Israel's army chief dumped stock hrs before launching war

Israel's current army chief, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, came under deep pressure to resign because of revelations he found time to call his broker and sell off his stocks to avoid wartime losses hours before launching Israel's largest military operation since 1982.

Hmmm. Ring a bell?

Below notice director Niv Harizman was with Alex. Brown (BT for Bankers Trust): This is the firm that executed the "puts" prior to the September 11 attack that took positions the stocks of American Airlines, United Airlines, Boeing, some brokerage houses, and several reinsurance companies (some inter-locked) including AXA Assurance, Swiss Re and Munich Re would plunge ... as if portending fore-knowledge.

Back to the future . . .

[H]is stock transactions [were] called insensitive and arrogant.

Halutz has acknowledged selling about $28,000 worth of stocks at noon on July 12, three hours after the Hezbollah raid that touched off the war.

Politicians and military commanders called for Halutz' resignation.

"This is something that makes you wonder if there is some very problematic chemistry with this person. How, in the middle of everything, could you suddenly think about your bank account? It doesn't make sense to me," dovish politician Ran Cohen, who is a reserve colonel in the paratroopers, told Israel's Channel 10 TV.

When money is all that matters, you can do just about anything . . .

Halutz expressed no regret over the sale, saying he has finances to manage like any other Israeli. "They've turned me into Shylock," he told the Yediot Ahronot daily, referring to Shakespeare's despised Jewish "Merchant of Venice."

. . . without regret.