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Defense Minister Amir Peretz (file)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners August 16, 2006 |
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Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Wednesday evening informed the chief of staff and the Israel Defense Forces' top brass that he has decided to appoint an external commission of inquiry, which will look into the army's conduct during and before the war against Hezbollah.
The committee is to be headed by Former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, and will include Former Israel Air Force Chief Major-General (res.) Herzl Bodinger, former Defense Ministry Director-General Major-General (res.) Ilan Biran, and Ami Sagis, former head of logistics at the IDF.
The mandate given to the committee includes the issue of the IDF and the defense establishment's planning and preparedness before and during the war. Within three weeks, the committee will submit intermediate conclusions to the defense minister.
Peretz made it clear that the committee's aim is not to find failures, or to check the political echelon (including Peretz him, of course) but to examine the entire war issue so as to draw conclusions for the future.
Sources at the Prime Minister's Office declined to say whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had welcomed the setting up of an commission of inquiry by Peretz.
"The prime minister was updated by the defense minister on his intentions," a source at the Prime Minister's Office said.
Investigating political echelon not part of inquiry's mandate
In the two and a half days that have passed since the ceasefire came into effect, more and more reservists and regular army have returned within Israel's borders, bringing with them their testimonies of confusion and shortcomings within the ranks. Shocking accounts about the IDF's state, equipment and reserves system were voiced by the soldiers.
There has been a growing clamor for an official commission of inquiry, which will also reach the political echelon. But IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz , who addressed the issue on Tuesday, noted the army did not take a stance on the need for an external investigation, and will carry out everything it is charged to do.
The IDF plans to appoint a senior officer, either in reserves or compulsory service, who did not have direct contact to the war in the north, to coordinate the IDF's internal inquiry, in parallel to the committee appointed by Peretz.
The current committee will only look into the defense establishment's conduct, and will not reach the political echelon in Jerusalem. It has still not been determined whether the committee would be authorized to recommend that certain officials should draw personal conclusions.
Halutz continues to draw fierce criticism, but gets backing too
Halutz continued to be the center of attention of the media and political circles due to his admission that he sold his stock portfolio on the eve of war. Haaretz called in an editorial and a commentary for his resignation, and politicians from left and right echoed that call.
Attorney-General Meni Mazuz said that he would not be indicted. "This is an issue which lies in the public opinion on the conduct of the chief of staff and as such the subject will be discussed and clarified in the public sphere and not the judicial sphere," read the statement issued in response to an inquiry by National Union-NRP leader MK Zevulun Orlev.
Peretz formally backed him, as did a number of senior IDF officers. PM Ehud Olmert called him and reportedly offered his support in general terms, but declined to issue a statement in support of his Chief of Staff.
Meanwhile Halutz appeared in a previously scheduled meeting with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday and laid out some veiled criticism of his own.
At the outset of the session, Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi -- who himself faces corruption charges and earliest this week had his parliamentary immunity removed -- praised Halutz and tried to defend him against facing a "lynch."
The decision to expand the ground operation in Lebanon and advance to the Litani River was not made with the assumption that the fighting would end within two days, Halutz said: "When we began the operation, we did not know we only had 48 hours. We knew a diplomatic process was set to begin, but we didn't know we'd have to stop after 48 hours."
News reports have communicated the sense of confusion and lack of coordination with the political echelon at the end of last week. "Under pressure from the US, Defense Minister Amir Peretz made a frantic call to Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and ordered him to stop the division in its tracks. 'We need to give the diplomatic process one last chance,' Peretz told Halutz. The orders trickled down the chain of command and by the time they reached 366, it had already reached Marjayoun, a stone's throw from the Litani." More than 30 soldiers lost their lives in that frantic, and ultimately fruitless, push.
Halutz hinted that the expansion of the operation was meant to apply pressure on the UN. "It is likely that the political echelons understood that the military expansion must be implemented so as to help with the UN Security Council decision."
MK Danny Yatom (Labor) asked Halutz why IDF troops were ordered to advance, even after it was reported that the United States and France had reached an agreement on the resolution. Halutz declined to answer.
Halutz told the committee there are "fundamental questions that must be checked and investigated, conclusions must be made, and corrections need to be made from the top to the bottom, from me to the commanders to the brigades. Each thing must be examined."
Halutz admitted underestimate the ability of the enemy to fire rockets at Israel. The IDF knew that Hezbollah had rockets and missiles, "but we did not predict that they would fire 4,000 rockets at Israel."
Former Air Force commander Yaakov Terner, who himself was disgraced by a scandal involving leveraging his public position for personal benefit, also rushed to defend Halutz, saying that criticism of him was "poisonous" to Israeli society.
ynetnews contributed to this report.
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