Ehud Barak Interview (page: 7 / 9) Former Prime Minister of Israel	Print Interview

This young man, who at 17 was kicked out of high school, wasn't very physical, goes into the army and becomes the highest ranking officer in the Israeli Army, the most decorated war hero in Israel. What do you think your superior officers saw in you that allowed you that opportunity?

Ehud Barak: First of all, I should admit that I was lucky, but in retrospect, maybe it means that some inner sense of direction and self-control is more important, even in the military profession. At least in modern life, maybe it is more important than many physical qualities. Of course, along the years I gained some three inches in height and some 30 pounds in weight and muscles during my service. I didn't shave until deep into the third year in service, but later on I became a physically well-shaped youngster. It was just that I came in so early.

But what made your superiors look at you and say, "Here's a leader?"

Ehud Barak: I don't know. I believe that it emerged gradually, maybe when I was a young lieutenant. I had a commander, he was my colonel, and he trusted me somehow. He sensed something that I sensed in myself, that under uncertain and somewhat disturbing and threatening situations I didn't lose my judgment of the overall situation, and the sense of details that makes the difference. The sense of action, that you should not just observe the situation, you should do something about it. Then I got another mentor that escorted me for many years. It was Yitzhak Rabin. As a result of the tiny size of the Israeli Army, before sensitive operations even a young lieutenant like me was taken to the Chief of Staff, the commander of the armed forces, to be briefed and debriefed before an operation. So I was exposed to the supreme commander.

In fact, I was exposed to Rabin earlier in a circumstance which meant a lot for me but not for him. I excelled at officer's school, so Rabin gave the second lieutenant insignia to the first five or six students personally. We had our picture taken together, but he, of course, could not even recall it. Some two years later, I was in a unit that was lucky enough to be sent to solve the most delicate and demanding operational problems of the state of Israel. Some of them the public still doesn't know about, even after 40 years. They were very delicate missions that could drive Israel into big trouble if they became complicated during operation. We got something which is not typical of armed forces. Mainly they are very bureaucratic, very hierarchical. I feel as if I spent the first 15 years of my military career out of the armed forces. We used to wear civilian clothes. We were allowed to contemplate whatever we needed in order to approach the problem. We had full freedom of imagination for creative solutions. Once again, the Isadore Rabi story: Knowing how to raise the right question helps you to shape the right answers.

So unlike what you typically relate to military service, I felt that I'm growing up and developing in a kind of environment of the freedom of the spirit, and the freedom of imagination, the freedom to dare whatever you think. It puts a lot of burden of responsibility not to take too much of a risky approach, but it makes you responsible. We used to say, "You are the commander in the field, you are responsible to it. No one can help you from somewhere in some command post in the rear." And it shapes young people, you know, in a unique way if they're ambitious in a way, if they're predisposed for leadership.
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It might not be an accident that this small unit, which never consists of more than 50 or 60 fighters, raised many of the commanders of the IDF, many future ranking generals. Once again, at the top ranks, ranking generals need something we were educated to acquire at a very early age: thinking of the overall picture, what should be the solution, feeling the lack of limitations in our approach.

On the wing of this hijacked Sabena airliner, we had a future head of the Mossad, future Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, future Chief of Staff, two future prime ministers -- Netanyahu was on the other wing together with me. Where is the egg and where is the chicken here? The rumors about such a unit attract some of the best and most motivated youngsters, and the environment gives these youngsters an opportunity to express themselves, to fulfill themselves, to thrive and grow with the responsibility.

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