Winograd Report III- positive aspects
For those not living in Israel it is hard to understand the significance of the Winograd Report. Although there have been similar enquiries before, such as the Agranat Commission after the initial debacle of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, none has had the scope and degree of criticism of the Government and IDF as this one.
But, although there are many negative conclusions in the Report of the 5-member Committee, the net result will hopefully be positive. There are two reasons for optimism. First, the IDF claims that it has already investigated itself and made major changes, both in the readiness of the troops (more and more intensive training) and in the functioning of the chain of command. They claim to have learned from their mistakes, always a good sign.
Second, the functioning of Israeli democracy, the readiness to investigate the faults of the system and deal with them. Very few societies can take this kind of stong internal scrutiny, and certainly there are no Arab States that could or would do this. To them it is a strange phenomenon, and unfortunately they take it as a sign of weakness.
PM Olmert has not taken the big hint and resigned, but he still has a majority of the Knesset in his Coalition, and so democratically he can continue in office. But, it is a big lesson to his successors, since in the long run this is what he will be remembered for, the PM who "fell" into the seat as a result of the illness of his predecessor and who screwed up royally and then refused to accept responsibility. No future PM will want to be daubed by the Olmert brush.
Although Olmert can continue to negotiate with the PA leadership under the Annapolis and Road Map agreements, nothing much can in fact come of it. He has just stated publicly that he will leave the status of Jerusalem until last, in order to preserve his coalition. Shas with 12 seats threatened to resign unless he did this. Also, Defense Minister Barak has staved off an attempt to oust him as Labor Party leader over his reversal of policy regarding resigning after the Winograd Report was presented. He knows that Labor with 19 seats is now very weak politically and needs time to recuperate.
The effects of the Winograd Report will take time, perhaps a long time, to see how the IDF and the organs of Government can recover from this indictment, in both a negative and positive way. Unfortunately we may not know until the next war.
But, although there are many negative conclusions in the Report of the 5-member Committee, the net result will hopefully be positive. There are two reasons for optimism. First, the IDF claims that it has already investigated itself and made major changes, both in the readiness of the troops (more and more intensive training) and in the functioning of the chain of command. They claim to have learned from their mistakes, always a good sign.
Second, the functioning of Israeli democracy, the readiness to investigate the faults of the system and deal with them. Very few societies can take this kind of stong internal scrutiny, and certainly there are no Arab States that could or would do this. To them it is a strange phenomenon, and unfortunately they take it as a sign of weakness.
PM Olmert has not taken the big hint and resigned, but he still has a majority of the Knesset in his Coalition, and so democratically he can continue in office. But, it is a big lesson to his successors, since in the long run this is what he will be remembered for, the PM who "fell" into the seat as a result of the illness of his predecessor and who screwed up royally and then refused to accept responsibility. No future PM will want to be daubed by the Olmert brush.
Although Olmert can continue to negotiate with the PA leadership under the Annapolis and Road Map agreements, nothing much can in fact come of it. He has just stated publicly that he will leave the status of Jerusalem until last, in order to preserve his coalition. Shas with 12 seats threatened to resign unless he did this. Also, Defense Minister Barak has staved off an attempt to oust him as Labor Party leader over his reversal of policy regarding resigning after the Winograd Report was presented. He knows that Labor with 19 seats is now very weak politically and needs time to recuperate.
The effects of the Winograd Report will take time, perhaps a long time, to see how the IDF and the organs of Government can recover from this indictment, in both a negative and positive way. Unfortunately we may not know until the next war.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:19 PM
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