Sharon Crosses the River Styx

Or

Bye Sharon-a

(Another tip o’ the cap for Mark)

Ariel Sharon, who lived out Douglas MacArthur’s dictum about old soldiers, has died at the age of 85 of heart failure, 8 years almost to the day after being incapacitated by a stroke. Recognized as the greatest field commander in Israel’s history, Sharon played significant roles in every one of the country’s major military engagements. He was instrumental in defending statehood in 1948, led the assault on the Sinai in the Six-Day War and encircled the Egyptian Third Army in the Yom Kippur War, leading the Israeli public to nickname him “The King of Israel” and “The Lion of God.” He joined the Likud Party after leaving the army, but didn’t stop killing people, taking the blame for allowing Lebanese militias to massacre Palestinian civilians in refugee camps during the 1982 Lebanon War while serving as Minister of Defense. He resigned as Minister of Defense, but Israelis weren’t going to hold dead Palestinians against him, and he held several other ministerial positions before being elected prime minister in 2001. After championing construction of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for most of his career, Sharon unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2004, and was believed to be planning on leaving the West Bank in 2006 when he suffered a debilitating stroke. Sharon’s last 8 years in a permanent vegetative state still made him more popular and more effective than any politician in the United States over that same period.