ANALYSIS: Winograd Committee report says 'we are all guilty' - Haaretz

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ANALYSIS: Winograd Committee report says 'we are all guilty'

By Yossi Melman

Tags: IDF, Winograd, Lebanon

"We are all guilty" is an effective summary of the final Winograd Committee report. But the committee also ranks the guilty according to the severity of their actions, their serious failures and their mistakes.

First and foremost the panel places responsibility with the Israel Defense Forces. After this follows the political echelon - the cabinet and at its head the prime minister and the defense minister, and afterwards every Israeli government since the withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, governments headed at the time by Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon.

Because this was not its mandate, the committee does not place responsibility with individuals, and does not recommend person conclusions for the leaders of the political and military echelons. Nevertheless, in elegant language so uncharacteristic of speech in Israel, resembling the English understatement, it makes very harsh rulings.

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The report, which in both of its volumes numbers 621 pages including appendices, is dedicated to the memory of the fallen of the Second Lebanon War, soldiers and civilians. "Every one of them- a whole world of action, ambitions and hopes, which has collapsed." And it quotes, among others, from the poet Rachel's poem "My Dead," which begins with the words: "Only they remain for me, in them alone did death not imbed its sharp blade."

Every day of the 34 days of warfare is investigated in the report with great thoroughness, which devotes chapters to IDF branches including the Israel Air Force, the intelligence services, the Israel Navy and the ground forces. The committee explains that its goal was to provide an answer "for the public's harsh feeling of fracture and disappointment from the results of the war and its conduct by the political and military echelon" and that it worked from "a desire to make thoroughly research mistakes" and repair "with determination" that which needed repair. Therefore, "we decided not to include conclusions and recommendations regarding individuals and abstained from placing responsibility with individuals" but in its gentle style the panel ruled, and this is more than a hint, that the report should not be interpreted as if no one bears responsibility.

The panel stresses that in its comprehensive assessment the war was, as it ended "a major missed opportunity" and this despite the fact that Israel initiated it, had air complete superiority and the strongest army in the Middle East. In spite all this, the war "ended without Israel winning it from a military point of view."

Emphasizing that in the years preceding the war the IDF was not appropriately ready, the committee added that the government which decided on the war did not hold an "orderly discussion" and decision-making process before it, and that during its development was highly defective.

The report and the comments made by its chairman Justice (ret.) Eliyahu Winograd at the press conference, which was more like the reading of a verdict by a judge, noted also that from when the war started, "faulty operation by the IDF" was discovered, and that "the war was not conducted on the basis of wide knowledge of the region."

However, in its stinging criticism of the IDF, the committee also tried to differentiate between ground forces, which failed, and the air force which the panel praised and said made vast achievements, while stressing what has in fact already been said by commentators and experts, that "vain hopes that the air force would determine [the conflict] were fostered, and in the end the IAF's achievements were also "eroded by the failures."

The committee recalled the grave incident of the hit by an Iranian missile on the INS Hanit, which "blemished" the navy's operations throughout the conflict, but added that the navy "contributed to the sea blockade."

With regard to the subject upon which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's associates pinned great hopes, the decision to launch the ground operation in the final 60 hours- during which approximately a quarter of the war's dead were killed, the committee ruled that the decision was reasonable and even "almost necessary" and as a result of which Israel achieved "political and military flexibility." The committee said that the decisions by the prime minister and former defense minister Amir Peretz on this issue were "practical and well-founded," and its goals were legitimate.

With reference to the results of the war, the panel ruled that it did not make substantial political achievements, adding that Israel did not succeed in translating the military conflict to political achievements- while it did make certain political achievements on the strength of the ultimate diplomatic arrangement and United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The committee also stated its position on the problem of information leaks from within the IDF to the media. It dealt with the weakness of the IDF censor in curbing the leaks and gave its opinion mainly on why perhaps the censor was not actually required to do this, as this is the question of the strength of Israeli society.

On this issue the committee is attempting to say that there are "truths" which are important to repeat to the public. These truths include "fitting military leadership, military ability and public fortitude," without which Israel will be unable to deter its enemies. In other words, the panel is trying to object to a pleasure-seeking and hedonistic tendency which has swept Israeli society, which is not prepared to make sacrifices and requests immediate and speedy satisfaction and wars of luxury.

Israel must, therefore, adopt a policy which strives "for peace with its neighbors also at the cost of compromise. But the arrangements need to come from a place of military power and public strength."

Related articles:

Winograd: Final ground op 'did not achieve military goals', but approving it was essential step

ANALYSIS: IDF has already learnt lessons of Second Lebanon War

Kadima rallies around Olmert, urges Barak to stay in gov't

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	'We are all guilty; is an effective summary of the final Winograd report.




1.	"We are all guilty." Espeiially those who voted for Olmert...	22:45	\|	bat yam	30/01/08

2.	We are all guilty- most of us were looking for war	23:18	\|	Israeli	30/01/08

3.	The Failures Started At The Top, Olmert Needs to RESIGN NOW	23:23	\|	Shepherd	30/01/08

4.	The Failures Started At The Top, Olmert Needs to RESIGN NOW	23:23	\|	Shepherd	30/01/08

5.	Winograd will never reveal what did goes on in that war	00:08	\|	e.m.Jordan is Palest	31/01/08

6.	Winograd will never reveal what did goes on in that war	00:08	\|	e.m.Jordan is Palest	31/01/08

7.	all guilty	00:17	\|	Don	31/01/08

8.	Israel Neighbors Must Strive for Peace At the Cost of Compromis	00:41	\|	Joseph . E	31/01/08

9.	every draft dodger bears blame	00:45	\|	don	31/01/08

10.	Will Israel learn the most important lesson from Winograd report?	01:20	\|	Pablo B	31/01/08

11.	We are not all guilty	01:28	\|	Frank	31/01/08

12.	OLMERT MUST RESIGN... no other choice...	02:29	\|	amir	31/01/08

13.	#2 is a perfect example of how our enemy works	03:29	\|	Avi	31/01/08

14.	Avi #13 - well said!	04:12	\|	CK Tan	31/01/08

15.	Analysis - Winograd implies we are all guilty	07:06	\|	Harv Mayerowicz	31/01/08

16.	OLMERT GUILTY! No matter what the Winograd Report says.....	08:11	\|	Dagma	31/01/08

17.	#10 Pablo B	08:20	\|	* BEN JABO	31/01/08

18.	Olmert must leave in a style befitting his screwing up	08:38	\|	* BEN JABO	31/01/08

19.	UN afraid of reality...	15:52	\|	Cases of Truth	01/02/08

20.	no we are not...	16:38	\|	jewish doctor	01/02/08

21.	it will be called Olmert`s Lost War forever	16:42	\|	dav zee	01/02/08

22.	Vinograd should return his salary	16:47	\|	st forte	01/02/08

23.	Israeli`s are guilty of not forcing Olmert out	05:31	\|	Dish it Out	02/02/08

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