ABSTRACT
Most of the defects identified focused on battle management—the functioning of the supreme command post and the General Staff branches during the war. The General Staff is responsible for the mistaken structure and organization of the combat echelon's frameworks, which runs counter to every consideration of doctrine, professional practice, and compatibility with anticipated missions. The distinction between the personality of individuals in the General Staff and the organizational status of their functions was blurred, particularly once the criteria for senior appointments became ascriptive, that is, based on membership in cliques rather than on professional qualifications and achievements. The bureaucratic deformity dictated an impossible method of staff work and deceitful decision-making processes that made the enfeeblement of the General Staff unavoidable. The trauma of 1973 led a General Staff to put together a nondiscriminatory shopping basket and to initiate the limitless acquisition of every type of combat and support equipment.
