Israeli War Report Clears Olmert
J-Post:
JERUSALEM - The final report into Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon concluded that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not fail in his handling of a key battle and that his decisions were reasonable, defense officials said Wednesday.
More than 30 Israeli soldiers were killed in a last-minute offensive launched shortly before a U.N.-brokered truce went into effect. Olmert has come under severe criticism for ordering the battle, despite his contention that it improved Israel’s position before the cease-fire.
The officials, who glimpsed at the 500-page report after it was presented to Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak at 5 p.m., spoke on condition of anonymity pending its formal release.
Despite Olmert seemingly escaping criticism over the final key battle, according to television reports, the Winograd Committee found that “the IDF’s ground operation in the last few days of the war did not achieve its objectives.”
Moments after viewing the report, the prime minister consulted with his lawyer, Channel 10 reported.
However, the Prime Minister’s Office said that it was “optimistic” and “satisfied” with the findings of the report.
Panel chairman Eliahu Winograd was set to meet with journalists at the Jerusalem International Convention Center (Binyanei Ha’uma) later Wednesday evening and give a statement including the main points of the report and general comments on the work of the committee. Immediately afterward, committee member Ruth Gavison will present a summary of Winograd’s address in English.
At the same time that the classified report was presented to Olmert and Barak, the committee released a nonclassified version on www.vaadatwino.org.il.
Related: Israel On Edge Over Report
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How can they “clear” Olmert when they apparently didn’t examine one of his primary areas of responsibility:
“The committee’s reportedly lenient view of Olmert could be due to its witness list. It did not summon a key witness, Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman, nor did it hear from several senior Foreign Ministry officials involved in the negotiations over Resolution 1701. And since it did not interview any foreigners, it also did not hear from the American and French ambassadors to the UN, John Bolton and Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, who were the resolutions’ chief negotiators. Both have publicly refuted Olmert’s version of events, but that fact is unlikely to appear in the Winograd Report.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/949354.html
January 30th, 2008 at 9:27 am