Israeli war inquiry won't urge Olmert to quit -paper

JERUSALEM, Oct 9 (Reuters) Israel's commission of inquiry into last year's Lebanon war will not recommend that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resign, despite censuring his government's handling of the campaign, an Israeli newspaper said today.

The Winograd Commission, which accused Olmert in an April interim report of lacking ''judgment, responsibility and prudence'' in his decision to go to war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, has been expected by many of the government's critics to call for his ouster in its conclusions.

But the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, citing sources on the five-member panel of jurists and ex-generals, said the final report would hold off ''drawing personal conclusions'' -- a term denoting the assignation of blame to high-ranking officials.

''It is the public that should judge its elected representatives, at the ballot box,'' commission head Eliahu Winograd told Yedioth.

The newspaper said the panel's conclusions would be published in December.

A Winograd Commission spokesman declined comment.

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