Israeli leaders saw Lebanon war as limited operation (Roundup)

May 10, 2007, 13:43 GMT

Jerusalem - The Israeli government believed that last summer's war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas would last only 10 days to two weeks, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a commission investigating the conflict, according to partial testimonies released Thursday.

The testimony of Olmert, Defence Minister Peretz and former military chief of staff Dan Halutz, was released to the public less than two weeks after the commission published an interim report.

This was harshly critical of the way the three handled the first five days of the war which, despite the government's initial assessment, lasted for 33 days.

The release of the testimonies increased calls - first made after the interim report was released on April 30 - for Olmert and Peretz to resign, as Halutz did in January, because of the way the war was handled.

Olmert told the commission that throughout the conflict there had been something 'defective' in the army's philosophy and perception of command.

'Something in the way we operated our forces, something in how we controlled them, wasn't what we expected - and there is no doubt that this created a gap between what we could achieve, and what we actually achieved,' he said.

Soldiers who fought in the war complained afterward that they went into battle under-trained, and with faulty logistics. Olmert told the commission that he had not been told the army was not adequately prepared.

He said Halutz had said the army was qualified and strong, and had enough forces at its disposal to do the job without calling up additional battalions.

Peretz made a similar point in his testimony, telling the commission that he 'was not presented with sufficient information that our army had not undergone sufficient training during any stage.'

Halutz, the first air force man to become chief of staff of the predominantly land-oriented Israel Defence Force, said the army had not shown enough determination in trying to achieve its goals.

Criticised in public after the war for his over-reliance on air power in the conflict's opening stages, he told the commission that there had been a consensus during the war's first days that the time was not ripe for an extensive ground operation.

Adressing the decision to launch an offensive in response to the July 12 Hezbollah cross-border raid which saw two Israeli soldiers abducted and eight killed, Olmert said he thought Israel 'had no other choice but to act immediately.'

The commission of inquiry into the war, headed by a retired judge, said in its interim report released on April 30 that the government had embarked on the war without setting 'clear goals,' fully weighing other options and thinking through a 'detailed, comprehensive' military plan.'

Peretz, a former trade union leader whose appointment to the defence portfolio owed more to political necessities than professional considerations, told the commission that he believed that 'he made very significant decisions which had a very positive effect on the developments on the ground.'

In its interim report, the commission said that Peretz failed to hold 'systematic consultations' with experienced experts despite his own lack of experience, which also prevented him from challenging 'in a competent way' both the military and the prime minister, and thus failed in fulfilling his duties.

The publication Thursday of the partial testimonies was accompanied by a statement of two commission members expressing reservations about making public the remarks Olmert, Peretz and Halutz had made in camera.

They said they feared that officials would not be hesitant to cooperate fully with future inquiries. The commission is due to issue its final report in July.