FIRST CLASS ARTICLE BY E. WINSTON on the WINOGRAD REPORT DECEPTION: ""SCRAPING THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL"". READ AND PASS ON, PLEASE!

 

WINSTON MID EAST ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY February 8, 2008  Email: gwinston@interaccess.com Please disseminate & re-post - with attribution. If you publish, send us a copy. Many of our articles appear on Websites at http://www.gamla.org.il/english &

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SCRAPING THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL

by Emanuel A. Winston, a Middle East Analyst & Commentator

It's an old expression when wooden barrels were used and the dregs of whatever was in it dropped to the bottom as sludge to be scraped by hand. Some barrels, which were not scraped and cleansed, developed worms that bored into the bottom, making the barrel totally unuseable. Regrettably, Israel has reached this point where Leftist worms have penetrated to the deepest parts of Israel, the nation. Today we see the dregs and the worms appearing as the Kadima government, led by PM Ehud Olmert, DM Ehud Barak, FM Tzippi Livni, President Shimon Peres and many who are sitting useless in the Knesset (Parliament).

We have just watched another of those hideous scandals emerge under Olmert's hand-picked Investigative Committee led by retired Judge Eliyahu Winograd. We predicted before the issuance of his manipulated Report that he would collude with Olmert to soften the language and not specify Olmert as the culprit in mismanaging the Lebanon/Hezb'Allah War of 2006 that caused so many soldiers' deaths.   By lightening Olmert's culpability, Judge Winograd was able to escape issuing the recommendation that he resign.

The stink of the sludge and worms at the bottom of this barrel is just starting to rise.

If there is a follow-on Hearing, many questions needing to be asked are these:

Judge Winograd, since it has now surfaced through one of your Committee (Professor Yechezkel Dror) that you decided it was necessary to infuse Leftist politics into your Report, in order to save Olmert, did you also collude with President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or any American representative on this decision?

Moreover, when Bush and Rice were visiting Israel with their huge entourage that took 3 planes full, did you meet with them or any in their entourage at that time to discuss their preferences as to the tone of your Report or to delete any part of your Report?

Did you, Judge Winograd, assume that President Bush's appeal to retain Olmert in office was a recommendation made for you and your committee?

Did you agree to form this Committee, intending to uncover all the information related to the failed Lebanon/Hezb'Allah War of the Summer of 2006 or - from the beginning - intended to delay and exonerate?

Or, did you have a special separate agenda to insure Olmert's political rival, Binyamin Netanyahu would not succeed in becoming Prime Minister - as stated by Committee member Prof. Yechezkel Dror?

Having observed Olmert and his government make every error in judgement during his entire stay as Prime Minister, how did you conclude that Olmert could bring peace when most of the nation believed he could not?

Why, Judge Winograd, did you and your Committee take it upon yourself to exceed your mandate to investigate the failure of the Lebanon/Hebz'Allah War and expand your inquisition to include political considerations?

In your deliberations did the subject of the "Peace Process" come up for discussion?

Did it include Olmert's goal of preserving Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) as the leader of Fatah?

Did you discuss the Al Aksa Brigades as part of Fatah?

Were you briefed by Olmert or any of his representatives to modify your Reports?

Judge Winograd, did your Committee take it upon yourselves to insure the continued discussion of a two state solution as pushed by Olmert and the Bush-Rice-Baker Road Map?

Did you deliberate over forcing 250,000 pioneering settlers out of their homes, schools, farms, businesses in Judea and Samaria to advance the Olmert-Rice two-state plan?

Did you also discuss the division of Jerusalem as a necessary element of the two-state solution, as Olmert claims?   This would entail evicting another 250,000 Jewish residents of the neighborhoods they built up after the IDF (Israel Defense Force) liberated those parts of Jerusalem that were occupied and desecrated by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 for 19 years?

Did you confer with the Americans on any of these points for their or your clarification?

When you presided as a Judge were your rulings objective, unbiased or did they follow the doctrine of Chief Justice Aharon Barak? In essence, were your rulings prompted by a Leftist agenda?

Did you consult with Chief Justice Dorit Beinish or any other Supreme Court Judges to assist your Committee in arriving at the conclusions in your Report? If so, what were their recommendations?

Were there any discussions or considerations as to your ethical behavior when such discussions crossed over to political matters?

It has been disclosed that your Committee made political decisions, regarding the competency of Olmert vs. Netanyahu. Did it not cross your mind that this was a matter for the nation to decide and highly unethical to include in your deliberations?

Was there not a moment of pause when you, as an experienced Judge, knew you had crossed the line and became an advocate for the man you were obligated to investigate?

How is that dissimilar from taking a bribe to rule for a defendant on trial before your court?

It has been reported that, now that this duplicitous information has been published, disclosing that you refuse to testify as to its authenticity, that you and your committee have engaged in what is called "Political Stone-Walling". Moreover, it is said that you and other members of the Committee are very angry that Prof. Yechezkel Dror has stated plainly your Report is political in its very nature.

It has also been said that any planned follow-on investigation of your prejudicial Report will take yet another year, thereby allowing Olmert to retain the office of Prime Minister as he continues to surrender and abandon more Israeli Land and more Israelis.    Is this part of Ehud Olmert's pre-planning - and yours?

Have you no shame in participating in a virtual "coup d'etat" against the Jewish State in illegally steering your Report to, if not exoneration, but a wrist tap to keep Olmert in power for a failed "Peace Process"?

Clearly, you have lied to the Jewish Nation and have committed acts that would put most judges into jail. Whatever reputation you may have had before has now been besmirched by your own hand.

In addition, your actions demonstrate that many in the Israeli Judiciary are  politically biased and cannot be trusted. This then is your legacy, one of shame, dishonor and criminal in nature.

As for colluding with Olmert, this only further proves he is incapable of running the country with any degree of honesty and integrity, let alone capability to defend Israel's security and sovereignty.

Sadly, you and Olmert are, indeed, like the dregs found at the bottom of the barrel.

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