Operation+Opera

Historical Investigation Patrick O’Neill

Part A: Plan of the investigation

To what extent was operation Opera by the Israelites justified? My goal of this investigation is to justify operation opera and its benefits to the Middle East. By Israel eliminating Iraq’s nuclear influence how did it affect later Iraqi foreign affairs?

Part B: Summary of evidence -On the diplomatic front, Israel was unable to make any progress or strong influence in preventing Iraq from having an active nuclear reactor. Head of Israeli foreign affairs Yitzchak Rabin attempts negotiations with Italy and France who supposedly have funded the Iraqi nuclear research due to their petroleum interests. He appointed Moshe Dayan as the foreign minister in order to engage in preventing a nuclear armed Iraq. After Dayan, Yitzchak Shamir was then appointed and he engaged in negotiations with French president,Valery Giscard-D’Estaing. These efforts proved to be useless due to Frances want for domestic gain, rather than international security and safety. Italy emulated these policies rather than making the moral decision by preventing another unstable government from having nuclear arms, they denied their support and continued in creating a nuclear Iraq. Iraqi government was unstable at the time of the nuclear funds with the new tyrannical leader Sadaam Hussein and therefore, could not be trusted with the capabilities of launching weapons of mass destruction. If Iraq were to launch scuds at a country such as Saudi Arabia, the irradiation would create massive casualties and a larger middle eastern war. The United States stated the Iraqi's were trying to gain nuclear capabilities which they would mostly likely exploit and use on Israel. Once Iraq held nuclear capabilities, no country would be able to prevent them from using the weapons as foreign influence. Since it would be impossible would also allow them to expand their nuclear arms stockpile. The control of nuclear weapons would have altered the United States entrance into operation desert storm. If Iraq would have possessed nuclear weapons during the invasion of Kuwait, the United States would not have been able to invade. Iraq would have essentially annexed Kuwait with no resistance. The Middle East as the world knows it today would be heavily altered if the Israelis did not make this vigilante-type move. Iraq had never signed the armistice treaty with Israel after 1949 and therefore is still technically at war with Israel. This coincides with the fact that Israel used this attack as anticipatory defense. Iraq and Israel were not at peace and if the situation were to ever escalate, the threat of thermonuclear war was not an option. This being said, Israel had no choice but to destroy the Osiraq plant. At the time of the raid, few people agreed with the attack, however, most countries agreed with the attack in later years when Iraq became more of a threat. Iran had also bombed the plant during the 1980s however did only minor damage. In Israeli officials eye's the threat of a second Jewish Holocaust was highly plausible. After establishing this issue, the Israeli government discovered 90 kilograms of enriched uranium was being transported to the nuclear reactor which would give the Iraqis the go ahead to start creating nuclear weapons. Overall, the bombing of Osiraq canceled further nuclear research by the Iraqi state until post Desert Storm and therefore presented the threat of Iraqi thermonuclear war. Quote by Yitzhak Shamir: “Deterrence was not attained by other countries – France and Italy – and even the United States. It ws attained by the State of Israel and its Prime Minster who decided, acted and created a fact that no one in the world today – with the exception of our enemies – regrets.” Word Count: 557

Part C: Evaluation of Sources

<span style="background-color: #aaffaa; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in;">**D'Amato, Anthony. "Israel's airstrike against the Osiraq reactor." //A// //Retrospective// (1996): 1-7.** <span style="background-color: #aaffaa; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in;">This article is in support of the Israeli bombing of the Osiraq reactor in Iraq in operation Opera. Anthony D’Amato is a Leighton professor at law at the Northwestern University. He talks of how Israel’s airstrike was required in order to insure international security for the state of Israel, as well as other states who may be threatened by Iraq. With leaders and threats such as Sadaam Hussein in power, the influence of nuclear weapons was an option for Israel and other countries which forced them to take action. The article promotes Israel’s exclusive expulsion of only nuclear weaponry and research in Iraq and does not threaten or destroy any other aspects of Iraq’s military endeavors. D’Amato believes in this paper, by the Israelis preventing Iraq from producing nuclear weapons, they protected the whole Middle East from nuclear threats by an unstable government, but gave the United States, the sense of security in order to launch an offensive in Operation Desert Storm. If Iraq had nuclear capabilities, the United States would have no choice but to avoid conflict with Iraq. Iraq would have taken Kuwait without any resistance. The Israeli attack did not violate international law as well because due to the fact that Israel and Iraq never made peace in 1949 after they had been fighting along with other Middle Eastern countries. They referred to the bombing as “anticipatory defense” which means it prevents further measures of defense in the future. With this vague terminology, D’Amato states the Israeli’s were using a form of self-defense which also justified there swift actions. The limitations of this article were the bias opinion and the lack of insight in to the counter argument and the unjust move taken by the Israelis. By using this source, I am able to develop a better understanding of whether the ends of the Osiraq raid justify the means of assault. This opinion is Bias toward the Israeli efforts; however, it is well written and there is an overwhelming amount of evidence. D’Amato is well qualified to write this paper and helps me better understand how important and justifiable the raid actually was. <span style="background-color: #aaffaa; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in;"> <span style="background-color: #aaffaa; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in;">Avi Hein is a professor and member of the Jewish virtual library wrote an analysis of what happened from Israel's point of view during and the events following up to the raid on the Osiraq nuclear plant in Iraq. It's purpose is to inform the readers of why the raid happened and how it was carried out. The value of this article is to inform a reader why the operation was necessary and why it was carried out. The limitations however, is the fact that it is written by a Jewish man who is full support of Israel which therefore makes this article bias.
 * || **Hein, Avi. "The Raid on the Osirak Nuclear Reactor." //Jewish Virtual Library//.** **American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise** ||

link:

<span style="background-color: #aaffaa; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in;">http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search~S0?/Xosiraq&SORT=DZ/Xosiraq&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=osiraq/1%2C3%2C3%2CB/frameset&FF=Xosiraq&SORT=DZ&3%2C3%2C <span style="background-color: #aaffaa; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in;">http://www.debbieschlussel.com/1392/26-years-ago-today-israel-decimated-saddams-osirak-nuclear-reactor-who-will-stop-iran/