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Sunday, May 13, 2007
Uri Heitner: If top goal of an IDF operation is not to get hurt then mission is superfluous

Reserve duty. We came up to the line for active duty and met the area
commander for a briefing.

At the end he remembered that he hadn't yet presented to us the main point:
"and the most important thing is that you all return home safely. All of
this activity isn't worth it to us if one hair on the head of one soldier
should fall," said the commander, pleased with himself for the populist
remark.

This wasn't a one time occurrence. It took place many times, with many
commanders, including one regional commander.

These remarks always angered me.

If the most important thing is that we return home safely then why did you
call for us? After all, we could have remained safe at home. Not a hair on
our heads would have fallen if we stayed there.

If this is more important than the mission then the mission is completely
superfluous.

.Victory first and foremost depends on fighting spirit. We were victorious
in the past thanks to our fighting spirit and we failed in the Second
Lebanon War because of the lack of fighting spirit. I am not talking about
the fighting spirit of the soldiers and the lower ranking officers but
instead mainly of that of the senior IDF command and the government
leaders..

Uri Heitner, Kibbutz Ortal
In a letter published in Nekuda - May 2007 edition
English Translation by IMRA

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