Israel

Leb war report notes "serious deficiencies and mistakes", reax

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST 1. Wide of presser for committee presenting was probe report 2. Press 3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Eliyahu Winograd, head of the panel investigating Israel's 2006 Lebanon war: "We found serious deficiencies and mistakes in the decision making process and in the workings of the political echelon, the military echelon and in the interface between them." 4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Eliyahu Winograd, head of the panel investigating Israel's 2006 Lebanon war: "Up until the first week of August there was not in the army a readiness to carry out the wide ranging ground offensive, the result being that Israel did not enjoy immediate military success, and was dragged into a ground offensive only after the political timetable could no longer permit its successful conclusion. The responsibility for this basic failure in the conduct of the war is laid equally at the feet of the political and military leadership." 5. Otniel Shneller, Kadima party Knesset member: 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Otniel Shneller, Kadima party Knesset member: Question: "Do you see Prime Minister Olmert quitting because of this Winograd report?" "No reason. He can fix everything, he is supposed to build all the argument of the report, the Winograd report, and he will build with us a strong country, strong army and to be ready to the future." 7. Corridor, knesset members walking 8 Set up shot of Yossi Beilin 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Yossi Beilin, Knesset member for the left wing Meretz party: "I believe that somebody who led Israel during the days of this awful war in Lebanon, the one who is responsible for the death toll in these days cannot and should not be the prime minister of Israel. This is why the question is not what will be in the Winograd report, or what are they saying there, the question is about the war in Lebanon. One who witnessed what happened here during this war knows better than any other person that those who were responsible for the war should not continue and rule this country." 10. Mid of Yossi Beilin STORYLINE: The head of the panel investigating Israel's 2006 Lebanon war said Wednesday that investigators found "serious deficiencies and mistakes" in the country's political and military leadership during the conflict, but said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acted in what he thought was the interest of the state of Israel. The final report appeared to give an important boost to Olmert, who had faced the possibility of harsh criticism that could have threatened his rule and his stated goal of signing a peace treaty with the Palestinians within a year. Eliyahu Winograd, issuing the panel's final report on the war, told a packed auditorium in Jerusalem that the war ended without victory and the army did not provide an effective response to Hezbollah's rocket fire on Israel. "We found serious deficiencies and mistakes in the decision making process and in the workings of the political echelon, the military echelon and in the interface between them," Winograd said. He also said a last-minute ground offensive in Lebanon failed in its mission, did not improve Israel's position and that the army was not prepared for it. "Israel did not enjoy immediate military success, and was dragged into a ground offensive only after the political timetable could no longer permit its successful conclusion," Winograd said. "The responsibility for this basic failure in the conduct of the war is laid equally at the feet of the political and military leadership," he added. More than 30 Israeli soldiers were killed in that offensive launched shortly before a UN-brokered truce went into effect. Olmert had come under severe criticism for ordering the battle, despite his contention that the offensive improved Israel's position before the cease-fire. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/45e6f2ea76010c020bc791c041db68fb Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork