JERUSALEM — Israel's military is suffering from a breakdown of standards at top echelons, according to a new government report which found that top brass have been operating without
training, ethics and clear communications.
Israel's government watchdog said most senior officers were not trained
for their posts and instruction manuals were not updated. The Office of the
Comptroller, responsible to parliament,
said officers also demonstrated a lack of ethics, honesty and unsuitable
behavior, Middle East Newsline reported.
"There is a lack of clear language embedded in the IDF that appears in
both emergencies as well as regular times," Israeli Comptroller Michael
Lindenstrauss said in a report released on Tuesday. "This is very
dangerous."
Lindenstrauss, one of the severest critics of Israel's military and
government, said dishonesty among senior commanders has become rampant. He
reported investigations of senior officers who lied about their whereabouts
and finances.
The report portrayed an Israeli military that abandoned basic principles
and doctrine. The comptroller said 82 percent of generals, 68 percent of
brigadier generals and 76 percent of colonels did not graduate military
college.
The comptroller investigated the military before the war in Lebanon in
July and August 2006. But Lindenstrauss said the lack of training, common
professional language and faulty ethics played a major role in the
military's failure to defeat Hizbullah.
"This chapter is linked to the investigation that we are doing today of
the war in the north," Lindenstrauss said.
The report also asserted that senior commanders, including the chief of
staff and his deputy, were unaware of the level of munitions and logistics.
The comptroller also criticized the method of funding military programs as
well as leading state-owned defense contractors.
The comptroller's findings became evident during the 34-day war in
Lebanon. Ron Ben-Yishai, a leading military analyst, recalled the lack of
basic equipment for ground force units sent to fight Hizbullah.
"Look what happened during the last war," Ben-Yishai told Army Radio on
Tuesday. "Combat units found out that they didn't have enough M-16s and
night-vision systems. Israel asked for bunker-busting weapons from the
United States."
[Ret.] Maj. Gen. Eliezer Yaari, a former comptroller in the military,
said the report highlighted problems that have long plagued the Israel
Defense Forces. Yaari said the deficiencies in the army would take years to
correct.
"If the war [against Syria and Hizbullah] takes place in another year,
the IDF will not be ready," Yaari said.
[Res.] Brig. Gen. Nehemia Dagan, a senior air force officer, agreed. He
said the military has become politicized over the last 20 years, with at
least two recent chiefs of staff — Ehud Barak and Shaul Mofaz — using
their positions as a springboard for a career in politics.
"The army has become politicized," Dagan, who served as chief education
officer, said. "It must be severed from politics. We are heading down the
road to catastrophe."
Military spokespeople said the army began to correct the deficiencies
even before the investigation of the comptroller. They said training courses
for brigade and division commanders — suspended in 2005 amid the withdrawal
from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank — would be resumed in 2007.
"At the start of 2007, we intend to train for four-to-five weeks current
and future division commanders," Maj. Gen. Meir Klifi, deputy chief of
Ground Forces Command, said.
Klifi acknowledged that munitions stocks have not met military
requirements. But he said this was known by the senior command.
"The Ground Forces Command had a deficiency in resources," Klifi said.
"The army is open to criticism. We will take the report and learn it."
The report was expected to renew calls for the resignation of Chief of
Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz. Halutz has been widely blamed for the military's
failure to defeat Hizbullah and end the daily rocket attacks on the Jewish
state.
"Dan can start this mission," Yaari, the former military comptroller,
said. "The question is what level of confidence does he have today with the
commanders and soldiers?"
