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Sept. 23, 2005
Nuclear threat is real
Canada and Japan must act in Iran: Raz.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
According to Israeli intelligence, Iran will have a nuclear bomb
within two years. And, while Iran is an interesting country harboring
many diverse viewpoints, its Islamist leaders likely wouldn't hesitate
to sacrifice a million of their people in order to annihilate Israel.
This was the dire warning of Col. (Ret.) Zeev Raz, leader of Israel's
successful raid of Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981.
Raz was speaking at a Jewish National Fund event last Saturday night,
which brought approximately 200 people to Temple Sholom. He shared
with the crowd his memories of that 24-year-old mission, as well
as his thoughts about the nuclear threat posed by Iran.
The French-built, Baghdad-based reactor was in place in the late
1970s and was expected to be active by 1982, said Raz. The facility
was producing weapons-grade plutonium. Faced with this threat, then-prime
minister Menachem Begin and his cabinet turned to Israeli air force
(IAF) commander David Ivry to secretly plan a targeted strike on
the reactor. Raz, as commander of the IAF's F16 squadron, led the
mission.
Eight pilots took part in the raid. Code-named Operation Opera,
the strike took place on June 7, 1981, just before sunset, and took
only three hours; the bombing itself took just two minutes.
Raz discussed some of the unique aspects of the mission. Most notably,
the planes had to make the entire trip without refuelling, something
thought to be impossible given the distance travelled and that the
planes were carrying 2,000-pound general purpose bombs. The squadron
managed to do so by staying connected to the fuel pumps right up
to the point of take-off and by ejecting the external tanks in the
air once they were empty – a manouevre that is "forbidden,"
said Raz, because of the tanks' promixity to the bombs.
The timing of the attack was also well planned, explained Raz. It
took place on a Sunday, so that none of the French technicians at
the reactor would be killed. Unfortunately, he said, there was one
fatality, and Israel compensated that person's family.
Also, at his request, the raid began just before sunset, which made
it more dangerous for the pilots, but ensured a better view of the
target and thus more chance of success.
Combined with the more technical aspects of the mission, Raz added
some light-hearted stories about the pilots – including the
late Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, who died in 2003 when
the Columbia space shuttle tragically exploded – and the preparations
for the mission before turning to the very serious topic of the
nuclear threat posed by Iran.
"And now Iran is doing exactly what Iraq did [almost] 25 years
ago," said Raz. "And they say it's for energy, exactly
as Saddam said." They are fooling the Europeans and they are
buying time, continued Raz, who noted that the solution of 24 years
ago – a targetted air raid – is not possible, as Iran
has learned from the Iraqi experience: "There is no one point
like that reactor that you can strike from the Earth and stop the
project and stop the bombing," explained Raz. "There are
many, many points all over Iran, most of them deep under the ground,
so I don't believe this bombing can be stopped by air power at all,
not even [by] the U.S. air force. An army should go there, if it
is to be solved militarily, and not by democratic ways."
Raz said that countries should not expect the United States or Israel
to take the lead in this situation, since the former is enmeshed
in Iraq and the latter could only hope to delay Iran's plans, not
stop them. Raz called on other countries – those without nuclear
weapons and that are not considered pro-Israel by Iran, such as
Canada and Japan – to become involved, not necessarily in a
military way, but at least in trying to negotiate an end to Iran's
nuclear project. He stressed the need to act now.
"We don't have time," he said. "We believe, according
to our intelligence, that within two years or so, the Iranians are
going to have a bomb.
"If they have a bomb," he continued, "I don't think
it's going to be something like a situation between India and Pakistan
or between the U.S. and Russia ... because of the small size of
Israel, an Islamic leader might think, 'OK, even if the Israelis
are going to strike back and kill a million Iranians and we in Iran
are going to have something like the Japanese had [with the U.S.
nuclear bombing of Hiroshima] 60 years ago, still, why don't we
destroy Israel?... Islam is going to win, even if we lose a million
Iranians.'"
Raz emphasized that he was talking about the position of the Islamic
leaders: "I am not talking about other elements in Iran. Iran
is a very interesting and diverse country, but this group of Islamic
leaders in Iran right now, they may, I'm afraid ... see [bombing
Israel] as something they should do as the leaders of the
Islamic world, not as leaders of Iran only.
"And I think that each one of us should do something in order
to make the leaders of the free countries, like Japan, Canada and
others, do something in order to stop it."
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