Israel PM Olmert upgrades Lebanon war inquiry

Jerusalem, Sep 12: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today named a retired judge to head an inquiry into his government's handling of the Lebanon war after public pressure to upgrade the investigation.

Olmert's appointment of a jurist, Eliyahu Vinograd, to replace his first choice, an ex-spy chief, appeared aimed at appeasing critics calling for an independent probe while stopping short of bowing completely to their demands.

Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand Olmert order a full-scale state inquiry into a war launched after the Lebanese Hizbollah fighters seized two soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

In a state inquiry, the head of the investigation panel -- under law, a supreme court justice -- appoints its members. Such independent investigations in past wars have led to high-level resignations.

Under the investigation to be led by Vinograd, the cabinet would decide who sits on the panel, a step that critics say is tantamount to the government stacking the deck in a probe of its own actions.

But under Israeli law, Vinograd, as a former judge, could ask the justice minister to grant the government-appointed panel the same powers of subpeona and witness immunity that an independent state inquiry would have received automatically.

Critics of the 34-day campaign complained the government jumped the gun in ordering an ill-prepared army to battle a guerrilla group that ultimately embarrassed the West's Asia strongest army by firing nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel.

Olmert, while acknowledging ''shortcomings and failures'' in the conduct of the war by the government and the military, has said a full-scale state inquiry would be too time consuming.

The cabinet will discuss Olmert's nomination of Vinograd, a former president of the Tel Aviv district court, at its weekly session on Sunday, the prime minister's office said.

Reuters