Last update - 00:00 04/11/2007
Winograd to court: War report won't include personal findings
By Haaretz Service
The Winograd Committee investigating the Second Lebanon War on Sunday lambasted the military defense team for appealing the terms of the panel's final report and insisted that it would not succumb to pressure to publish individual findings.
"The defense team has crossed all boundaries of good taste," the panel said in its response to the High Court of Justice regarding the defense team's appeal.
The military defense had petitioned the court over the investigative committee's decision to publish the report without sending letters of warning to the individual parties mentioned in the findings.
In its petition, the defense team asked the court to force the investigative committee to meet its obligation to give the individuals mentioned in the report a chance to respond to the findings against them.
The committee contends that if the final report only has general and systematic recommendations, and not personal ones, there is no reason to send out warning letters that would delay the release of the report.
The panel accused the defense team on Sunday of "missing the purpose for which the committee was formed" by demanding that the findings of the report be specific, rather than general.
The Winograd Committee announced earlier this month that it planned to publish its final report by the end of the year. Justice Eliyahu Winograd, who heads the government-appointed committee, said the decision to publish so soon would impact the content and recommendations included in the report.
In his letter of declaration, Winograd said the committee found utmost importance in the need to publish the report as quickly as possible.
"An important aspect of the committee's work - which was emphasized in its letter of appointment - is the need to finish quickly so that the report can serve as groundwork for mending the failures that were revealed in the war," wrote Winograd. "The committee has decided to make this need its top priority and aspires to publish the final report by the end of 2007."
Related articles