A military statement said that Maj. Gen. Udi Adam "asked to resign his position in the near future. The chief of staff has accepted (the)... request."

Adam has been responsible for the Lebanese and Syrian fronts. It is under his watch that Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers in the attack that led to the month-long war. Thousands of soldiers backed by artillery, tanks, and helicopter gunships eventually fought in southern Lebanon but failed to stop the 4,000 Hezbollah rocket attacks that rained upon Israel at a rate of some 100 to 200 a day.

Soldiers complained they lacked equipment and reservists sometimes bought gear in private stores. They have not trained for months, they were sent on missions from which they recalled in midway, some missions were unnecessary and they did not get supplies.

Some analysts argued the war nevertheless enhanced Israel's deterrent capability. Israel devastated Hezbollah areas in Beirut, villages, and according to Lebanese accounts killed more than 1,000 people.

Retired intelligence Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror told diplomats the damage Israel inflicted on Hezbollah was so severe it would take that organization two years to regain the capability it lost. The fighting, "Made everyone around us ...understand that there are some red lines that if (they) will be crossed, by the Syrians, or the Palestinians or the Lebanese, the retaliation ...will be unproportional," he said.

However participants at a conference the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism is holding this week in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, indicated otherwise.

Former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the war's outcome is, "Very problematic in terms of how the Arab world views us, the United States sees us, and ...the way we see ourselves."

Reserve intelligence Brig. Gen. Shalom Harari said the outcome shattered Palestinian belief that Israel is unbeatable. Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah became a hero with songs in his honor.

Former Director of Military Intelligence, retired Maj. Gen. Uri Saguy, told the conference the army "was not prepared" for the operation it carried out.

The troops were used in a way that "did not contribute (to achieving) the goals," he said.

In a radio interview following the resignation, Saguy said that Adam, "and not only him" are responsible for what had happened in the north and that there is a "command and professional crisis " in the army.

"I suggested to the chief of general staff that veteran men (meaning officers) come to help as instructors and perhaps, those of us who are young enough, should come to command," he said.

Some of those shortcomings were a result of the intifada and budget constraints.

Former Chief Reserve Officer, Brig. Gen. in the reserves Ariel Heimann said emergency stores originally prepared for war have been depleted because equipment was taken to confront the intifada. He said had complained to the chief of general staff who justified the removal of equipment. When reservists were called to fight Hezbollah, the equipment was missing.

Troops did not train, tank crews were sent to police the occupied territories rather than prepare for war, and division exercises were conducted only virtually - on computers. Heimann criticized the "Power Point ethos" in which commanders communicate with one another through computer presentations, and sit in front of plasma screens while "there is hardly a change in the soldiers equipment since 1973."

Retired Maj. Gen. Yoram Yair, a paratrooper whose career included command of the 91st division responsible for the Lebanese front, criticized commanders for remaining behind the LCD screens. The commanders' main problem is how to motivate soldiers to fight and, "You must be in the front. It's scary as hell but there is no other way," he said.

Shortly before ground operations escalated, discontent with Adam's performance led Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Dani Halutz to assign his deputy, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplisnky, to the Northern Command Kaplinsky, not Adam, was the top man. Adam felt his colleagues stabbed him and in closed meetings said he would quit. His resignation was therefore anticipated.

Channel 1 TV predicted he was "The first domino to fall."

"The campaign was very unfortunate, and I think he won't be the first (to go)," retired Maj. Gen. Amram Mitzna said according to the army radio station. Mitzna headed the Central Command during the first intifada.

Former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, who is now Minister of National Infrastructure, said that Halutz "Must assume responsibility and do exactly what the head of the Northern Command did."

However former head of the Southern Command, retired Maj. Gen. Yom-Tov Samia, said Adam should not leave so fast.

"We've got to draw many lessons from this war... (or else) we'll go to the next war unprepared," he said.

A general who is still in active service, who saw the mistakes and the faults "Knows where the problems are...(and) perhaps can present his own mistakes. It would be easier to draw the lessons with him," added Samia.

Public pressure for a through investigation of the war has meanwhile prompted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to appoint a investigative committee headed by the former President of the Tel Aviv District Court, Eliyahu Vinograd.

Olmert originally opted for a lesser committee that would include no judge but came under severe criticism for that.

Likewise, Defense Minister Amir Peretz initially appointed a committee of his own that also came under bitter criticism and dissolved. The Cabinet is expected to approve the new committee on Sunday.

Olmert and Peretz may not be the only ones fighting there for their political future. Olmert made Peretz defense minister even though he knew Peretz had no experience in security matters. Peretz, a professional trade unionist, maintains he functioned well during the war and the faults were the responsibility of his predecessor, Shaul Mofaz, who is now minister of transport.

Mofaz said he would produce the minutes of the meetings during the years he had been chief of general staff and defense minister "to show what we did and what we did not do - if we did not do."

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