Israeli PM Blames Army For Lebanon Failure

Olmert Says Had No Choice But To Strike Quickly At Hezbollah, Army Said It Was Ready

(CBS/AP) 
Olmert told the panel he was convinced Hezbollah would send rockets thudding into Israel's northern communities — as it did — and that he had two options: do nothing or do something from the very first minute. "I don't think there was any option but to act from the very first," he told the commission.

When weighing his options, Olmert said, "In my mind's eye, I saw the new Lebanese morass closing in on us like the old one did" — a reference to Israel's 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon to eject Palestinian militants. That led to an 18-year military occupation of a strip of southern Lebanon.

While effusively praising the fighting forces as "exceptional," Olmert he said the military command "seriously let itself down" during the war.

"Something in the concept of how they operated the forces, something in the concept of their control over the forces, something wasn't what we expected, unfortunately, and that no doubt led to the gap between our abilities and what we achieved in practice."

Asked to address the breakdown of security on the border with Lebanon in July, Olmert acknowledged that senior security officials told him about a lack of military exercises in the area. But he said he "didn't really pay much attention" because the defense establishment "always" comes to budget deliberations saying it doesn't have enough money.

Olmert's office, commenting on the testimony, defended his wartime actions as "the necessary conclusion from a process of planning and consultation that Olmert has carried out" since taking over as prime minister in January 2006, following Ariel Sharon's incapacitating stroke.

Addressing commentators' criticisms that Olmert was trying to shift the blame to the army, the statement said, "the prime minister didn't fob off responsibility onto anyone or accuse anyone. ... At the same time, Olmert doesn't conceal there were failures; the military says that, too."

Meanwhile, Livni held talks Thursday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the first high-level discussion between Israel and the Arab world on an Arab initiative calling for an exchange of land for peace.

Israel and the United States have called the Arab initiative a possible basis for reviving the Arab-Israeli peace process. But Israel has expressed reservations over many of its provisions, including the initiative's call for a solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees.

Arab nations first launched the Saudi-led initiative in 2002 — meeting an outright Israeli rejection — then revived it at a summit in Riyadh in March. The Arab League has designated Egypt and Jordan to take the lead in discussions with Israel to promote the plan.

Olmert visits Jordan on Tuesday to meet with King Abdullah II in the ancient city of Petra on the sidelines of an annual Jordanian conference for Nobel laureates.

Chief Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh had said Abdullah would "focus on the Arab peace plan and ways to move the peace process forward."

"The Arab peace initiative is a historic chance and if we don't move, there would be nothing to negotiate on," King Abdullah of Jordan was quoted as saying in an interview published Thursday in the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram.

[grazinggoat]

Pretty soon they will be balming the soldiers. They don' tknow how to fight, yeah right. Don't blame it on me...