Reservists freeze campaign against PM ahead of war report - Haaretz

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Mon., January 28, 2008 Shvat 21, 5768

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		Reservists hanging banners reading "33 soldiers just for spin" on Monday night. (Limor Edrey)

Last update - 12:10 28/01/2008

Reservists freeze campaign against PM ahead of war report

By Lily Galili, Barak Ravid, Mazal Mualem and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents

Tags: Second Lebanon War

Israel Defense Forces reservists protesting the management of the Second Lebanon War have decided to freeze their Internet campaign against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert until after the Winograd Commission war report is released on Wednesday.

The decision to freeze the campaign, entitled "33 soldiers, just for spin" was taken after recent reports suggested the final Winograd report would not focus its criticism on the prime minister's actions during the final 60 hours of the war, in which 33 soldiers were killed in a major ground operation.

The choice of the final battle as the focal point of the campaign in the days leading up to the Winograd release was accompanied by hesitation on the part of the campaign's leaders, due to uncertainty over the findings of the report.

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However, the leaders of the campaign, some of whom took part in that battle, reached the conclusion that the issue would be the strongest rallying point for their struggle.

One of the campaign leaders told Haaretz on Monday that "we may have dug a hole we shouldn't have dug, but either way it's a deep hole. I don't think we'll lack work even after the report is released."

Livni meets anti-Olmert protesters

In the run-up to the release of the Winograd Committee's final report, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met Sunday with bereaved families and reservists who are demanding Olmert's resignation.

Also Sunday, sources in Kadima said they would "provide backing" to Olmert before the report comes out, but noted that if it "casts moral aspersions on his decisions - we will work to oust him from office."

Livni said in her meeting with the protesting reservists and bereaved families that "it is your right to ask for a meeting and it is my obligation to hear you. Some of you are conducting yourselves as if taking part in a campaign, but this meeting is not part of that." Livni added that "the worst thing is to create camps of bereaved parents and reservists on the one side and the government on the other."

Olmert told the cabinet yesterday that "Kadima is even stronger than what people want to believe and it will remain strong. We have already proved that we can operate in a cool-headed and wise manner, and I do not expect problems in Kadima."

Meanwhile, a group of 85 reservists sent an open letter to Olmert in which they expressed their objections to what they said were attempts to link politics to the army. In the letter, a copy of which was also sent to the defense minister and the chief of staff, they wrote: "We, officers and combat soldiers in the reserves, of all ranks and from all corps, want to express to you our objection to combining politics and the army. To our view, the army should be left outside and above any political argument, no matter how legitimate. The use of uniforms, both of the regular army and the reserves, for political protest in a democratic country is a dangerous thing which should be fought against."

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