Two Minutes Over Baghdad

by Bar-Joseph,Uri

• ISBN13: 9780714683478
• ISBN10: 0714683477
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-05-02
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

On 7th June 1981 a group of F-16 fighter-bombers from the Israeli Air Force bombed the newly completed French-built Iraqi nuclear reactor at Tuwaitha, south-east of Baghdad. The F-16s dived in low and dropped 2000lb iron bombs and 900lb HE bombs on the main reactor building destroying the reactor, yet leaving only one casualty. Up above six F-15 fighters flew "top cover" while on the border of Iraq CH-53 Air Rescue helicopters were ready to retrieve any pilots who were shot down. The Iraqi air defences around the reactor were formidable with SA-6 (Gainful), SA-2 and SA-3 anti-aircraft missiles and ZSU-57-2 and ZSU-23-4 radar guided anti-aircraft guns and MIG-21 and MIG-23MF fighter interceptors based at a nearby airfield. What was more remarkable was that the Israeli strike team had to fly over several Arab countries to reach Iraq and fly within range of Saudi and US AWACs planes which were fully capable of spotting them hundreds of miles to the north. Fully updated with new, formerly classifiedinformation, this work includes new photographs taken during the mission and from US spy satellites showing the damage to the reactor. For the first time the names of the pilots are revealed, one of them was Israel's first astronaut who was sadly killed in the Space Shuttle crash in February 2003. Media opinion, which was very hostile back in 1982, has over time come round to the idea that this was correct and timely action by Israel.

Author Biography

The late Amos Perlmutter was Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the American University, Washington. He lectured at the US Naval Academy and Air Force Academy, as well as the US Naval War College and held visiting professorships at Harvard University, the Free University of Berlin, the Brookings Institution, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the University of Hyderabad The late Michael I. Handel was Professor of Strategy at the US Naval War College, Rhode Island, 1990-2001. He was a joint founding editor of the journal Intelligence and National Security Uri Bar-Joseph received his PhD from Stanford University in 1990. At present he is a senior lecturer in the Division of International Relations at Haifa University. His fields of interest are national security, intelligence, and the Arab-Israeli conflict

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Acknowledgements	viii
Foreword	ix
Barry Rubin
Introduction to the First Edition	xvii
Introduction to the Second Edition	xxiii
Prologue	xxvi
Operation Opera: A Chronology of Events	xxix
Map of Middle East	lii
PART ONE: THE CALL TO ARMS AND THE NUCLEAR RACE
Ben Gurion's Dilemma	3	(4)
The Lion and the Lambs: The Birth of Israel's Nuclear Debate	7	(4)
Nasser's Nightmare, Sadat's Solution	11	(7)
The Quest for the Muslim Bomb: Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan	18	(7)
A Bomb in the Basement: Dayan's Formula	25	(12)
Saddam Hussein and Project Tammuz	37	(14)
PART TWO: THE DECISION IS MADE
The Writing on the Wall: Sabotage in France	51	(8)
The Writing on the Wall: Tearing the Thread	59	(5)
Final Warning: The Iranian Attack	64	(3)
The Trio Decide	67	(8)
PART THREE: THE PREPARATIONS FOR OPERATION BABYLON
Operation Babylon: Options	75	(6)
Operation Babylon: A Second Entebbe?	81	(7)
Operation Babylon: Reconnaissance	88	(5)
Operation Babylon: The Eagle and the Fighting Falcon	93	(10)
Operation Babylon: The Approach Route	103	(8)
Operation Babylon: A Choice of Weapons	111	(7)
Operation Babylon: Countdown	118	(2)
Operation Babylon: Two Minutes over Osirak	120	(10)
PART FOUR: JUDGMENT
The Jerusalem Statement	130	(2)
The Baghdad Statement	132	(3)
Dropping Bombs and Clangers: Israel after the Raid	135	(7)
The Propaganda War: Hussein Hits Back	142	(3)
A Delicate Balancing Act: The American Reaction	145	(13)
Israel's Verdict	158	(6)
The French Disconnection	164	(3)
The Arab World: Bridging the Nuclear Gap	167	(15)
Epilogue to the Second Edition	171	(6)
APPENDICES
1. Israel's Main Decision-makers (1948--81)	177	(1)
2. The Iraqi Nuclear Project	178	(1)
3. Foreign Suppliers of the Iraqi Nuclear Project	179	(1)
4. Table of Nuclear Development in Middle Eastern Countries	180	(2)
5. A Comparison of Israeli and Iraqi Aircraft	182