Blame has been placed on the military for failings in the Lebanon War by Israli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to Thursday’s testimony. “I think the army disappointed itself to a large degree,” he told the Winograd commission, the body investigating last year’s fruitless conflict with Lebanon’s Hizbullah guerrillas
“Something in the command and control concept did not meet expectations and undoubtedly led to a disparity between what we were capable of achieving and what we actually achieved,” Mr Olmert told the inquiry.
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Mr Olmert was accused by Zevulun Orlev, an MP from the opposition National Religious party, of trying to evade responsibility by blaming the army. “He should take responsibility now for his failings and resign,” Mr Orlev told reporters.
Last week, in an interim report, the government-appointed panel said Mr Olmert was guilty of ‘a serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence’, in choosing to go to war following the kidnap of two israeli soldiers by Hizbullah.
