The questions return to haunt us
Due to the Agranat Report, the impression that the main failure of the 1973 war was an intelligence failure took hold. The studies and the transcripts of the testimonies to the Agranat Commission released last week prove that this is not so. The biggest failure was that of the political leaders.
Golda, Dayan and their partners did not want peace with Egypt, at the price later paid by Menachem Begin. Nor did they share with the intelligence analysts the secrets that would have changed the assessment and heightened the alert level. Golda and Dayan, not Elazar and Zeira, deserve to be remembered as the ones responsible for the toll the war took.
The Agranat Commission, which totally ignored the war's political background, disbanded when it finished its work. The questions it did not ask at the time have returned to haunt us - with clear lessons for current governments and wars.