Halutz will resign, senior officers say

Several IDF probes find chief of staff directly responsible for war's failures.

By YAAKOV KATZ
halutz 298 JP (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
halutz 298 JP
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Senior officers speculated over the weekend that the chances that Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz would resign from the IDF had grown, after a number of recent internal military probes found Halutz directly responsible for the failures of the war. Halutz is still waiting for former chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Dan Shomron to complete his probe of the General Staff's performance by the end of the month and has said that following its presentation to the top IDF staff, he would make his final decision on whether to remain in service or resign. Last week, Halutz was harshly criticized by Maj.-Gen. Udi Shani-Shinotar, outgoing head of the IDF Communications C4I Branch, who claimed that communications with the Northern Command were "severely flawed" during the war to the point that orders were confused and sometimes changed on an hourly basis. Another probe by former OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Amiram Levine also held Halutz personally responsible for the failures of the war, after claiming that the IDF's battle doctrine when fighting against Hizbullah was flawed. Halutz has said that he would rule on his future following the completion of all the military probes. While officers have predicted that Halutz will resign, the chief of staff has not given any indication as to what he plans to decide and has been maintaining a busy and routine schedule.