Olmert braced for report on the Lebanon War

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Source: CCTV.com | 01-29-2008 13:33

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is bracing for a tough day tomorrow when the final report on the Lebanon War in 2006 is released.

Ehud Olmert, Israeli Prime Minister.(CCTV.com)

His critics have stepped up pressure on Olmert to step down, but analysts predict Olmert is likely to ride out the crisis.

One and half years have passed since the 34-day-war over the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Now the Israeli bombardment is turning against its Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

In its interim report, the Winograd Commission accused Olmert of lacking "judgment, responsibility and prudence" in his decision to go to war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. The final version will be published tomorrow and many of the government's critics expect it to call for Olmert's resignation.

Uzi Dayan, Chairman of Forum for National Responsibility, said, "It is painfully obvious because whoever says Olmert is in principle not resigning - no matter what the results are - loses the moral authority to send soldiers to fight."

Those words were echoed by soldiers involved in the war.

Tomer Buhadana, Reserve Duty Soldier, Injured in the Lebanon War, said, "In a place where the leadership does not show personal responsibility, death is only a statistic".

But others think that Olmert should remain in the job to take part in the US-led peace talks with Palestinians next month.

Yaron Ezrahi, Political Science Professor, said, "There is no alternative leadership that appears so attractive that could seriously threaten Olmert right now, and the public is more likely to think about the present and the future than about the past."

Olmert also remains resolute.

Ehud Olmert, Israeli Prime Minister, said, "I'm not sorry about the critical decisions I took as prime minister, either those on the war in Lebanon or on other events."

Olmert has argued that the 2006 war improved Israel's security by banishing Hezbollah from its frontier strongholds and boosting a UN peacekeeper force.

But military sources say that Hezbollah managed to fire four thousand missiles into northern Israel, driving a million residents into temporary shelters.

Olmert's wartime Defense Minister and armed forces chief resigned over the losses.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei