There are a lot of competing interests in the Israeli government these days.

Gabi Ashkenazi simply wants to win this war.

Ehud Olmert wants to rehabilitate his image damaged from the previous war, and perhaps even come out ahead, so he is supporting Ashkenazi.

Ehud Barack and Tzippy Livni want to get back to elections.

Barack figures he's ahead of the game, so he wants to get out now and start campaigning.

Livni has nothing to offer in this war, so she wants to get back to campaigning.

No one understands Hamas and its motivations (unless the theory that Iran is using them as a diversionary tactic is true) and why they want to keep fighting and losing.

It's funny. We're winning this war. I mean completely winning this war. But in the end we may very well lose simply because of the political interests of a few candidates who see more personal profit to themselves with not finishing this job (which is tantamount to have not started it in the first place).

We really do need better leadership in this country.