Deja Nuke

YidwithLid reminds me;

On the 28th of October 1981, the plan was finalized. During a cabinet meeting the plan was formally authorized by Menachem Begin. "A large clock is hanging over us, ticking. Iraq's intent to produce nuclear weapons poses a great danger to every man woman and child in the state of Israel", the prime minister remarked. Major General Amus Yaldun, one of the eight combat pilots that participated in the mission and now head of the IDF Intelligence Branch, related, during an interview with IAF journalists, about the famous flight.We reached the Tigris River in a short amount of time. The blast of the first bombs echoed in the distance. One of them hit the center of the reactors roof. Once the bombs were releases, I felt the impact of the explosions shaking my plane. This was the end of the Iraqi nuclear reactor "Tamuz" 1." The Israeli planes made a roundabout turn west, heading home. "The direction home was facing the sun as to prevent the enemy from following us. We received report of the second squadron's attack on the reactor. We felt great. A- Because of completing the mission and B- Because all of us, the whole squadron, had come home in peace." At the time, the attack was widely criticized. Israel responded that its actions were self-defensive and thus justifiable under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. Critics rejected the idea of "pre-emptive self-defense". France, in particular (no surprise), was outraged over the loss of a French national as a result of the attack, and since the raid diplomatic ties between France and Israel have remained strained. See Anniversary of when Israel Saved The World--Operation Opera

Comments

[john jay]

friends:

i would remind miluimnik, see his comment to the earlier article on the israeli stike into syria, .... , that all of the photo intel on the strike at the iraqi reactor were obtained from the cia and nsa, united states of america.

israel simply did not have the assets to gather this type of intel at that date, and it was received from the united states.

i am not aware of any other source of the intel supplied to israel.

it was invaluable in locating and formulating targeting decisions, and in building the mock ups that israeli pilots used for training and planning their attacks.

in short, these photos were essential.

as any photo analyst worth his salt would have known, as the cia surely did when it supplied the photos to israel.

john jay

[Jeremiah]

"Deja Nuke" - Heh.