The Winograd committee of inquiry into the performance of the country's senior political and military officials during the Lebanon war will begin its formal sessions Wednesday with the testimony of Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin.

The committee will meet in offices assigned to it in Tel Aviv. The forum has been meeting informally for the last two weeks with figures in decision-making positions during the war.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will testify before the commission Thursday. Both sessions will be closed to the public and the media due to their security ranking. Committee members promise that future sessions, particularly those dealing with the performance of the homefront during the war, will be open.

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The committee comprises retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, Profs. Ruth Gavison and Yehezkel Dror and retired Majors General Menachem Einan and Haim Nadel.

Criticism of the panel has been growing recently, focusing on its unofficial meetings over the past two weeks as well as Tuesday's report that committee secretary Menahem Ben Haim was a Kadima Party activist in the general election.

MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) Tuesday asked the attorney general to examine the propriety of Ben Haim's appointment. Ben Haim says that since he is no longer a member of any political movement, "I see no reason why the position of committee coordinator should be used as a political tool."