Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returned fire at critics during the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, confronting the growing calls on him to resign over the Winograd report harshly criticizing his judgment and leadership during last summer's Lebanon war.

"Anyone who runs to exploit the situation in order to make political gains of one kind or another, I advise you to slow down," Olmert told his adversaries.

"This government was responsible for carrying out the failures, and it is also responsible for fixing them," he told his cabinet, which convened for the first time since the publication of the interim report Monday by a government-appointed commission of inquiry into the war.

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Olmert said that "it is clear that the report points to serious failures in the functioning of the government and I, who is at its head," but he added, "while submitting the report, the Winograd panel stressed, that the most important thing is to look towards the future."

Olmert is to present the cabinet on Wednesday with a proposal to "adopt the main points of the Winograd report" and work toward implementing its recommendations.

The cabinet unanimously approved a proposal to set up a task force, headed by a former IDF chief of staff, Amnon Lipkin Shahak. The task force is to implement the Winograd Committee's recommendations, such as bolstering the National Security Council, broadening the Foreign Ministry's involvement in decisions on foreign affairs and security issues and keeping the ministers better informed.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that "there was no need to wait for the Winograd report, and there is no need to wait for the task force to realize that the Foreign Ministry must be more involved in security decisions. This mistake can be addressed immediately by inviting the Foreign Ministry to all security meetings from now on."

The task force, which will include security officials, diplomats and non-politicians, is supposed to present a plan within 30 days.