Life in Kiryat Shmona, that sustained some 700 rocket attacks, was slowly returning to normalcy. A shopping mall in northern Kiryat Shmona had only few stores open by noon but by mid-afternoon a fast food chain opened up. Soldiers, M-16 guns slung over their shoulders, crowded there.

Away from town, cannons are still in position, their barrels pointed towards Lebanon. Israeli troops are still across the border waiting for 15,000 Lebanese soldiers and 15,000 UNIFIL troops to take over under the cease-fire that went into effect Monday morning.

Israeli military Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Dani Halutz estimated the pullback would take a week to 10 days. However, the cease-fire is still extremely fragile. Sporadic skirmishes occurred, and the head of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, said that another round is just a matter of time. So while the army was thinning out its deployment, other units were still ready.

Army reservists who returned from Lebanon and residents of Kiryat Shmona who spent almost an entire month in bomb shelters, were unhappy with the war's outcome.

The Mon Cherie caf� in Kiryat Shmona was still closed Tuesday morning, its chairs piled on tables.

Two medics attached to the Givati infantry brigade were relaxing in dusty boots on Mon Cherie's steps, their M-16 guns beside them.

"We didn't exactly win," noted Shai Dublero, 30, a reservist who in his civilian life is a chef.

"The decision to go to war was right," said tankist Amos Dresh, 40, of Eilat. However, "the way the war was conducted, the attempt to be surgical (meaning launch pinpoint attacks), with as few casualties as possible (was wrong.) If we would have gone in with force, from the very beginning, we would have had as many casualties with more significant achievements," he said.

These were sentiments this reporter heard while interviewing soldiers of a reserve paratroop unit that had spent 12 days deep inside Lebanese territory. They were highly critical of the government and the army's senior commanders. They insisted their names not be published.

"You either send in a whole army and you occupy or you do nothing," one paratrooper said.

The entire battalion "is leaving with a lousy feeling that we achieved nothing in this war," he added.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz "were not the right people for this war," another soldier said. "They are not military men," a paratrooper noted. Israel needs people who know how to take decisions and not blindly follow "every officer."

They judged the war against two main goals that the government proclaimed: Releasing two reservists whom Hezbollah kidnapped on July 12 and stopping the barrage of rocket fire on Israel. Hezbollah had fired almost 4,000 rockets during the war and its attack culminated Sunday with almost 250 rockets in one day.

"Not one declaration was fulfilled," a paratrooper noted.

"Once and for all they ought to straighten out matters there, at the top, and those responsible for screw-ups should go home. Those who do understand war (should take over). If we are ready to sacrifice our lives for the state, we should know we're going out on a (worth while mission), not one that is worthless, whose results are known from the very first moment," another soldier said.

One soldier rooted for the government. "I was worried that we entered the war with a prime minister and a defense minister who lack military, and perhaps political experience. I was pleasantly surprised by their conduct and determination. They did their best to obtain maximum results with minimum of casualties. I've got full confidence in the political and military echelon," he said.

"What a patriot," a comrade snickered. Kiryat Shmona residents who spent most of the month in bomb shelters shared the soldiers' criticism.

Yael Cohen's eyes welled as she looked around her living room. A rocket had exploded in the street and shrapnel blasted doors and windows, shattered glass littered the floor, the ceiling was punctured but the aquarium in a corner was intact.

"We paid dearly with dead soldiers and what are the achievements? Almost none."

"I would have been ready to suffer more damage, just that it (the war) shouldn't end this way," said her husband, Eli Cohen, 44.

"The leadership erred and didn't let the army do the job properly," Mrs. Cohen continued. Now, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah will make the V for victory sign and "in two-three weeks everything will start all over again....

"The soldiers came with ambition, a desire to act and spokes were put in their wheels.... They (the government) failed and ought to resign... A war should be conducted by generals and not amateurs," she said.

Cohen, who heads the local branch of a car rental agency, identified herself as a former Likud member. The Likud is now in the opposition but she said she did not vote in the last elections.

In a nearby street, Shulamit Tal, 44, was waiting for a government paper guaranteeing payment for repairing her damaged car.

"We emerged suckers," she said of the cease-fire. "I spent a month in the shelter, I could stand it a little longer so that they would crush him (Nasrallah) once and for all. It's a pity," she said.

How much of that sentiment is going to develop into political demands to topple Olmert's government is too early to gauge.

Reservists who fought the 1973 war spearheaded the demands for an inquiry that ended with the sacking of the then chief of general staff and other senior officers. Then came demands for early elections and the prime minister and defense minister were out. Public demands led to the commission of inquiry following the 1982 Lebanon War.

How many reservists are driven to take action now is unknown. If any of the soldiers interviewed Tuesday are an indication, then the answer is -- none.

However, criticism was reportedly spreading in sms messages and one reservist, Israel Kasirer, told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper he has collected some 1,000 signatures of reservists criticizing the cease-fire agreement since it abandoned the kidnapped soldiers and blurred the war's original goals.

Olmert maintains that the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 that called for the cease-fire, contains "commitments designed to fundamentally change the situation on our northern border."

It calls for "the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers," says that the area from the Litani River to the border should be "free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons," other than the government's and UNIFIL's.

Foreign Minister Zippi Livni noted UNIFIL will have, "The right, the possibility and authority to use force when necessary....

"For years Israel demanded the Lebanese government send its army (to the border and) now we're getting not only the Lebanese army (but also) a significant re-enforcement," she said.

If the resolution will be implemented the criticism of the government is bound to die, but the chances of implementation depend on Nasrallah and Hezbollah's backers in Damascus and Teheran.

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