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Government to probe questions about war, Bar-Lev believes TEL AVIV — Commerce and Industry Minister Aluf (Res.) Haim Bar-Lev has stated that he has ’no doubts that the Government and the IDF will conduct a thorough enquiry’ into the questions surrounding the start of the war. ’Let it hurt whoever it hurts.’ He told "Ma’ariv’ interviewer Dov Goldstein. Back at his ministerial duties after serving as the Chief of Staff’s representative on the Southern Front, Bar-Lev denied reports of friction with O. C. Southern Command, Aluf Shmuel Gonen. ’He called me his personal Chief of Staff,’ said Bar-Lev, who was C.oS. until 2 years ago. Army intelligence had plenty of reliable information on Egyptian and Syrian preparations war, Bar-Lev said but ’the evaluation did not stand the test… I know people think the war caught intelligence by surprise. That is utterly untrue …but the likelihood of war was not great… only after Saturday morning did the evaluation change.’ Stressing that if Sadat carries out his new threat, the IDF will be ready for him, Bar-Lev stated, ’We are well placed at the soft under belly of Egypt.’ NO FAILURE Bar-Lev said the initial achievements of the Egyptians and Syrians did not come from any failure of the IDF doctrine. ’It was a result of surprise and inadequate warning. The army has proven itself, and its operative concept is palpably right. Once the IDF machinery was set in gear things began move in the right direction… It did not help the Syrians that the Iraqis and Jordanians came to their aid. It did not help Egypt to have such great armed power and huge quantities of missiles… If not for the cease-fire the Egyptian army would have been wiped out.’ As to an enquiry, Bar-Lev said: ’On the basis of the facts we will draw conclusions against those responsible. One thing I am sure of — the Army will never again be caught by surprise. Henceforth we will not only have reliable information but the conclusions and evaluations will be different. Declaring that the "Bar-Lev line," as such, had never really existed, he noted that the strongholds were built during the war of attrition to facilitate Israel’s presence long the Canal, and without them Israel would have been pushed back. But he emphasized that the 20 strongholds were not intended to hold back an all out attack of five or more Egyptian divisions, and were part of the total deployment. ’Whoever says the strongholds did not succeed in curbing the Egyptian attack is talking rubbish,’ he said. ’The Egyptians intended in their initial attack to reach the passes, some 30 kilometers away, but they were held to 8-10 kilometers. I say that our deployment in Sinai did not collapse. The strongholds fell because they were not intended to be more than advance posts.’ Asked whether the Egyptian soldier had changed so radically as is now claimed, the former Chief of Staff noted that this time the Egyptians had a stronger motivation, more advanced weapon systems and unlimited quantities of men and equipment. This made the fighting in some areas much tougher than in past wars. ’In battles, where initiative, resourcefulness, inventiveness and speedy reactions are called for, the Egyptians were the same as before, with one outstanding difference — they were more ready to take risks. MORE RISKS Bar-Lev said the Egyptians showed readiness to sacrifice themselves but lacked battle sense and professional capability. This was indicated by their commando attacks, for the Egyptian commandos suffered heavy losses and produced only minor damage. The Egyptians sacrificed thousands of infantry soldiers "in keeping with their norm of ’throwaway soldiers.’ Before the war they repeated exercises many times over and accompanied this with brainwashing. I have heard that the infantry was supplied with special pep pills."
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