Olmert says Israel won the war on Lebanon

This is news to everyone. You know the war with no name, because it's the war that Israel lost. Well now it's going to be known as the war that Israel won in spite of the fact it lost. Doesn't have the same ring to it as, say, Yom Kippur War, but it's a name. Here's Ynet on Olmert's take:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted to deficiencies in the conduct of the second Lebanon war last summer during his testimony before the Winograd Commission on Thursday, but insisted that Israel won the war because it achieved key diplomatic and military successes, aides said.

The prime minister reportedly told the commission that United Nations Resolution 1701, which mandated an international peacekeeping
force in Lebanon , pushed Hizbullah away from Israel's northern border and called for the immediate release of two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah, was Israel's major achievement.

Olmert also argued that Israel's intensive aerial offensive took Hizbullah by surprise and emboldened Israel's deterrence, adding that the Shiite group will think twice before daring to launch a cross-border attack in the future.

That's not snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, that's lifting it out of the sewer.

Olmert appointed the Commission following a hailstorm of public criticism of the army's poor performance against Hizbullah and its failure to halt the firing of rockets into Israel.

Perhaps its Hizbullah's deterrence that has been emboldened.