Olmert is rewriting history, says MK Eitam
MKs criticize PM's statement that second Lebanon war was planned months in
advance, a claim Nasrallah made repeatedly during war. 'If he isn't lying -
it's a thousand times worse,' says MK Eldad
Amnon Meranda YNET Published: 03.08.07, 19:27 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3374209,00.html

"It seems that the prime minister and Nasrallah are getting their stories
straight," an outraged MK Effie Eitam told Ynet Thursday on Olmert's
statement that the second Lebanon war was planned beforehand.
War Plans

All throughout the war and afterwards, Hizbullah's leader Hassan Nasrallah
defended himself from public criticism by claiming that Israel had already
been planning the war and that it "jumped at the chance" to strike.

According to Haaretz, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Winograd
Commission that a military operation in case of a kidnapping incident along
the Lebanese border was planned as early as March, 2006, four months prior
to war.

Several MKs criticized Olmert's statement, which they said backs up
Nasrallah's repeated claims, and could jeopardize Israel's credibility.

"Assuming that Olmert isn't lying, this statement makes things a thousand
times worse. If he approved this plan without making sure that the Home
Front was ready and that the IDF was capable of carrying it out - he should
be tried for criminal negligence," said MK Arieh Eldad (National
Union-National Religious Party).

MK Effie Eitam said, "In an attempt to shake off responsibility for the poor
managing of the war, the prime minister is also trying to rewrite history.
We remember the time before the war. we heard of the cuts in the defense
budget, we heard that there were no more existential threats to Israel.

"Saying that the IDF was prepared for a war in the north and that the prime
minister even planned to start a war in the north is untrue. This war was a
serious managerial failure for the military's senior echelon, who already
took responsibility."

MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said, "A country preparing for a war certainly
would not be cutting defense budgets, significantly minimizing
field-training and reserve recruits. Olmert's testimony that the war was
planned was meant only to stop the many attacks and criticism against him
and has no real basis."

MK Gideon Sa'ar, chairman of the Likud faction told Ynet, "As usual, Olmert
is trying to put responsibility on someone else, and this time, on the IDF.
The prime minister bears the highest responsibility for the war's failures.
any attempts to escape responsibility are doomed to failure."