_a.jpg "Photo: Eli Elgarat")
Shomron: War was run with no goal
Former IDF chief of staff presents findings of inquiry into Lebanon war failures to Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. 'The prime minister instructed the army to halt the rocket fire, but the army failed to translate it into a military objective,' he says
According to Shomron, "The prime minister instructed the army to halt the rocket fire on Israel, but the army failed to translate it into a military objective."
During the meeting, Shomron revealed a detail which could testify to IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz's fear of leaks, even among the General Staff members.
According to Shomron, the army chief prevented the distribution of the report he prepared. After Shomron handed out the report findings to the General Staff members, Halutz asked to collect the copies at the end of the meeting. This is something which was not done in previous inquiries conducted by the army.
Dan Shormon (L) with Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said during the meeting, "I am under a very grave impression, mainly regarding what is taking place in the State of Israel's military and political echelon.
"There are deficiencies in the issues of national security, both in the political leadership as well as in the IDF top brass. This resulted in the fact that it was not understood that firing on millions of Israelis means a war, rather than border incidents. Israel's combat doctrine has been worn down."
'Shomron clarified what was already known'
MK Danny Naveh (Likud) said following the discussion that "the war's big failure was a failure from the top on all levels. No clear war objectives were defined and there was complete blindness. There was a lack of a clear and realistic definition from the first day nearly until the last day."
MK Effie Eitam (National Union-National Religious Party) said that "Dan Shomron clarified what was already known. It was eventually not Hizbullah that presented a military challenge to Israel, and it was not the absence of weapons.
"Everything was basically okay, but those who were supposed to provide the army with the objective it was fighting for experienced a mental collapse, and didn’t do so until the last day. I am worried, but these problems can be fixed."
Shomron was appointed in October to head the team which probed the conduct of the General Staff during the Lebanon war. Ever since the end of the war it was clear that a comprehensive probe into the performance of the chief of staff and the general staff was necessary in addition to all other units and levels.
The appointment of an investigator was necessary because both the general staff and the chief of staff had direct influence on the decision-making process during the war.
