Olmert

JERUSALEM (Reuters):

Israel's Lebanon war commission levelled scathing criticism against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in an interim report yesterday that cast doubt on his political future, but did not call on him to resign.

Olmert "made up his mind hastily" to launch the air, sea and land campaign last July against Hezbollah guerrillas, the government-appointed panel said, accusing him of "a serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence".

Not resigning

His declared aims in going to war, to free two soldiers seized by Hezbollah and crush the militant group, were "overly ambitious and impossible to achieve", the Winograd commission said of a conflict many Israelis now see as a mistake.

"I have no intention of resigning," Olmert was quoted by Israeli television as telling members of his Kadima party after the report was released.

A snap Israel Radio poll said 69 per cent of the public believed he should quit. The 232-page report also sharply criticised Defence Minister Amir Peretz, who like Olmert does not have a military pedigree, and the armed forces' chief of staff during the 34 days of fighting, Dan Halutz, who has since resigned.