Lebanon report prompts calls for Olmert's resignation

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced calls for his resignation in the wake of harsh findings of an official inquiry into the shortcomings of his leadership during last summer’s costly, but inconclusive, war in Lebanon.

The commission’s first report was to be released later today, but government officials confirmed an earlier TV report that the findings would be strongly critical of Mr Olmert and his defence minister, Amir Peretz. That was enough to trigger calls for Mr Olmert’s resignation from coalition partners as well as opponents.

Mr Olmert and Mr Peretz, who took office with limited security experience less than two months before the war, had already lost much of their public support because of the conflict, launched when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid on July 12 last year.

Relying heavily on massive airstrikes recommended by the military chief, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, Mr Olmert pledged to his people that Israel would crush Hezbollah and force return of the captured soldiers. Neither goal was accomplished, and Halutz has already resigned.

Instead, Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with nearly 4,000 rockets, halting only when the UN Security Council imposed a cease-fire, its short-range rocket capacity intact. Israel launched a late, costly ground offensive with the Security Council nearing completion of its cease-fire resolution.

In 34 days of fighting, between 1,035 and 1,191 Lebanese civilians and combatants were killed, as were 119 Israeli soldiers and 39 civilians.

The report covers the first six days of the war, when Israel battered Lebanon with massive airstrikes as Hezbollah pounded Israel with rockets. Also, the report looks at developments during the six years that followed Israel’s overnight pullout from southern Lebanon in 2000 – tracing the Hezbollah buildup across from the Israeli border.

According to the TV reports confirmed by Israeli officials, the commission appointed by Mr Olmert and chaired by a retired judge, Eliyahu Winograd, aims withering criticism at Mr Olmert and Mr Peretz over their decision-making, inexperience and failure to question plans presented by the military.

The report also says that Halutz, a former air force commander, did not provide political leaders with a sufficient range of military options, played down the rocket threat and silenced dissenting opinions within the army command, Israeli media said.

The Winograd panel does not have the authority to fire officials, but the scathing report could ignite public protests and demonstrations, coupled with political infighting, that could force the resignation of Olmert and Peretz. Noisy public demonstrations were expected to back demands that they step down.