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Every citizen's responsibility By Israel Harel Tags: Winograd Report, Israel  The Winograd Committee, to the chagrin of many, did not dispatch Ehud Olmert to the political desert, and perhaps that is a good thing. In so doing, it has committed a supremely educational act: Instead of requiring Olmert to resign, it has required us, the public, to stop whining and waiting for others, like the committee, to do our job for us. The time has come, Winograd said, to no longer place all the responsibility, and in almost all spheres of life, on the government, the army, the courts and other branches of government. The concept in principle that the public, and not the committee, will decide where conclusions should be drawn about continued service following the harsh findings ("The main responsibility is on the prime minister" as stated by the partial report, which is inseparable from the final report) is educational and reasonable. In any case, this concept did not arise out of extraneous considerations, as various commentators said yesterday. The partial report, which placed "ministerial and personal responsibility" on Ehud Olmert, will not change. And the jury - we - must now sequester ourselves and decide whether we want the prime minister, together with his colleagues who failed, to continue as our leader, or whether they should all resign. The public, at least as revealed by continuous opinion polls since the war, has said its piece: Olmert is to blame and the public has no faith in him. But that self-same public is waiting for someone like the Winograd Committee to take its irons out of the fire. Because in general, the public has ceased taking responsibility, and not only since the war. It places it on the government and the army. Advertisement But the government and the army are a reflection of the public that is shirking its responsibility. Many who voted for the reckless and irresponsible Olmert would now like to see him go. After the long years he has been involved in politics and through endless investigations of which he has been the focus, they could have recognized his rashness. What did they think? That because he became prime minister he would suddenly undergo a personality transplant? How did they give their trust to a person who for many years was one of the most fluent spokespeople of the right, and suddenly with the same fluency, he became the executor, as one pundit had it yesterday, of the policies of Uri Avnery? Those who voted for him and did not see all these essential flaws that should disqualify a person from public service, certainly from the office of prime minister, should not now complain about the Winograd Committee. The public cannot claim to be blameless, perhaps even more so with regard to the role of the Israel Defense Forces. Dan Halutz was not the only one who determined that the Israel Air Force would do most of the work. It was the public - mainly the public - that determined, much earlier than this war, that soldiers should not be put at risk in ground operations. Halutz was operating according to the norms dictated to him. Former chief of staff Shaul Mofaz ordered that Madhat Yusuf not be extracted from Joseph's Tomb for fear of incurring casualties. The same chief of staff, together with GOC Central Command Yitzhak Eitan and division commander Benny Gantz, abandoned for some 10 hours a group of hikers that had been attacked on Mount Ebal, although they had suffered a casualty and injured members, including small children. They acted this way because that is what we citizens demanded of them: Do not endanger our "children" - the soldiers. Those citizens also pressured the government to release many hundreds of terrorists - everyone knew that a large number of them would return to their evil ways - in exchange for a few soldiers or bodies of soldiers. And when disasters happened during training, or special operations, such as the naval commando unit disaster, there is immediate pressure for cutting off the heads of IDF brass. The commanders have internalized these moods and have transformed them, in opposition to the basic interests of the state and the spirit that should be present in the army, into norms. Victory is not the principle to these commanders, but rather their survival, their ability not to get entangled in military police investigations or be removed from their post. But in Lebanon, containment was not enough. There, when Hezbollah bombarded the North with thousands of Katyushas, they had to fight. And fighting means taking the risk of losses. True, the brass, like the government, was confused, unfocused, not determined and did not seek to engage the enemy, but it reached that point to a great extent because of what civilians dictated to it for quite a few years. That is the main lesson of the Second Lebanon War and these conclusions, which are much more important than whether Olmert will survive or not, have been thrust at us by the Winograd Committee. If we continue to deal with the taking of responsibility by Olmert, the government and the army - as important as these matters are in themselves - and thus relieve ourselves of responsibility, it will mean that we did not learn, in national terms, the real lessons of the war. Bookmark to del.icio.us   'British Oskar Schindler' Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 Jewish children during the Holocaust, is up for the Nobel. Pride of Israel Tennis: Shahar Peer beats Russia's Dinara Safina to give Israel 1-0 lead in the Fed Cup.   1.   No Harel, Absolutely NOT 10:54  |  Tzfonit 31/01/08   2.   Remove Benny Gantz from his cushy position in Washington 11:46  |  Absolute Sweden 31/01/08   3.   It was not a war 14:41  |  Marilyn 31/01/08   4.   To Olmert 15:15  |  Steve 31/01/08   5.   Oh good thinking Mr. Harel 15:24  |  sh 31/01/08   6.   Mr. Harel a bit of education 17:00  |  Gee 31/01/08   7.   THANKS GOD THEY LOST 17:17  |  indrajaya 31/01/08   8.   REPLACE THE PEOPLE! 17:19  |  soggy liberal 31/01/08   9.   The Soul Of Israel Is Sick 17:39  |  Norman F Birnberg 31/01/08   10.   EVIL DESERVED NOTHING, BUT LOST 18:04  |  indrajaya 31/01/08   11.   The day Israel acted against its own it started to lose 18:38  |  Harry 31/01/08   12.   No Harel Absolutley NOT 19:22  |  Dangalil 31/01/08   13.   Leadership is still needed, as US example shows 19:46  |  Voice of Reason 31/01/08   14.   Amen! 20:30  |  Ofer Maimon 31/01/08   15.   olmert detractors 23:56  |  Gilbert 31/01/08   16.   LOL @ #3 01:21  |  Tom 01/02/08   17.   Another LOL #3 09:16  |  Dangalil 01/02/08   18.   Winograd Report. 09:57  |  Yoel 01/02/08   19.   War failure is the result of auhority 10:25  |  The Archives 03/02/08

Today Online Egypt seals final gap in its breached Gaza Strip frontier Responses: 29 IDF commander gets 15 months in prison for W. Bank rampage Responses: 17 Al-Qaida claims attack on Israeli Embassy in Mauritania Send response For all the excitement, very little has changed in the Gaza Strip Responses: 14 More Headlines 10:35 Barak: I'll stay in government despite 'harsh' war report 10:41 Egypt seals final gap in its breached Gaza frontier 10:22 Al-Qaida claims responsibility for shooting attack on Israeli Embassy in Mauritania 10:33 U.S. Methodist Church renews drive for divestment from Israel 03:48 IDF commander gets 15 months in prison for W. Bank rampage 04:58 Orthodox man improves amidst life support battle with doctors 09:11 Ministers to meet again on relaxing criteria for freeing Palestinian prisoners 03:33 Lebanon seeks arrest of 17 soldiers, civilians after deadly clashes 06:27 For all the excitement, very little has changed in the Gaza Strip 02:54 Blair: Middle East peace agreement is possible by end of 2008 01:43 Palestinian tries to sneak lion, monkey into Gaza from Sinai 05:59 Troubled high-schoolers realizing potential as policemen Previous Editions Select Day 01 feb 31 jan 30 jan 29 jan 28 jan 27 jan 25 jan 24 jan 23 jan 22 jan 21 jan 20 jan

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