MIDDLE EAST:A commission examining the way the Israeli government and armed forces waged last year's Lebanon war is to release an interim report today that could determine prime minister Ehud Olmert's political future.
The five-member panel, appointed by the government and headed by former supreme court justice Eliyahu Winograd, said the interim report would contain an analysis of the period between Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation until the war against Hizbullah guerrillas was launched in mid-July 2006; and an analysis of the decision to embark on a Lebanon campaign after Hizbullah gunmen captured two soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12th and events in the first six days of fighting.
The committee said the report would draw "personal conclusions" about Mr Olmert, Defence Minister Amir Peretz and former armed forces chief Dan Halutz, who has resigned.
Over the weekend, Channel 10 television said the 160-page document would criticise Olmert for "misguided and rash judgment" in launching the campaign. The panel would not call for Olmert to step down, it said.
Meanwhile, a German magazine said yesterday it stood by an interview with Mr Olmert in which it quoted him as saying Iran's nuclear programme could be set back by firing 1,000 missiles in a 10-day attack.
Mr Olmert's office on Saturday denied he had made the comments to weekly news magazine Focus. It declared on its website that the interview had been carried out in mid-April by Amir Taheri, a Middle East expert,
Mr Taheri asked Mr Olmert whether military action would be an option if Iran continued to defy the United Nations. Focus quoted Olmert as responding: "Nobody is ruling it out. It is impossible perhaps to destroy the entire nuclear programme but it would be possible to damage it in such a way that it would be set back years. It would take 10 days and would involve the firing of 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles."
Focus quoted Olmert as saying UN sanctions should be given a chance to work before military action was launched.