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Olmert wants another chance to testify

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to appear again before the Lebanon war commission, after testimony released by the body showed he blamed the army for shortcomings but admitted he ignored warnings that Israeli forces were unprepared for the conflict last summer.

Olmert's office said late on Thursday that he wanted to counter a statement to the commission from his political rival, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, that she recommended a diplomatic solution instead of a large-scale military operation the day after the Hezbollah cross-border raid in which the guerillas captured two soldiers and killed three others. Olmert said there was no such recommendation.

Olmert's appearance before the panel failed to stave off its severe censure of his wartime performance. Last week's publication of the commission's first report trig-gered calls for his resignation.

The war ended without Israeli forces fulfilling Olmert's two stated goals -- crushing Hezbollah and returning the captured soldiers. Instead, Hezbollah rained almost 4,000 rockets on Israel during the 34-day conflict.

In his testimony, Olmert made a pointed distinction between combat forces, whom he praised as "exceptional," and the military command, which he said "seriously let itself down."

"Something in the conception of how they operated the forces, something in the conception of their control over the forces, something wasn't what we expected, unfortunately, and that no doubt led to the disparity between what we are capable of doing and what we actually achieved," he said.

Olmert acknowledged that senior security officials told him troops hadn't conducted military exercises along the Lebanese border. But he said he "didn't really pay much attention" because the defense establishment "always" complains that it is short of funds for training.

The 89 pages of testimony were released 10 days after the commission issued a scathing report on his handling of the initial stage of the war. A final report on the war is due out in the summer.

In questioning Olmert, members of the commission repeatedly implied he made decisions without seriously exploring alternatives or digging deeper for information.

Asked whether he displayed any skepticism about what the military told him, Olmert didn't offer evidence to support independent thinking.

Instead, in a meandering and oblique reply, he told the commission that he, as prime minister, had to "apply another perspective that they [military commanders] don't have and can't have."

At the end of his testimony, Olmert acknowledged making mistakes of his own, saying, for example, that he might have met more often with senior Cabinet ministers to consult with them on diplomacy.

But he quickly added, "at the key junctures where decisions were made, we acted responsibly, and in my opinion, very reasonably."

Olmert told the panel he was convinced Hezbollah would send rockets thudding into Israel's northern communities -- as it did -- and that he had two options: do nothing or do something from the very first minute.

"I don't think there was any option but to act from the very first," he told the commission.
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