Commission of Investigation: Examine Olmert’s Judgement in Ignoring Dangers from Hezbollah by Appointing Peretz DM…

The Chief of Staff’s Warning By Uri Dan (Jerusalem Post)

Excerpts;

“In a state willing to release 400 prisoners in return for the bodies of three Israeli soldiers – the abduction of an Israeli soldier would be considered a strategic attack.”

This was the very clear warning delivered by Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz to the top brass of the IDF Northern Command less than five months before two Israeli soldiers were abducted, and whose fate remains unknown to this day. read more

Uncategorized

With All of the Commissions of Investigation and All of the Findings, The Lessons of Lebanon are Lost on Dumb and Dumber

They Would Not Listen, by Moshe Arens (Haaretz)

For context, click here.

“Rocket fire from Gaza occurs almost daily, endangering the civilian population in the south. It is a small-scale version of what happened in the north. Unless something is done about it soon, it will surely turn into a larger-scale version as time goes on. Yet our ground forces are not being ordered to put the Qassam rocket launchers out of range of our civilian population in the south.”

Full Text;

Now that we are beginning to learn what was said in the inner councils – at meetings with the prime minister, at meetings of the ministerial security committee and at sessions of the Israel Defense Forces General Staff – it is becoming clear that our leaders just would not listen to opinions that were contrary to theirs while discussions were being held on the conduct of the Second Lebanon War. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and then chief of staff Dan Halutz stubbornly clung to their fantasy that the war could be won from the air, while Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni thought that we could get the UN Security Council to pull us out of this mess by calling for a cease-fire, leaving Hezbollah undefeated. read more

Uncategorized

More Food for War Commission Investigation: Hezbollah Monitoring IDF Cellular Communications …

Hezbollah Listened in on IDF Beepers, Cell Phones, By Ze’ev Schiff (Haaretz)

“Clearly evident in the way Hezbollah operatives managed to track and map the movement of IDF patrols along the border, and thus plan the July 12 raid and ambush in which eight soldiers were killed and two others kidnapped.”

“The matter was raised with then prime minister Ariel Sharon by then Military Intelligence chief Major General Aharon Ze’evi-Farkash, who told Sharon that if Israel does not take the necessary countermeasures, the IDF and its activities will increasingly become transparent to Hezbollah intelligence.” read more

Uncategorized

Food for Commission Investigation: Why Nasrallah Wasn’t Tracked from 2000…

Nasrallah File Was Not Important Enough for Military Intelligence

Full Text;

A request to begin amassing a file on Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah following the IDF withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 was turned down.

At the time, a colonel in military intelligence requested to begin building a file on the Hizbullah leader but he was turned down, told that the objective was too insignificant to justify the resources involved in monitoring Nasrallah’s activities.

Such a file would have permitted a strike against Nasrallah at a later date, providing the intelligence community with data regarding his habits and movements, as well as his closest confidants. read more

Uncategorized

Thoughts Worth Considering, Points Worthy of Lebanon War Commission Investigation …

A resident of the Beit Shemesh community recently wrote this letter regarding the connections between the Lebanese War Front and last summer’s Expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif and the 4 Shomron Towns.

Dear Sirs,

With all the calls for inquiries into the botched war effort just behind us, I am surprised not to see more said about the obvious connections to the activities of the summer of ’05 which occupied our army. It seems to me the most guilty parties are not those who poorly ran this summer’s debacle in Lebanon (though they are undoubtedly extremely guilty and must be ousted), but rather those who wasted the army’s resources and manpower over a year ago, training masses of our soldiers to remove fellow Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and parts of the Shomron. All that time and all that money should have been directed at training and equipping the army for war with our enemies, which the entire intelligence community knew was inevitable. All the resources expended to convince the average Israeli that the “disengagement” was a great idea, should have gone into keeping our bomb shelters well-stocked and our citizens better protected. All the money spent on buying spanking new outfits for the soldiers to look their best as they removed hard-working productive Israelis from their homes, livelihoods, and communities, could have better been spent on making sure they would be properly equipped with the best equipment and adequate food and supplies a year later. All the effort and time expended in brainwashing so many thousands of young soldiers to be able to do to fellow Israelis what they would never want done to themselves or their families, could have been much better used in planning and training for the inevitable battles against our sworn enemies. When it came time to do the work that the army is supposed to do – namely, to protect us all from our enemies – there was not enough energy left for decent planning, not enough food or supplies, and inadequate equipment. The people, and especially the soldiers who went into Lebanon to defend us all, deserve much better leadership and some really truthful answers as to how our money and our finest brains could have been so wrongly diverted. read more

Uncategorized

Olmert’s “Investigation Commission”: Stacked With All of His Cronies?

PM: Commission to Have State Powers

Excerpts;

The Winograd Commission of investigation into the management of the war in Lebanon will be given the same authority as a state commission, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“It is the government’s intention to invest the committee with all the powers of a state inquiry commission, as required by law and according to the decision of the justice minister,” he said.

“I hope the committee will complete its task as quickly as possible and help the State of Israel better prepare itself for the challenges that await us,” Olmert said. read more

Uncategorized

Adam’s Resignation: Cause of a Domino Affect, Impetus for State Investigation Commission?

For comprehensive context on General Udi Adam’s resignation and it’s impact at various levels, click on; Adam’s Resignation May Trigger Domino Effect

Analysis: Will Others Follow Adam? By Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)

Excerpts;

On August 9, OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam was in the underground command post at his headquarters in Safed, waging another day of war against Hizbullah. In the afternoon, reports began arriving from Dbil about a building that had collapsed and killed nine IDF reservists. read more

Will the Teflon Olmert Wiggle Out of Lebanon Responsibilities, Police Investigations?

.

‘Winograd Won’t Recommend Firing PM’, by Dan Izenberg and Gil Hoffman (Jerusalem Post)

Excerpts;

The Winograd Committee on the Second Lebanon War will not make recommendations for sanctions to be taken against anyone involved in the failures of the government during and leading up to the war, Channel 2 and the Ynet news site reported on Monday.

This means the panel will not have to issue any cautionary letters and will be able to publish its final report before the end of the year, according to Ynet. If the reports on the letters of caution are true, witnesses will not have to hire lawyers, study the evidence against them and argue their cases before the committee, a procedure that was expected to have delayed the final report by many months. read more

Uncategorized

Will Comptroller’s Report Have Clout? Will an Independent Commission, Prosecutions Emerge?


Commentary;

Will today’s state comptroller’s report have teeth, clout?? Will it trigger the Knesset State Control Committee’s empowerment by law to order the appointment of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the Lebanon conflict?

The regime’s “senior defense officials said Tuesday that the country was prepared, ‘more than ever,’ for another war.” * They claim that;

“The IDF is prepared for a war today better than it was last year,” declared one defense official. “Combat units are trained and the Home Front Command is better prepared today to deal with a missile onslaught than it was last summer.” read more

Before Excitement Over Possible Winograd Commission Findings, Remember Who Appointed Winograd!

Analysis: Question Marks Over Winograd, By Anshel Pfeffer (Jerusalem Post)

“We are in for 40 days of political paralysis. Now that everyone knows that Winograd and his four colleagues will indeed be deciding the prime minister’s fate straight after Pessah, everything will go on hold.”

Excerpts;

The announcement Tuesday afternoon by the Winograd Committee that it will be including personal findings on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz in its interim report created just as many question marks as it dispelled. read more

Uncategorized