Olmert Scolded for Cosmetic War Probe

"There is not the slightest chance of getting to the truth because it lacks power," said Naveh.

"I don't think this is what we need. They have no power to investigate people, no power to look at documents," MP Ami Ayalon of the centre-left Labour, Olmert's main coalition partner, told Israeli radio, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"It's a political mistake," he insisted.

The powers of the government committee fall short of the demands for a state commission -- the most powerful type of inquiry in Israel.

Israel has carried out such inquiries after past crises - including the 1982 Lebanon war - that led to the dismissal of then defense minister Ariel Sharon.

"There is not the slightest chance of getting to the truth because it lacks power," agreed Danny Naveh, former cabinet minister and member of the opposition right-wing Likud party.

Acknowledging a wave of discontent for a war that failed to achieve its objectives and left 162 Israelis dead, the increasingly unpopular Olmert said Monday, August 28, the inquiry should look at the government's actions not the military's.

"The committee will be charged with the task of examining the functioning of the government, its proceedings and decision making and anything else it sees fit to examine," he said in a televised speech.

Speaking in Haifa, a city struck frequently by Hizbullah rockets during the conflict, Olmert admitted "failures" in the way the 33-day war was pursued.

"True, not everything went as we wanted. Not everywhere were we as ready as we should have been, not every time did we achieve the results we wanted."

Army reservists, blasting military "indecisiveness", unclear war aims, confused orders, food, fuel and water shortages, and the slowness in launching a major ground assault, have spearheaded calls for a full investigative commission.

"National Farce"

Admitting "failures," Olmert opposed a state commission, the most powerful type of inquiry in Israel. (Reuters)

The country's best selling newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, branded it as "the mother of all whitewashes" while the liberal Haaretz dismissed the committee as a "national farce".

"The public is not stupid and it will totally reject this conspiratorial attempt to create a smokescreen and not investigate the truth," wrote chairman of the Movement of Reservists Eliad Shraga in the Maariv daily.

"This committee is only a fig leaf," he insisted.

MPs in the parliamentary foreign affairs and defense committee complained that their chairman, Tzahi Hanegbi, a senior member of Olmert's Kadima party, prevented them from holding a vote in favor of a state commission, according to AFP.

Labour ministers Ophir Pines-Paz and Eitan Cabel said they would vote against the commission outlined by Olmert, Haaretz reported.

"I intend to oppose [Olmert's decision] in the government, and will try to convince other ministers," Pines-Paz said.

The Labor Party chairman, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, has declined to comment on Olmert's decision.

Stalemate

"Confusion and introspection appear to rule there today (in Israel)," said Douste-Blazy.

"In Israel, the positive dynamic created by the last elections (in March) is challenged," he told the annual conference of French ambassadors.

"Confusion and introspection appear to rule there today," said the top diplomat.

Douste-Blazy said that measures for security in Israel "hit limits, including the difficulty to win politically, or even militarily" conflicts against the Palestinian resistance movement group Hamas or Hizbullah.

In a wide-ranging foreign policy speech, French President Jacques Chirac called Monday for a lasting settlement of the Lebanon conflict.

"In the Middle East, everyone can see the dividing lines merging together and the crises adding up," he warned, citing the "endless" Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the continuing "instability" in Iraq.

"Beyond the fighting lies a major threat -- that of a divorce between worlds, East against West, Islam against Christianity, rich against poor."