Olmert criticises army in Lebanon war testimony

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli leader Ehud Olmert cast blame on the military for failings in the Lebanon war in testimony released on Thursday to an inquiry whose criticism of his own conduct has him battling for political survival.

"I think the army disappointed itself to a large degree," the prime minister told the Winograd Commission investigating last year's costly war against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas.

"Something in the command and control concept did not meet expectations and undoubtedly led to a disparity between what we were capable of achieving and what we actually achieved," Olmert said.

In an interim report last week, the government-appointed panel said Olmert was guilty of "a serious failure in exercising judgement, responsibility and prudence" in deciding to go to war after Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers.

Saying he was best-placed to fix mistakes cited by the commission, Olmert has weathered a protest rally attended by at least 100,000 people demanding his resignation and toughed out a call from his own foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, to step down.

Olmert faces the possible fracture of his coalition following a May 28 leadership election in the Labour Party. Two top Labour candidates have threatened to end its political partnership with Olmert's Kadima party over the war findings.

Olmert told the inquiry that Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, the chief of staff who has since resigned over the military's failings in the 34-day conflict, had told him the armed forces were strong "and ready to carry out any mission".

A prime minister, Olmert said, could not be "a field commander" and had to rely on the military for expert assessments.