Thursday,April 05,2007

 JERUSALEM (AFP) – A commission assessing the conduct of last summer’s war in Lebanon will say the government should have resigned in the war’s aftermath, a commission member was quoted as saying on Wednesday.       "The commission will take a harsh and specific tone with those responsible for the incidents of the recent war," the source told the Yediot Aharonot daily newspaper’s Ynet website.

"It will also point out that in the name of ministerial responsibility, which should have been claimed, the government should have resigned after the war," the source added.

"(Commission members) will say that in a democratic government — when something like this happens — the government should quit."

The commission, headed by retired judge Eliayahu Winograd, is expected to publish an interim report at the end of April.

The report is expected to draw specific conclusions about the conduct of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Amir Peretz and former army chief of staff Dan Halutz.

The Winograd Commission has heard testimony from around 70 political and military leaders since it was established on September 17 under pressure from thousands of army reservists angry about the army’s poor preparedness for battle.

Israel  launched a 34-day war against the Shiite movement Hezbollah in southern Lebanon after militants nabbed two soldiers in a cross-border raid.

In the conflict’s aftermath, angry reservists also denounced the widespread confusion and frequent conflicting orders given by commanders, in addition to the army’s failure to achieve its goals of stopping Hezbollah rocket attacks or freeing the two captured soldiers.

The demonstrators called for the resignation of Olmert, Peretz and Halutz. Until now, only Halutz has stepped down.