From Haaretz, 30/4/07, by Yossi Verter, Mazal Mualem and Nir Hasson....
....At 4 P.M. Monday [Israel time], the Winograd Committee will present Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz with a draft report of its investigation into last summer's war and about an hour later, it will be released to the public at a special press conference.
The report is expected to be highly critical of the conduct of Olmert, Peretz and former chief of staff Dan Halutz. Olmert will be criticized for the decision-making process during the first days of the war, for blindly following the army's plans, and for not demanding alternative plans to the ones presented to him.
The prime minister will also be attacked for not specifying precise goals for the fighting.
The Winograd report will also blame Olmert for not properly evaluating the Israel Defense Forces' preparedness, and for not asking questions concerning this matter before deciding to embark on a war.
The defense minister will be criticized for taking on the defense portfolio in spite of having insufficient experience in this area, and also for failing to seek assistance from professionals in the defense establishment. He will also be blamed for not following an orderly process of decision making.
The most severe barbs will be directed at Dan Halutz. He will be blamed for leading the government to war without allowing the ministers the possibility of making a choice. Halutz is also expected to be criticized for preventing officers with dissenting opinions from expressing them to decision makers, and for not taking seriously the threat posed by the Katyushas and the damage they could wreak on northern communities.
General criticism will also be directed at the entire cabinet for accepting the military's plans without evaluating them in detail and without requesting alternatives. The vast majority of the draft report will focus on the decision-making process that led to the war.
The committee has limited itself in this report to analyzing the five first days of the war - from the Hezbollah attack and the abduction of the two reservists on July 12, 2006, to July 17 and the prime minister's speech before the Knesset plenum.
Most of the events of the war - the failed military operations, the diplomatic moves, the defense of the home front, the decision to carry out a massive ground offensive in the two final days, etc. - will not be discussed in the interim report being publicized Monday.
Similarly, with the exception of Halutz, there will be no severe criticism of senior individual officers in the report. It is possible, however, that Brigadier Gal Hirsch, the former commander of Division 91 (in whose area of control the abduction occurred), will be blamed for his conduct prior to the kidnapping.
Another significant portion of the report will deal with the period between the IDF's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000 and the outbreak of the war. During this period Israel was attacked on a number of occasions by Hezbollah, but prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, backed by senior IDF officers, adopted a policy of restraint and Israel's response was thus limited. The Winograd panel is expected to criticize the decision makers during these six years.
The committee is also expected to issue a number of recommendations in its report.
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