Source: Compiled Moqawam.org, 20-11-2007
The "Israeli" army did not have an accurate view of the military`s field units` readiness prior to the Second Lebanon War, "Israeli" media quoted Monday a report issued by "Israel`s" State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss as saying the status of the "Israeli" Army was "very weak" when it decided to go to war in the summer of 2006 against Hizbullah. "Battalions that had not trained for five years and severely lacking various munitions, was the shape the "Israeli" Army ahead of the summer 2006 war," the report said. Lindenstrauss found that from 2000 until 2006 the general staff, due to budget constraints, cut back on training for combat units in the reserves and regular service. "There was no proper analysis done of the ramifications the drop in training would have." He found that during the war, the Defense (War) Ministry made emergency orders of essential types of ammunition, some of which did not make it to the frontlines in time. The report further found that the "Israeli" Army`s Operations Directorate does not have a mechanism in place to oversee and manage the use of ammunition in routine and when at war.
According to the report, the "Israeli" army began a tri-annual live-fire training cycle in 2004, after failing to comply with its previous bi-annual and annual training cycles. As a result, entire regiments had no more than one live-fire training session in the course of four-to-five years.
Many regiment commanders, said Lindenstrauss in his report, failed to complete their advanced studies, and some were reassigned before completing a two-year term, which is the minimum requirement. Given the poor state of live-fire drills, many regiment commanders were reassigned before taking part in any full-scale regiment drill. The "Israeli" army, said the report, failed to determine whether or not reserve units could be adequately trained within the tri-annual training cycles, further failing to call the reserve units for training when the war began.
In 2005, revealed the report, much of the medical supplies available to the reserve units expired. The budget needed to restock – some $1.27 million – was not approved until 2006. Furthermore, by the end of 2006, only 65% of the emergency anti-atomic, biological and chemical equipment was in working order. In August 2006, the "Israeli" army began the two-year process of reintroducing revamped armored vehicles into the service. Some 50% of the vehicles in service now are prone to malfunction and, according to Lindenstrauss, "there is a real concern that should a war break out before the process is completed, the number of inadequate vehicles will be greater than it was prior to the Second Lebanon War." The "Israeli" Defense Ministry, said the report, hoped to circumvent the ammunition deficiencies which were discovered during the war by rushing acquisitions. An "Israeli" army inquiry revealed that many of the contracts were not supplied on time or in full.
Lindenstrauss` report found fault in the Home Front Command as well, citing a multitude of failures on its part, including a lack of updated information available to the public and a lack of material aimed at the Arab-speaking public. The "Israeli" army Spokesperson`s Unit was not left unscathed: Lindenstrauss faults the unit, among other things, for not having clear procedures available for the reports embedded to combat units.
The "Israeli" army, he said, did not understand the full meaning of its own "open yet controlled" information strategy: the military censor`s office was not properly equipped to deal with this strategy, or with the "ever growing technological advances in the media," resulting in too much classified information being made available to the media.
A statement by the army`s spokesperson said that "the "Israeli" army welcomes the government`s decision to form the National Emergency Administration and has made the necessary arrangement to take an active part in it. "As for the nature of information made available to the media during the war, the military has begun implementing new field-security procedures… the military`s reserve units are undergoing unprecedented training drills and a perennial plan to keep them war-ready has been put in place.