www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/755793.html
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided Monday to establish two committees of inquiry into the government and military handling of the Lebanon war, rejecting both a fuller, independent state commission of inquiry or a government commission of inquiry. "We don't have the luxury to invest years examining the past. What we need is a businesslike, professional investigation that gets to the root of the problem quickly," Olmert said in a speech in the northern city of Haifa, where he spoke to leaders of communities damaged by Hezbollah rocket fire. He also said he did not want to put the army in a position of "self-flagellation."
ng/site=Haaretz_Eng&adsize=300x250e ng&hposition=99&hlayer1=&HaaretzCatgory=&hlang=ENG "The government, headed by myself, will appoint an investigative committee," Olmert said. "The committee will be charged with examining the government's functioning in taking decisions and all that it sees as fit." Neither of the committees have the legal authority to summon witnesses. The inquiries fall short of demands for an independent, in-depth probe with the authority to dismiss top government officials. The decision was likely to further enrage critics who say that Olmert and other top officials should be the focus of the investigation, not overseeing it. Critics have been demanding a full-blown "state inquiry," with the authority to fire officials. Israel has carried out such inquiries after past crises, including the 1982 war in Lebanon, which led to the dismissal of then defense minister Ariel Sharon. The investigation into the way the government conducted the war will be headed by former Mossad chief Nahum Admoni and will include Brigadier General Yedidia Ye'ari, Professor Ruth Gavison and Professor Yechezkel Dror. The issue of the way in which the bombarded home front was handled will not be under the jurisdiction of either commission, and will be left up to the State Comptroller to investigate. Olmert emphasised that the decision to go to war had been his alone, and admitted to shortcomings in how the war had been pursued. Initially, Israeli officials had talked about the conflict lasting just a matter of days, not more than a month. "I want to make one thing clear, the responsibility for the decision to go to war... "I know there are controversies about the degree of success that perhaps was due to early expectations." In his speech, Olmert defended the war, saying Israel inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah. He described the cease-fire, which calls for a beefed-up international force to help police the border, as a major diplomatic success. He also said the ground offensive, launched just as the cease-fire agreement was taking form, was "unavoidable," despite the heavy Israeli casualties. He said the offensive put pressure on the United Nations to approve the cease-fire. The leadership of the commission of inquiry into the conduct of the government was offered to former MK Professor Amnon Rubinstein, but he turned it down. Rubinstein was a member of the parties Shinui and Meretz, and recently headed a committee for the consolidation of Israel's immigration policy. The committee of inquiry examining the conduct of the military during the war will apparently be based on the panel appointed by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, headed by former IDF chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak. The panel ended suspended work after one day, due to public criticism. It is likely that additional members, with judicial qualifications, will be added to Lipkin-Shahak's panel, which will focus on investigating what happened and try to learn from these findings.
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