Newsgroup: it.cultura.militare
Titolo: IDF worried Lebanon war probe report will damage its image

IDF worried Lebanon war probe report will damage its image  
 
By Amos Harel and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents  
 
Tags: Israel, Second Lebanon War   
Some senior Israel Defense Forces officers have expressed concern that the
final Winograd Report, to be released Wednesday, will damage the IDF's
image in the eyes of the public with its expected harsh criticism of the
military's conduct during the Second Lebanon War. 
Members of the Winograd Committee, charged with investigating the failures
of the military and the government during the war, said this week that the
criticism would extend to many areas of the army's activities, and would
present a very bleak picture of the IDF's ability during the war and the
six years that preceded it. 
The General Staff has conducted a number of consultations on this issue
over the past few days and senior officers are expected to stress in
public appearances over the next few days that many of the flaws
identified by the report have already been fixed and the lessons learned. 
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Former chief of staff Dan Halutz is expected to bear the brunt of the
criticism for his performance during the war. Some of the officers who
served under him are also expected to face criticism. 
Despite this, the final report will not contain sharp personal references
to the performance of individual officers. This follows the committee's
promise to the High Court to refrain from naming individuals after it
refused to grant a hearing to people concerned that the committee's
conclusions could harm their careers. 
The report is expected to be especially critical of the IDF's failure to
stop the incessant firing of short-range Katyushas on Israeli towns
throughout the duration of the war. It will also tackle the failed
performance of civil and military authorities when tending to the civilian
population who came under fire, and the neglect, in the years before the
war, of the reservists' units and their training. 
Hesitant and failed performances on the part of IDF commanders will also
feature in the report, as well as criticism of the relationship between
the Northern Command and the General Staff. 
In its report on the quality of the fighting of the four divisions that
took part in the war, the division commanded by Brigadier General Gal
Hirsch, who later resigned, is said to have been the least bad of the four
and that it stuck to its task and sought to advance. The committee
identified a large improvement in the division's performance after its
initial failure - the kidnapping of the two reservists that sparked off
the war. 
Some flaws identified in the Winograd partial report have been fixed 
Many systemic problems cited in the Winograd Committee's partial report
have indeed been fixed, Haaretz has found. But many others remain deeply
rooted. 
The report, published nine months ago, slammed the cabinet's
decision-making process. 
Ministers do not actually discuss issues, it said; they mainly make
statements for media consumption. They often vote the party line rather
than according to their conscience, and sometimes, they do not even
understand the significance of their vote. The culture of leaks makes many
officials reluctant to say anything of importance at cabinet sessions. 
Moreover, civilian agencies are often distanced from decision-making,
which makes it hard for the government to stand up to the Israel Defense
Forces. The report offered numerous suggestions for fixing these flaws,
and a governmental task force later submitted additional recommendations. 
Since then, substantial progress has been made on combating leaks from
cabinet sessions. 
In addition, the National Security Council has begun playing a more
important role in decision-making, as the report recommended. Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert met with former NSC chairman Ilan Mizrahi about every
10 days; Mizrahi participated in all sensitive government forums; and he
received all the intelligence that Olmert did. The NSC was given
responsibility for preparing the cabinet's security agenda; its staff was
increased; and it was given its own situation room. 
Nevertheless, the NSC remains the IDF's "weak little sister," and many
senior defense officials oppose strengthening it further. Moreover, it has
not shed its negative image ¬ which is why, though Mizrahi left a month
ago, a permanent replacement has yet to be found: Many suitable candidates
are reluctant to take the job because they do not believe it will truly
enable them to have an influence. 
The partial report also recommended strengthening the Foreign Ministry as
a counterweight to the IDF. As a result, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni now
attends all consultations between the prime and defense ministers and was
even put in charge of negotiations with the Palestinians. Foreign Ministry
officials attend more cabinet sessions, the ministry's staff has been
increased, and it now receives even the most sensitive raw intelligence
data. 
Nevertheless, like the NSC, the Foreign Ministry remains a distant second
to the IDF in terms of both resources and ministerial attention. 
The partial report's greatest concern was the way government decisions are
made and the government's organizational culture. Here, too, there seems
to have been some improvement: For instance, September's air strike on an
alleged Syrian nuclear facility truly appears to have been carefully
planned and considered. In contrast, the cabinet's decision-making on Gaza
seems to have replicated many of the same ills that characterized its
decisions on Lebanon. 
The main problem seems to be the ministers themselves. "The mechanisms
that have been established can help in making decisions," said one source
involved in implementing the report's recommendations. 
"But in the end, the hands are raised by human beings - and they, it
seems, have not yet internalized the full extent of the required change.
It is a matter of [changing] the organizational culture - and that doesn't
happen overnight." 
For full coverage of the Winograd report, log on to Haaretz.com on
Wednesday  
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