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Last update - 10:01 04/01/2008 Unmilitary force By Haaretz Editorial Tags: IDF, Second Lebanon War  Given that the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee's report on the Second Lebanon War was signed by 17 Knesset members representing the entire political spectrum, it is impossible to claim that it was politically biased. The committee regularly supervises the defense establishment, so it was natural for it to try to learn the lessons of the war. Instead of accusing it of having failed to hold the government responsible, people should read what's in the report. Its findings, like other information about the war, depict an army that has ceased to be an army. The Israel Defense Forces failed to defeat Hezbollah, even though they had enough time (too much time, in the committee's opinion). And the IDF had public and international support, reservists who showed up on short notice, more than enough technology and weaponry, and an enemy located near the border. The report noted that the IDF did not conduct itself like an army, so it failed to carry out the mission the government assigned it. The "strategic goal" was formulated in political language and was not translated into military targets. According to the committee, the war had three stages, but no military lessons were learned as the army progressed from one to the next. Whatever failed in Stage 1 was tried again, in a slightly different form, in Stage 2. The war was fought using Hezbollah's tactics rather than taking advantage of the IDF's large size. Advertisement Even though the government ordered the army on July 19, 2006, to make suppressing the rocket fire on Israel its primary mission, this order was never implemented. That the firing continued until the end of the fighting - on the final day, Hezbollah launched 250 rockets at Israel - is proof the IDF lost the war. If the war produced any strategic achievements, they stemmed not from the fighting's success but from Israel's willingness to respond to the abduction of two soldiers, as well as from the international involvement in drafting the cease-fire's terms. Perhaps because of the growing overlap between the army and government - ministers who speak like officers and officers who think like politicians - a pathological confusion over the division of labor has developed. The IDF was not acting like an army even before the war: It had never readied operational plans for the possibility of war with Hezbollah. That is a shocking finding given that Israel initiated the war. The committee's conclusion that a large ground operation should have been launched at the start of the war ignores the possibility that this operation might have failed also. Israel had three options after the soldiers' abduction: not responding, responding with a small operation or responding with an all-out war. Instead, the choice fell on something in the middle, which no one ever managed to define. A small operation would have spared Israel the massive rocket barrage. A large operation would have had to take the rocket fire into account and take action to suppress it. But the army made no effort to suppress this fire. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee described an army that does not function as an army - not in terms of hierarchy, structure or operational and logistical preparedness. It does not function as an army in the way it translates government decisions into action on the ground, or in its ability to win, or even in its desire to win. Even someone who is not enthusiastic about going to war should be worried by this state of affairs. Bookmark to del.icio.us   'Body of 2008' A U.K. men's magazine pays homage to Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli. Echoes of Thessaloniki A book on Sarkozy's Greek-Jewish roots goes on sale in Greece.   1.   Haaretz, so patriotic 10:10  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 04/01/08   2.   HAARETZ headline says more about Haaretz than the IDF 10:11  |  PETER SM 04/01/08   3.   This Editor is now going to...... 10:11  |  Miriam Ashkelon 04/01/08   4.   Very odd "strategic achievements" 10:27  |  Clickfool 04/01/08   5.   On cheering up Peter SM # 2 10:39  |  Clickfool 04/01/08   6.   Avoids some of the nastier thoughts 10:57  |  Colin Wright 04/01/08   7.   No one wants to die to save the settlements 11:08  |  Chanalau, Tova 04/01/08   8.   I watched this war closely in 11:11  |  cool 04/01/08   9.   THEY DESERVE NO LESS THAN "HAGUE" 11:20  |  indrajaya 04/01/08   10.   THEY DESERVE NO LESS THAN "HAGUE" 11:20  |  indrajaya 04/01/08   11.   if the idf did not perform well then we are at fault 11:40  |  harzion 04/01/08   12.   the whole editorial to the extent it did not mention 11:45  |  harzion 04/01/08   13.   cool #8 out of 9 posts, only you make sense! 11:48  |  S 04/01/08   14.   Unmilitary..... 11:55  |  Esther 04/01/08   15.   #indrajaya 11:56  |  Adrian de Klerk 04/01/08   16.   The IDF lacks effective leadership on every level 11:56  |  Natallie Durson 04/01/08   17.   Israel lost the war 11:57  |  Chris Linthwaite 04/01/08   18.   And how responsible is the LEFT for this? 12:05  |  observer 04/01/08   19.   Vulgar Marxist Colin Wright 12:26  |  Absolute Sweden 04/01/08   20.   why should the best officers stay in the idf? 12:26  |  harzion 04/01/08   21.   chris linthwaite hatred and bitterness 12:31  |  basra 04/01/08   22.   the nitwits parade again to spout total crap 12:53  |  victor hardman 04/01/08   23.   Fault is with the Generals-How Many Killed or wounded? None 13:03  |  Yossi Cronenberg 04/01/08   24.   Re S #13 and others 13:08  |  Esther 04/01/08   25.   Repetitive rituals to uphold lack of definition 13:13  |  sh 04/01/08   26.   Re Observer #18 13:16  |  Esther 04/01/08   27.   #6 Colin, on your last line..... 13:25  |  Johnboy 04/01/08   28.   Stupidity or Political Agenda? 13:29  |  Gideon Afek 04/01/08   29.   # 8 "Cool", your opinions are cool. IDF didn`t fail.PM,DF are 13:34  |  Max Zinger (Mossad) 04/01/08   30.   The IDF, like Israel, has grown weak & flabby with affluence 13:54  |  Clickfool 04/01/08   31.   what editorial misses 14:01  |  rich 04/01/08   32.   For S, on the dying days of the war # 13 14:03  |  Clickfool 04/01/08   33.   Chris Linthwaite 14:04  |  rich 04/01/08   34.   #22 the remarkable yossi and more hot air 14:25  |  victor hardman 04/01/08   35.   Re Max #26 14:35  |  Esther 04/01/08   36.   Gideon #25, did you tell this to Winograd?! 14:40  |  Esther 04/01/08   37.   Re Yossi #22 14:46  |  Esther 04/01/08   38.   Lebanon was LEFTIST War 14:50  |  B 04/01/08   39.   Re observer #18 (addendum) 15:00  |  Esther 04/01/08   40.   Nasrollah himself said "it wasn`t worth it", wouldn`t do it again 15:00  |  Dr. L. Brnd 04/01/08   41.   HAARETZ 15:16  |  GABE1 04/01/08   42.   #21 Victor Hardman 15:17  |  Chris Linthwaite 04/01/08   43.   The many Olmert mistakes in the Lebanon war 15:22  |  Tosefta 04/01/08   44.   No 2nd leb war 15:27  |  6 million 04/01/08   45.   On Lebanon`s "Victory" 15:29  |  Ambrose 04/01/08   46.   Takes one to know one 15:31  |  Dry Fuss 04/01/08   47.   #21 A potted history lesson from Victor 15:34  |  Johnboy 04/01/08   48.   Esther Of JAFFA 15:34  |  GABE1 04/01/08   49.   IDF = Death Squads 15:35  |  POP 04/01/08   50.   #26 Deck chairs on the Titanic, Max 15:42  |  Johnboy 04/01/08   51.   IDF = most murderous terrorist organisation in Middle East 15:46  |  Stephen Murray 04/01/08   52.   Fighting civilian terrorists among civilians is morally 16:01  |  deteriorating 04/01/08   53.   Indrajaya`s Indonesian military are WAR CRIMINALS 16:02  |  Craig F 04/01/08   54.   ELECTIONS? 16:04  |  bat yam 04/01/08   55.   IDF, lebanon and haaretz 16:05  |  marcel 04/01/08   56.   Esther your own patriotism isn`t burningly obvious either 16:28  |  Iz Ray Leigh 04/01/08   57.   #27 johnboy and the usual inaccuracies of post 16:31  |  victor hardman 04/01/08   58.   It`s an occupation army, used to killing women and children 16:55  |  Gemayel 04/01/08   59.   Its all about protecting Olmert - #41 nailed it! 16:56  |  observer 04/01/08   60.   The Left is responsible 17:06  |  Frank 04/01/08   61.   Haaretz Editor contradicts himself 17:06  |  Richard 04/01/08   62.   POOP,Did you swallow a duracell?? 17:16  |  TOMY 04/01/08   63.   To Tosefta,Be happy...it will be a next war...so 17:23  |  Dummy the ant 04/01/08   64.   the politicians ran Lebanon & to few experienced officers 17:29  |  zionist forever 04/01/08   65.   the idf is doing its job full well if (read on): 17:33  |  manuel belli 04/01/08   66.   # 39, CRAIG F (a.k.a PETER SM) 17:36  |  indrajaya 04/01/08   67.   re:29 17:41  |  zionist forever 04/01/08   68.   Intelligence was IDF`s main weak point. 18:02  |  Franco 04/01/08   69.   IDF started out as terrorist (stern, irgun) and remains terrorist 18:16  |  muslim 04/01/08   70.   Re #27, #34 18:17  |  Esther 04/01/08   71.   I do not believe the IDF was defeated 18:21  |  KUTW 04/01/08   72.   Stephen Murray!