War Inquiry Could Doom Olmert’s Job ; Israeli Leader is in for Sharp Criticism

By AMY TEIBEL, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JERUSALEM Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will face fierce criticism when a government commission releases its first findings today on last year’s inconclusive war in Lebanon, officials said, raising pressure on the Israeli leader to step down.

Leaked sections of findings prompted a new round of resignation calls Sunday from both the opposition and members of Olmert’s governing coalition.

Officials close to the investigation, confirming Israeli TV reports, said the report would be tough on both Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.

Among the findings are that both men made hasty and ill-judged decisions at the outset of the war, and these errors were compounded by their lack of experience and unfamiliarity with defense issues, the officials said.

Olmert reluctantly appointed the commission of inquiry in September under intense pressure from a public dissatisfied with the outcome of the 34-day war, which began when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a July 12 cross-border raid.

Speaking to reporters Sunday, Vice Premier Shimon Peres pledged that the report’s findings would be taken seriously. “We shall correct everything that calls for correction,” he said.

The interim report will analyze the first six days of the fighting, when the war’s objectives were formulated, and the six years between Israel’s May 2000 pullout from southern Lebanon and the outbreak of the conflict. The full report on the entire war is to be released in the summer.

The war failed to achieve two aims Olmert set crushing the Islamic militant Hezbollah and returning two captured soldiers. The military also has been criticized for failing to stop Hezbollah from bombarding northern Israel with almost 4,000 rockets.

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