The front-page headline in the Sunday Nov. 7 edition of the Washington Post paints a grim picture of the IDF -- "Israel's military faces loss in recruits, status -- Growing number of exempt citizens, recent scandals are among the reasons cited."  The lengthy article, by Jerusalem correspondent Janine Zacharia, jumps to an inside page with an equally gloomy headline -- "Israeli military grapples with decline in recruits, loss of status."Zacharia's first half dozen paragraphs on the front page are in sync with the headline's negative assessments of the IDF -- Growing numbers of young Israelis are avoiding conscription, military planners worry that the IDF won't meet its recruitment needs, the IDF is manned by greater numbers of officers ideologically opposed to evacuating settlers from the West Bank.There is some truth in these observations, but Zacharia goes overboard in her doomsday depiction of the IDF to the point that she ends up...(Read Full Post)