'Red light' has been turned on

Many years ago a severe incident, followed by a series of mishaps, occurred with the Syrians at the northern front. I don't quite remember the details of the incident, but I do remember its implications.

The GOC at the time, Yitzhak Rabin, or someone on his behalf, published leaflets for the commanders entitled "Red Light," just like a blinking warning light. Many years later whenever a mishap occurred at the Northern Command, the troops and their commanders would say, warn and shout "Red Light", "Red Light."

The army, who is on the verge of a series of in-depth investigations, would do well to switch on the "Red Light". It should not be blinking, it should be screaming.

Before IDF officers step onto the threshold of the investigation halls, we would do well to assure that what will not in all likelihood happen, will indeed happen: Namely, that the IDF will resume being what it used to be? "A nature reserve" in everything pertaining to telling the truth, accurate reporting and in-depth discussion.

'Protecting one's hide'

What can we say? When compared to the civilian market, the IDF is still not such a bad place when it comes to telling the truth, but where does it stand compared to where it used to stand?

Once, many years ago, David Ben-Gurion personally dismissed a second lieutenant when he didn't report the truth in an incident involving the Jordanians that ultimately got Israel into trouble. At about the same time, the IDF dismissed a senior officer with a magnificent past and a bright future, for the sole reason that he knew his driver? His driver!? He had stolen two bags of sugar, and he, the officer, failed to report it.

The IDF is an integral part of the society it serves, and the degeneration that has spread within it throughout the years has ultimately affected the military as well. Failure to tell the truth, false reporting, lies and flattery have become common and accepted traits, and they are punished leniently. Protection of one's hide is a term coined by the army. The culture of falsehood, which is so widespread in Arab armies, has filtered into our own army. Part of the guilt for the lack of success in the second Lebanon war can also be attributed to "protecting one's hide."

A committee or committees tasked with investigating the second Lebanon war would not be able to avoid a thorough examination into how the IDF's presence in and control of held/occupied territories in the past and in the future have influenced the military.

Policing in territories turned IDF into militia

The pronouncement we have known for years, "the occupation is destructive," is well-founded in today's military, without any relationship to political aspects, neither from the Left nor the Right. Years of policing in the territories have transformed the army into a militia, a police force of sorts. And as it has become clearly apparent, a war needs an army.

In some of the ground operations carried out by IDF infantry, the troops conducted themselves as they have done for years in the alleyways of Nablus and the streets of the Jabaliya refugee camp. They were under the impression that their mission was to capture a wanted militant.

We cannot 'just let it slide'

Too many troops, both from the regular and reserve armies, paid with their lives for this mistake. We cannot, therefore, just let it slide.

They say the military will establish dozens of investigation committees to examine every aspect of the war in order to draw conclusions and plan for the future. Here is a proposition, free of charge: Committee chairmen or members should include veteran senior officers as well, people who have long left the service, but whose experience in Israel's wars by far exceeds that of all the IDF's current officers put together.

Such a proposition obviously raises the question of whether we have faith in the IDF's current officers to probe the army thoroughly and with integrity. However, it may be said that this will also serve as a lesson for today's commanders who think they know it all. It wasn't us who coined the phrase of becoming wiser through the learning of our elders.