Denies his military inexperience had any bearing on outcome of Lebanon conflict.
By JPOST.COM STAFFperetz talks troops 298.(photo credit: AP [file])
Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Friday that Israel did not plan for a comprehensive war in Lebanon.
"The missions presented by the IDF at the start the war were most certainly limited," Peretz told Army Radio. "It indicates that there was no intention for a full-scale war," he continued.
In addition, Peretz rejected that IDF operations during the final three days of the war were unnecessary, claiming that this period had a major influence on the final ceasefire agreement.
The defense minister said that the political echelons would not have agreed to going to war in Lebanon if the IDF leadership would have said that it did not have the necessary means for the task. "IDF commanders were certain they were prepared for war," he said.
Peretz added that he did not think his military inexperience had any bearing on the outcome of the war. He rejected the claims that decisions were made without the necessary considerations or intense assessment of situations.
The defense minister proclaimed that he would not wait for the findings of the government's war probe before dealing with the IDF's shortcomings revealed during the conflict, adding nevertheless that he fully backed Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and was convinced that he was "up to the task."
![peretz talks troops 298. (photo credit: AP [file])](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/8618 "peretz talks troops 298.")