[thanks, John; you are right, of course]
folks see http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh10142006.html

How Rahm Emanuel Has Rigged a Pro-War Congress

Election 2006: The Fix is Already In

By JOHN WALSH

http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh10142006.html

In the desert repairing vehicles in Israel - sure! He was getting some training by Mossad, I would bet.
And this profile does not get to the heart of Obama's politics. Please look at The Book of Rahm and the other pieced I did on him for CounterPunch in 2006 when he went all out to crush any and all antiwar candidates in the Dem primary - with the help of BO. His candidates lost in the primaries by and large which is one reason the Dems won Congress in 2006 - the precise opposite of the tale now being peddled in the MSM.
jw

On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 1:08 PM, pf soto <pfsoto@gmail.com> wrote:

"Mr Emanuel has been widely touted as a potential successor to Nancy Pelosi" [know what that means, right? next in succession after VP]

Rahm Emanuel: A profile of Barack Obama's enforcer

Rahm Emanuel, who has been chosen by Barack Obama to be the White House chief of staff, is known by colleagues as "Rahmbo" - a nickname reflecting his reputation as one of the most ferociously combative figures in Washington.

http://tinyurl.com/5mdv8k (telegraph.UK)

Mr Emanuel, who received training in ballet as a boy, has shown no lightness of step in his political career: would-be enemies are advised to heed the story of a pollster who wronged him and promptly received a large, decomposing fish in the post.

Reflecting on his own foul-mouthed, attack-dog style, Mr Emanuel has said: "I wake up some mornings hating me too." Commentators have suggested that Mr Obama, who ran a lofty campaign based on national unity and bipartisanship, has recognised the need to employ a tough enforcer to push through his policy programme.

Born in Chicago, Illinois on November 29, 1959, to a doctor and a hospital technician, Mr Emanuel was brought up in a household that combined black civil rights activism with devout Judaism. His religious devotion has endured: he recently secured a special waiver from his rabbi to work through Rosh Hashanah during negotiations over the $800 billion banking bail-out.

Mr Emanuel grew up with a sister and two brothers - one of whom, Ari, grew up to be a talent agent in Los Angeles and provided the inspiration for the character Ari Gold in the television series Entourage. He himself was the real-life spark for the character of Josh Lyman, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the West Wing.