Israeli jets attack Iraq
In the furore that has followed last Sunday鈥檚 attack by Israeli F-4s and F-16s on the Osirak reactor near Baghdad, two questions remain; did Iraq really have the capacity to build a bomb, and were its intentions aggressive?
The truth is elusive. Iraq has been quietly acquiring nuclear technology for more than 10 years, skilfully using its oil to bargain for a wide range of facilities. It has avoided dependence on one supplier, making it difficult for outsiders to assess its nuclear programme. Iraq has played by the rules, while assiduously acquiring the means to make an atomic bomb.
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Over the past two years, Israel and the US have raised a storm about Iraq鈥檚 purchase of facilities from France and Italy 鈥� facilities which, they allege, could make a bomb. France and the International Atomic Energy Agency say that controls are adequate to prevent this. Yet, without breaking any international agreements, Iraq has prepared the ground for a bomb outside its official nuclear energy programme.
Iraq clearly has all the trained personnel it needs. Last year the government arrested the head of research at its Atomic Energy Commission. Since then his second-in-command has also mysteriously disappeared. If Iraq were short of nuclear experts these two would surely have escaped such purges.
It seems that within a few years Iraq will be able to build an atomic bomb. Iraq argues Third World states have as much right to nuclear technology as industrialised nations. While making a bomb is not its only concern, as long as it feels the Israeli threat remains, Iraq will not foreclose this option.
From New 杏吧原创, 11 June 1981