The Winograd Committee submitted its final report on the second Lebanon war on Wednesday to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak.
At approximately six in the evening the committee's findings were publicly presented.
According to initial remarks by committee chairman retired Justice Eliyahu Winograd "the decision by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to commence ground operations towards the end of the war was reasonable."
In examining the central decisions surrounding the war, the committee determined that the decision in principle by the cabinet to go to war was a crucial one, in that it provided the government with the required military and political flexibility.
While the report states that the war cannot be called a failure, Winograd noted, "The war was a large missed opportunity. It was a war that Israel initiated and did not win… Despite the fact that it was a war of our own initiative and waged in a specific area, Israel did not utilize its military power wisely or effectively… An organization of several thousand combatants managed to withstand the most powerful army in the Middle East for several weeks."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 30, 2008
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