is a yawn. What a contrast.

Back in Israel, one of the primary memes making the rounds is that their military failed because it had gotten soft after spending the past several decades occupying the West Bank and Gaza instead of preparing for real war. I'm agnostic for the moment on whether or not a better prepared army could have defeated Hezbollah — I suspect it couldn't have — but in any case I think Haaretz is right to say that the army is hardly to blame for this state of affairs. Rather, it's the politicians.