Eitan: I'll quit Security Cabinet if op doesn't return to initial goals

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan warned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a harshly-worded letter on Wednesday that if Operation Cast Lead did not return to its initial goals, he would resign from the security cabinet in protest. Eitan recollected that he called for the postponement of the February 10 election at the start of the operation, saying that his fears that politics would impact the war had been proven justified. "Some of those who had led an impressive military and diplomatic campaign until the last few days have returned to function as politicians," Eitan wrote to Olmert. "I am warning you that the closer we get to the opening of the ballot boxes, the more intertwined politics will be in decisions about the operation." Eitan, who worked in Israeli intelligence for decades, warned that time was running out to complete the operation and that if Israel did not achieve its goals soon, the next Israeli prime minister would have to decide to return to Gaza in a few months with a new president in Washington.