Wrong intelligence, wrong guns, wrong tactics. Israel's military acknowledged big mistakes on Tuesday during the bungled boarding of a Gaza-bound aid ship in which elite troops killed nine international activists.
Though Israelis rallied to their conscripts in the face of foreign fury, the domestic recrimination -- with "Foul-up" and "Fiasco" dominating newspaper headlines -- betrayed an erosion of confidence recalling the setbacks of the 2006 Lebanon war.
One commentator demanded that Defense Minister Ehud Barak step down. Cabinet members vowed to investigate, but their insistence that the pro-Palestinian activists had provoked the bloodshed found a ready ear among an irate Israeli public.
The secretive Flotilla 13 marine commando unit was brought out of the shadows to try to explain the operation's failings.
"We did not expect such resistance from the group's activists as we were talking about a humanitarian aid group," one unnamed naval lieutenant told Israel's Army Radio.
"The outcome was different to what we thought, but I must say that this was mainly because of the inappropriate behavior of the adversary we encountered."
By: Brant
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