The Winograd Committee interim report, to be released in about a week, is expected to include both harsh criticism of senior government and military officials along with a severe evaluation of the functioning of the government and the Israel Defense Forces during the war. Criticism of the army will focus on the acceptance of the presence of Hezbollah in positions along the northern border and continued cut backs in IDF training during the years of the second intifada.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir said yesterday on Channel 2's "Meet the Press" that the government was misled by the army when it voted to go to war, calling the information on which it depended "one-dimensional." With regard to the responsibility of former chief of staff Dan Halutz, she said "it is no coincidence that this chief of staff is no longer serving in his position."

	Advertisement

The committee's previously released statements note that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Halutz will be taken to task. The GOC Northern Command, Udi Adam, who has since resigned, will also be criticized, although this criticism will apparently be reserved for the final report. At this stage, the report only deals with the first days of the war, during which the Northern Command functioned with few hitches.

Committee members have said recently that they will not make the same mistake as the Agranat Committee on the Yom Kippur War, which mainly blamed the military.

The committee will probably at least partly exonerate Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, commander of Division 91. Hirsch was harshly criticized by the Almog Committee investigating the kidnapping of the two reserve soldiers after which the war broke out. He resigned after Halutz failed to support him.

Hirsch presented the committee with numerous documents supporting his arguments. Committee members have recently said that Hirsch was unjustly treated, following a public outcry at the results of the Almog Committee investigation. They accepted Hirsch's contention that the presence of Hezbollah positions on the border (which he had warned about) made it difficult to prevent the kidnapping.

The committee was surprised at the extent of cut backs in IDF training, although this information had been released in the media before and after the war. Training had been limited both because of Palestinian terror and budgetary exigencies. Committee members believe the risks these cut backs involved were too great and impaired the IDF's operational abilities, as could be seen in the war.

Tamir's statements on Channel 2 raised the hackles of other cabinet ministers. "This is a foolish attempt by the education minister to write the story from the end to the beginning. She could have asked questions, but she didn't," a minister said. Tamir was also accused of trying to help Peretz. In response, Tamir said the accusations were groundless and that she had "given an exact description of what transpired."

However, another minister present at the cabinet meeting that voted to go to war on July 12 told Haaretz that, in retrospect, he did not have all the necessary information. "I thought in my innocence that when we go to war, every minister would receive a 'war file' - something that provides perspective." The minister said they were told missiles would be fired on the home front, including on Haifa, although the preparedness of the home front was not explained. He said Halutz was asked about the preparedness of the home front, to which he replied, "The Home Front Command is synchronized."