Amir Peretz to world: I’m a moron

So the Winograd Commission, which has spent months and months analyzing the second Lebanon War and what went wrong, is just some bogus little investigation that isn’t nearly as smart as Amir Peretz, the Defense Minister who was one of the architects of that war. Because he says he wasn’t wrong.

“The decision to go to war was the right one,” Defense Minister Amir Peretz insisted Wednesday, in a first response to the conclusions of the Winograd Commission, which found that he was one of those personally responsible for the war’s failures.

During a special cabinet meeting dedicated to the report, Peretz admitted that he has not decided yet whether to resign his post or not.

Peretz said that the government should examine itself and work to strengthen the army following the war.

“The public expects its leaders to act reasonably and responsibly,” he added, and said that he was certain that the government acted with a sense of national responsibility during the war.

Yeah. Talk about missing the point. Here’s what the Winograd preliminary report says about Peretz:

13. The Minister of Defense is the minister responsible for overseeing the IDF, and he is a senior member in the group of leaders in charge of political-military affairs.

a. The Minister of Defense did not have knowledge or experience in military, political or governmental matters. He also did not have good knowledge of the basic principles of using military force to achieve political goals.

b. Despite these serious gaps, he made his decisions during this period without systemic consultations with experienced political and professional experts, including outside the security establishment. In addition, he did not give adequate weight to reservations expressed in the meetings he attended.

c. The Minister of Defense did not act within a strategic conception of the systems he oversaw. He did not ask for the IDF’s operational plans and did not examine them; he did not check the preparedness and fitness of IDF; and did not examine the fit between the goals set and the modes of action presented and authorized for achieving them. His influence on the decisions made was mainly pointillist and operational. He did not put on the table – and did not demand presentation – of serious strategic options for discussion with the Prime Minister and the IDF.

There’s more. I don’t want to make this post too long. But way to go, Peretz. Way to take responsibility for your actions. That’s the mark of a statesman.

By all accounts, the Olmert presidency is in its last days. More on that later.