Negotiate!

This is coolbert:

Here thanks to YNet, some comments regarding the captured and possibly still alive Israeli airman, Ron Arad. The capture of Arad now occurring thirty years ago or so. Arad believed to have taken prisoner by Iranian Revolutionary Guards or affiliates thereof, the status of the man [Arad] never conclusively established. DEAD? ALIVE? No one seems to know for sure?

ONLY TODAY, Dan Halutz, former Israeli Chief of Staff [CoS], commenting on Arad. This is the man that would know the truth, if anyone would know.

"Halutz: Ron Arad's release could have been bought"

"Former IDF chief of staff claims national considerations prevented Israel from paying money to release kidnapped navigator"

Those national considerations I would have to assume being the aversion to pay ransom money for a military man taken prisoner. The setting of a precedent was considered to be unwise. A decision the ramifications for Arad that have become catastrophic [I am assuming the man is still alive]!

"Former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who has recently joined the Kadima party, said Saturday that navigator Ron Arad's release could have been bought with money but that it was decided against it 'for national reasons.'"

This pronouncement of Halutz, taken by itself, only confirms that Arad was known to have been captured, was alive, and those persons holding the airman captive were known for who they were. AND BARGAINING COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BUT WAS NOT!

These comments of Halutz are also most interesting when taken in the context of the purported suicide of the kidnapped Iranian Revolutionary Guards general officer [retired?] Asgari! Allegedly died by his own hand in an Israeli prison only just a few days ago?

Halutz too now has political ambitions. The IDF has been merely a stepping stone for those senior Israeli commander who are no longer on active duty but still see a major role in the society [Israel] for themselves.

coolbert.