Last update - 00:00 21/04/2007
Tamir: Military echelon provided false information at start of war
By Haaretz Service
Education Minister Yuli Tamir said Saturday that the military echelon supplied false information to the government at the start of the summer's Second Lebanon War.
Speaking on the Channel 2 television program "Meet the Press," Tamir said "the heart of the problem was the feeling given to the ministers that this would be a short operation, the goals of which could be achieved by the Air Force, with a very focused ground operation."
Tamir said that as in the period preceding the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the government received information that was "one-dimensional, and not enough."
When asked about the responsibility of former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz for the faulty information, Tamir said, "it is not a coincidence that that chief of staff is no longer serving in his position."
When asked about the government's decision to go to war, she said, "with the way the information was presented to the government, it was impossible to arrive at another decision."
She added that attending the meeting were former prime ministers and chiefs of staff, and that "none of them stood up and asked questions."
Tamir said that the natural place for Defense Minister Amir Peretz is the Finance Ministry, and that she would support his demand to become finance minister.