A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman
January 31, 2008 Winograd
The Winograd report continues to dominate the news in Israel. The report was over 600 pages long and took over night for it to be read in full. In the end, however, after a careful reading, no new gems were really found. According to the report, the government did not make decisions for political reasons, or for reasons of maliceñ it was just incompetent. The strongest criticism was directed at the army, which the report made clear was not ready for the war. The report was scathing in its criticism of the conduct of the war. Unfortunately, we did not require the report to identify the central problem of the warñ the concept that the air force alone could win a war was utterly wrong. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister and Defense Minister were not experienced enough to question this very fundamental misjudgment, one which any student of military history would have questioned. It was a government of politicians and not leaders; unfortunately the same politician still leads.
On a slightly positive note, Israelís "Telstar", the first radar-based satellite, designed in Israel, began its first successful broadcast. This satellite gives Israel all weather, and day and night capabilities over any target in the Middle East. In a ceremony, which began the broadcasts, the Commander of the Air force warned of a new threat. He is concerned that some country or terrorist group might try to attack one of Israelís satellites.
