AN ISRAELI brigade commander who was a key player in the Lebanon war has accused senior army officers of being badly out of touch with events on the ground and of exposing soldiers to unnecessary risks.

Amid widening recriminations in Israel that are threatening to bring down the government, Colonel Amnon Eshel, commander of the 7th tank division, in an interview accused his division commander of being insensitive towards the plight of reservists who were called up at a moment’s notice and ill-prepared.

Talking about events leading up to the ground operation Amnon said: “I realised there was a problem with the readiness of the reserve regiment to carry out its mission. The regiment commander told me he was not ready. So I went to the division commander... he told me: “I don’t care, we’re going in”.” Amnon returned to his division commander twice to request the order be changed and was rejected both times.

In the end, he said, he subverted his orders because of his fears of mass casualties. Amnon, who made the claims in an interview with award-winning Israeli film director Nurit Kedar, commanded thousands of soldiers on the eastern section of the south Lebanon front.

Referring to the need to balance the pressure from higher up the military chain to launch the operation swiftly with trying to minimise the risks to the soldiers, Amnon said: “It was clear to me that I must carry out my mission, but I did not want others below me to know I was in this dilemma. Many things went wrong in the decision-making process concerning the handling of my operation. My division commander had his own evaluation. The officers at army headquarters were out of touch with what was happening on the ground ... we made so many changes in 24 hours. They did not know how to react.”

Concerned about the risks facing the reservists, Amnon changed the plans hours before the soldiers were sent in. He shifted some units from high-risk missions they had been earmarked for, replacing them with fitter, better-prepared regulars, including special forces.

In another part of the interview he said: “To send soldiers to the battlefield is a very complicated mission. You can’t send those soldiers into battle knowing that they will be killed. You can’t operate a war without risk, of course, but you can make calculated risks.” More than 50 reserve soldiers, mostly married with families and businesses, were killed in the war. Last week reservists protested outside the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem as anger continued to grow over operational failures.

Some have accused the government and senior military of sending their comrades to unnecessary deaths. Amnon’s admissions are particularly controversial as they have serious implications for some senior officers when pressure is growing on the government to conduct a state inquiry. The Israeli government is so worried about the political fallout that its Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, has banned senior military officers from speaking to the media.

Reserve soldiers make up 70 per cent of the Israeli army and, unlike the rest of the army, they are free to speak out. Many have echoed Amnon’s concerns. One, protesting in Jerusalem last week, said: “Reservists got bad treatment, bad equipment and bad decisions.”—Dawn/The Observer News Service