War in Lebanon was "missed opportunity"

Jerusalem Post:

"Israel did not win the [Second Lebanon] war" and the army did not provide an effective response to Hizbullah's rocket fire on Israel, said Judge (ret.) Eliyahu Winograd, issuing his committee's final report on the war at Jerusalem's International Convention Center Wednesday, adding that the war was a "missed opportunity."

He also said that while the cabinet decision to embark on a key ground operation in the war's last 60 hours was correct, the last-minute ground offensive did not improve Israel's position and there were "serious failings" in army command.

More than 30 IDF soldiers were killed in the offensive launched shortly before a UN-brokered truce went into effect. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had come under severe criticism for ordering the battle, despite his contention that the offensive improved Israel's position before the cease-fire.

"It was not a failure to embark on the ground operation, despite its limited achievements and painful price," said Winograd.

He added that both the military and the political echelons were responsible for the tardiness of this offensive, and that the management of the battle raised "severe questions" over the war's management.

Winograd went on to say that "Israel's decision to go to war without the necessary preparations was a severe flaw."

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One does not always get to choose when to go to war. Forces are supposed to be ready to respond to aggression. Israel's training and logistic support for its reserves had greatly deteriorated by the time the war started. It is good that Israel found this out in a conflict where the enemy never threatened to subjugate Israel so that it can fix this problem. It also needs to come up with a better plan for attack Hezballah and similar entities.

While Israel did not win this war, it did impose a strategic defeat on Hezballah and Iran who hoped to be able to deter Israel from attacking Iran's nukes by the threat of rocket attacks on Israeli non combatants. While Israel was not able to stop many of these attacks, the attacks themselves were largely ineffective. They were certainly not effective enough to deter Israel from attacking Iran or Syria.