Another Setback For Olmert's Lebanon War Probe
Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday issued a temporary injunction against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over his self-appointed commission of inquiry into the handling of the summer's Lebanon war. The motion was requested by Israel's Movement for Quality Government, which earlier in the week called Olmert's Winograd Commission an attempt to cover up failures in the government's decision-making processes during the conflict with Hezbollah. As part of the ruling, the court told Olmert's office that it had six days to explain why a full independent state commission of inquiry was not established following the war. Olmert originally insisted that a state commission of inquiry would bog the nation down in an unnecessary investigative and legal process when there were other, more pressing matters to attend to. But critics said the real reason was that an independent state commission of inquiry was likely to find that Olmert and his top deputies acted in an indecisive and ineffective manner during the war, and would have the authority to recommend their removal. The High Court is scheduled to issue a final ruling on the matter in two weeks. Meanwhile, Ha'aretz reported on Friday that Israel's State Comptroller, Micha Lindenstrauss, has assigned 50 officials from his office to conduct an independent investigation of the performance o |
