Last update - 00:00 23/10/2006
Defense sources: Winograd war probe to last at least a year
Large volume of material submitted covers period since Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.
By Amos Harel and Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
The Winograd Commission that is investigating the recent war in Lebanon will not be able to present its findings for at least a year, senior defense sources said Sunday.
Retired Judge Eliyahu Winograd has expressed surprise at the volume of material relating to the war, and to the years since Israel's pullout from southern Lebanon in May 2000, which requires review.
At this stage it is also unclear how the internal investigations carried out by dozens of teams within the Israel Defense Forces will be incorporated into the material reviewed by the commission.
Sunday, conclusions of the investigation into the conduct of IDF Division 162 during the war were presented to the General Staff. The inquiry was carried out by a team headed by Major General (res.) Moshe Ivry-Sukenik, and his criticism of the division was described by military sources as "sharp, but not deadly."
Sukenik did not call for the punishment of individual officers in the division, but was critical of the conduct of its commander, Brigadier General Guy Tzur. Specific criticism was directed at Tzur for keeping his distance from the actual fighting. Division 162 fought in the central front of southern Lebanon, in the villages of Markaba and Tibbiya, and later during the battle at Wadi Saluki, during the last two days of the war, where it suffered considerable casualties.
Criticism was also leveled against armored brigade 401 and the Nahal infantry brigade, which fought as part of the division. Serious failures in the way the armored forces were used were also cited in the conclusions of the investigation of Division 162.
Like Major General (res.) Yoram Yair, who investigated the conduct of Division 91, Sukenik was also critical of the way Northern Command headquarters functioned as a "conduit" for orders from the General Staff, rather than having more direct involvement in issuing orders to the divisions fighting in the northern front.
This week the findings of the investigation into the conduct of the division of reservists under Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg will be presented to the General Staff.
Next week, Chief of Staff Dan Halutz will hold discussions on new appointments at the division level. While he is not expected to remove officers from their posts, it is believed that he will appoint division commanders to less important, "gray" posts - so that they will not advance further in the ranks. On Friday Halutz said that "no probe ends with the chopping off of heads in the city square."
Meanwhile, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee continued yesterday to hear reservists describe their war experiences, most of which involved serious accusations of failures at all levels of command.
Committee members heard yesterday for eight hours the testimony of 14 reservists, ranging in rank from captain to colonel.
During the meetings, which were closed to the media, the officers complained of a serious shortage in intelligence materials, out of date maps, lack of coordination between air and ground forces, and friendly fire incidents resulting in casualties.
The reservists also spoke of significant problems in logistics, both in basic equipment but also in the wrong types of ammunition being delivered for specific missions.