Last update - 00:00 11/10/2007
Barak won't interfere in legal clash over final Winograd report
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Defense Minister Ehud Barak does not intend to interfere in the legal dispute over the final report of the Winograd Committee investigating the Second Lebanon War, his office told Haaretz Wednesday.
Barak does not intend to order the head of the defense team at the Military Advocate General, Colonel Orna David, to rescind her letter to the Winograd Committee.
In her letter, she asked the Winograd Committee to verify reports that it does not intend to issue warning letters to officers who may be personally affected by the findings in its final report.
In her letter to the Winograd Committee on Tuesday, David warned that unless such warning letters were issued and the right to respond granted to the officers in question, MAG would petition the High Court of Justice.
News of David's letter drew the ire of many MKs, who called on Barak to intervene in the matter.
Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz (Likud) and MK Ophir Pines (Labor), criticized the steps taken by the chief defense attorney at MAG, saying it would cause an unnecessary delay to the publication of the committee's final report.
Steinitz called on Barak to order David to "put an end to the absurdity" in which the IDF is confronting a government committee of investigation in the halls of the Supreme Court.
Brigadier-General Amichai Mandelblit, who heads MAG, learned from news reports of David's letter.
Even though David is officially subordinate to Mandelblit, she has complete professional autonomy in matters concerning the defense of officers and soldiers.
Senior sources in the MAG defense team said Wednesday they had not been pressured to rescind the letter, neither by Mandelblit nor Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
For its part, the Winograd Committee issued a statement Wednesday in response to a request by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, that it only reach a final decision next week on whether its long-awaited report would include comments on specific individuals.
A debate is ongoing within the committee over how to handle this issue, especially in terms of its response if the Supreme Court imposes on it the granting of the right to respond to officers who may be harmed by its findings.
One of the options is for the Winograd Committee to simply disband, without issuing a final report.