Waking the God of the Dead - EC2003 IOPG

It has been said in recent years that modern warfare clearly favors the attacker. Whether true or not, it is also said that this perception may encourage countries to favour pre-emption. It is certainly clear from recent conflicts that early battles usually determine the success of entire campaigns, and in fact, a highly successful pre-emptive strike may prevent (or at least delay) future war. Israel is no stranger to pre-emption. In the late 1970s, Iraq persuaded France to construct a research reactor near Baghdad. This light water nuclear reactor was named Osiraq by the French, an amalgam of the name of the Egyptian god of the dead, Osiris, with that of Iraq. This expansion of Iraqi nuclear know-how was alarming to Israel, so much so that when Israeli intelligence discovered Baghdad's intent to use Osiraq to produce weapons, the decision was made to attack and destroy the facility before it went hot. In the words of the then Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces: "The alternative is our destruction". On 7 June 1981, the elite pilots of the IDF/AF finally spotted their target after a long low level flight through neighboring Jordanian and Saudi airspace. In little over a minute, the gleaming dome of the Osiraq reactor had been ruined by a rain of 2,000 lb iron bombs. The attack raised considerable debate over the legitimacy of anticipatory self-defence and the application of international law. Years later, when Desert Storm swept through the Gulf, the Iraqi nuclear site was struck again. But it wasn't until the concluding days of the campaign, after some nine different air strikes, that the ability of the facility to conduct nuclear research or processing was severely degraded.

Now, 25 years after the Osiraq raid, Israel once again faces a monumental decision about the value of pre-emption. Iran is pressing ahead with nuclear research despite broad international opposition and concern about it possibly acquiring nuclear weapons. The Iranian leader has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map". Its time to wake that old god of the dead.

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