Ehud Olmert Administration: Statement on Winograd Commission Interim Report

Following are Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s remarks on the Winograd Committee:

"Good evening. This afternoon I received the first part of the Winograd Committee report. The Government established the Committee seven months ago in order to examine the Second Lebanon War.

I have studied the main points of the report. The report is grave and harsh. There were achievements. There were failures by the main decision-makers with myself at their head. Lessons must be drawn. Faults - and they are many - must be corrected. There is much to do. I intend to act in order to correct everything that needs correcting, thoroughly and quickly.

I intend to convene a special Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 2 May 2007. I will propose that a team be appointed to quickly study the report and implement the necessary lessons.

It would be incorrect to resign and I do not intend to do so.

This Government made the decisions and this Government will correct the faults.

From our point-of-view, the submission of the report does not close a chapter in the war. The submission of the report opens a new - and no less important - chapter, that of correcting the faults and learning the lessons.

This evening, I am thinking about the bereaved families who lost loved ones in this just and unavoidable war. am thinking about the wounded and I am thinking about Udi, Eldad and Gilad Shalit. Like all of Israel, I believe that it will be possible to bring them back home quickly.

Lastly, I would like to thank the Committee of Inquiry - its Chairman, retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, and its members: Prof. Ruth Gavison, Prof. Yehezkel Dror, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Menachem Einan and Dr. Chaim Nadel, for their serious, thorough and dedicated work."

Sources: Prime Minister's Office