http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/document-friday-when-iran-bombed-iraqs-nuclear-reactor/
Document Friday: When Iran Bombed Iraq’s Nuclear Reactor March 9, 2012 tags: Iran <http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/tag/iran/>, Iran-Iraq War<http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/tag/iran-iraq-war/>, Iraq <http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/tag/iraq/>, Israel<http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/tag/israel/>, nuclear reactor <http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/tag/nuclear-reactor/>, osirak <http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/tag/osirak/> by Nate Jones <http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/author/natebjones/> <http://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/osirak.jpg> Simpler times. The Osirak reactor before the Iranian and Israeli attacks. Eight days into the Iran-Iraq War, Operation Scorch Sword commenced. At dawn on 30 September 1980, four Iranian F-4E Phantom jets refueled mid-air just before the Iran-Iraq border. After crossing into Iraq, the fighters climbed to a higher altitude so that their course was detectable by Iraqi radar. Moments later, two of the Phantoms peeled off, and dropped to a lower altitude to avoid radar detection. They were flying stealth to Tuwaitha, a city ten miles southeast of Baghdad, home to the Osirak nuclear reactor. As the world debates the possibility of an Israeli air strike of Iranian nuclear facilities, many have sought to learn lessons from Israel’s 1981 attack on the Osirak reactor. As I thumbed through our documents on Israel’s attack (and boy do we have some good ones), I learned that Iran had bombed Iraq’s nuclear research facility first. And, in all probability, it was Iran’s aerial reconnaissance photographs, which the Islamic republic shared with Israel, that were crucial to the Israeli Air Force’s complete destruction of the reactor on 7 June 1981. Can’t make this stuff up. Below is a page from the CIA’s 1 October 1980 National Intelligence Daily<http://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/iran-iraq1.pdf> (NID) that reported the Iranian attack. <http://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/iran-iraq.jpg> Mad Libs on who "confirmed" the strike to the CIA? My bet is on the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop of *Air Enthusiast*, who have written by far the most informative (if unsourced) piece on the subject, Target: Saddam’s Reactor, <http://www.angelfire.com/art2/narod/opera/> eye witnesses reported that two bombs hit the dome of the reactor and bounced off. The water cooling facility was also damaged, as were the facilities for storing and treating liquid radioactive waste. Some publications (see the *Christian Science Monitor*, 22 October 1980) reported that the attack was conducted by Israel. The CIA NID refuted this at the time, and the Air Enthusiast article also factually debunks this claim. <http://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/iran-iraq2.jpg> >From *Air Enthusiast*. Layout of the Osirak Nuclear Research Facility. The CIA’s NID downplayed the attack on the nuclear research center, stating “only secondary buildings were hit” and that “neither country’s military capability has been seriously damaged by the other’s air attacks.” Strangely, the Iranian regime also downplayed the attack. One Iranian Air Force pilot even described it as a failure; he was quoted as saying that due to the lack of damage the US-manufactured bombs had inflicted, “we might as well have our planes drop a sack of rocks on the Iraqis.” Despite the pessimism, the attack did stop the reactor from enriching fissile material. Approximately 400 French scientists, technicians, and engineers had been working on the reactor at the time of the attack left the country in response to the bombing. (France sold Iraq the reactor in 1976.) Enrichment –allegedly for peaceful purposes– stopped and irradiated material was moved to, unconventionally, “underground canals.” The *Washington Post* reported, that the “worst-case scenario” was that Iraq could create a primitive ”dirty bomb (6 November 1980).” <http://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/iran-iraq-3.jpg> Photograph of the Iranian strike taken by a French journalist. Posted at *Air Enthusiast*. Then, on 30 November 1980, three Iranian Phantoms again entered Iraqi air space. Two entered first, drawing the attention of Iraqi defenders. Soon after, according to Iranian sources quoted by *Air Enthusiast*, the third –a recon-Phantom– “approached to the south of the target [the Osirak Reactor] at low level, then turned back towards the east and made a single pass over the Osirak reactors while being fired at by several Iraqi AAA and SAM sites. Once out of the target area, the two F-4Es joined up again and escorted the RF-4E safely out of Iraq.” These photographs would lead to the end of Osirak. On 2 December 1980 –again, if the Iranian accounts can be believed– an unmarked Boeing 707 landed under cover of darkness in Mehrabad Airport, Tehran. There, a crew member was handed “a small metal briefcase, with the instructions ‘Do Not X-Ray’ painted in English on the outside.” Inside, in all likelihood, were the images photographed by Iran and used by the Israeli Air Force in 1981 to conduct Operation Opera, the first successful military destruction of a nuclear reactor. As an Israeli airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities continues to loom, Iranians can remember –certainly with some irony–that that their nation was the first to launch an attack on a rival’s nuclear reactor. from → Document Friday<http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/category/document-friday/>, Documents <http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/category/documents/> ← The Syrian-Iranian Relationship: Do We Get It Now? Did We Ever?<http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/the-syrian-iranian-relationship-do-we-get-it-now-did-we-ever/> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Take a minute to help save the life of an Iranian trade unionist facing the death penalty * Many people have reported problems with the link in this mailing - please try again - we've now made a small correction. If you did successfully send off your message already, ignore this email. Every campaign we run on LabourStart is important. But sometimes, these are literally matters of life and death. *A few years ago, we were asked to run an online campaign in support of a jailed Iranian teacher named Farzad Kamangar. Thousands of you sent off protest messages to Iran, but it was not enough. On 9 May 2010, Kamangar was executed. He was 32 years old.* * * *Today we are once again being asked to mobilize tens of thousands of trade unionists around the world in defense of an Iranian teacher who has been sentenced to death. His name is Abdolreza Ghanbari and the crime he is accused of is "enmity towards God". The Education International, which represents teachers' trade unions around the world, is demanding his release.* *It will take you only a minute to send off your message of protest - please click here to do so.* ** * http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1299&src=lsmm *<http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1299&src=lsmm> Please spread the word in your union. Maybe this time, if we can send enough messages, our voices will be heard. And to see what recent LabourStart campaigns you may have missed, click here. *Meanwhile, in Turkey, we're being asked by Amnesty International to help support their campaign to grant Turkish workers their fundamental labour rights. Please take a moment to sign their online petition, here.* ** * http://protectthehuman.amnesty.org.uk/petition_actions/demand-rights-for-turkish-workers *<http://protectthehuman.amnesty.org.uk/petition_actions/demand-rights-for-turkish-workers> And at the same time, Turkish trade union members are staging a sit-in today at the ILO's Turkey office in a bid to force their government to comply with ILO core labour standards and to enact new labour laws that respect workers' rights. You can follow their sit in -- which they're calling "Occupy ILO" on their blog http://occupyilo.wordpress.com/ and on Twitter using the #OccupyILO hashtag. They're asking all supporters of workers' rights in Turkey to tweet using the #OccupyILO hashtag to show their solidarity with those doing the sit-in. Thanks very much! Eric Lee Copyright © 2012 LabourStart, All rights reserved. ---------------------------- The Latest from Iran (9 March): "Legitimacy" --- Home and Abroad Friday, March 9, 2012 at 6:45 Ali Yenidunya in Ahmet Davutoğlu, Ali Larijani, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, EA Middle East and Turkey, Farkhondeh Hajizadeh, Kamran Talattof, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, Middle East and Iran, Yukiya *See also Iran Special: Explaining The Supreme Leader's Nuclear Politics<http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/3/9/iran-special-explaining-the-supreme-leaders-nuclear-politics.html> The Latest from Iran (8 March): Let the Political In-Fighting Resume<http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/3/8/the-latest-from-iran-8-march-let-the-political-in-fighting-r.html> * ------------------------------ 1958 GMT: Stoking Up the Temperature. Note the careful comments of Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, when he is asked about the Parchin military site and possible testing of high explosives in the nuclear programme: * "We have information that some activity is ongoing there," Amano...said at agency headquarters. Asked whether he was concerned that Iran may be trying to whitewash the site, he said: "That possibility is not excluded ... We cannot say for sure because we are not there." The veteran Japanese diplomat added: "We have to go there."* Now look at how Reuters converts this into a really dramatic, scary story: "UN Nuclear Chief Doesn't Rule Out Iran 'Cleaning' Army Site<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/09/us-iran-nuclear-idUSBRE82811P20120309> ". 1950 GMT: All-Is-Well Alert? Minister of Health Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi has given the assurance<http://www.irna.ir/News/80031307/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%83-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B2%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B2-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%88-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%85%DB%8C-%D9%83%D9%86%D8%AF/%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A/>that the Central Bank has provided sufficient foreign currency to import necessary drugs. 1717 GMT: Censorship Watch. In an interview translated by Kamran Talattof<http://iraninward.blogspot.com/2012/03/women-publishers-in-iran-farkhondeh.html>, Farkhondeh Hajizadeh, author and managing editor of Vistar Press, speaks about the increasingly repressive environment for publication: "The process of growing censorship has reached a point that even the concept of censor does not apply to it. In a time when we all seem to be living in glass houses and have nothing left to hide, such approaches to book publishing is synonymous to a return to the Middle Ages." 1540 GMT: Scott Lucas writes from the road: Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said the talks about the nuclear program in Iran would take place in Istanbul in the beginning of April <http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/anasayfa/>. The expected meeting between Iran and the so-called P5+1 countries (the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) will be held in Istanbul in early April, according to Turkey’s top diplomat. This confirms what we posted earlier this week about the nuclear talks --- Davutoglu met Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi earlier this week. 1454 GMT: The chariman of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, has praised the Iranian people<http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1555704>for turning out in large numbers and refusing to elect bad candidates into the Majlis: “The people in the election prevented those (candidates) toward whom we have borne resentment and who hardly gained the approval of (the Guardian Council) from entering the Majlis,” he said. 1447 GMT: Drums of War Watch - Reuters has posted an article suggesting that the "massive ordinance perpetrator" could be used against Iran's underground facilities<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/09/us-usa-iran-pentagon-idUSBRE8280EP20120309?feedType=RSS&feedName=Iran&virtualBrandChannel=10209&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=59365> : A 30,000-pound (13,600-kg) bunker buster bomb designed to smash through some 200 feet of concrete before exploding is a "great weapon" that could be used by U.S. forces in a clash with Iran over its nuclear program, an Air Force general said on Thursday. Lieutenant General Herbert Carlisle, Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations, said the massive ordnance penetrator, which the military began receiving only last year, is part of the U.S. arsenal available for strikes against countries like Iran, which has some buried nuclear facilities. James Miller takes over today's live coverage while Scott Lucas is on the road. 0855 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Bloomberg posts an interesting snapshot<http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/tehran-housing-boom-is-last-resort-for-iran-s-savers-squeezed-by-sanctions.html>of one effect of sanctions: * Iranians stepped up purchases of gold, dollars, euros as hedges against the threat to stability, those avenues were closed off as authorities banned currency trades outside official venues and made investors wait mnths to buy gold --- leaving the real estate market as an alternative. Building permits issued in Tehran jumped 87% in the June-August period from a year earlier, statistics from the Mayor's office show. Prices have risen at least 15% in the past three months, according to three real estate agents based in the capital, Tehran is more than twice as expensive as Istanbul a similar-size city in wealthier neighboring Turkey. * 0645 GMT: We begin this morning with a special analysis<http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/3/9/iran-special-explaining-the-supreme-leaders-nuclear-politics.html>linking the Supreme Leader's statement on nuclear talks with the "West" not only to relations with the US but, perhaps more importantly, to the quest for legitimacy at home. A couple more signals.... Press TV highlights Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani's remarks<http://www.presstv.ir/detail/230691.html>as he met a Turkish official in Tehran on Wednesday: “Friendly relations between the two countries are not solely based on neighborhood, but also on empathy and common cultural-religious values.” That call for co-operatation is standard rhetoric, of course, but in this case it is not just about economic ties. Turkey is expecting to host the resumption of the nuclear discussions, and Larijani used the occasion to reinforce the Supreme Leader's message that Tehran is talking, but talking from strength: “International powers are concerned about the expansion of the Islamic world’s capability and power in various technological, political and economic areas." And there is the far different signal about the future of President Ahmadinejad. Thursday's political sparring featured the declaration of leading MPs that Ahmadinejad would be interrogated by Parliament next Wednesday, even as the President's men said the appearance would only occur when Ahmadinejad deemed the time was right. Here's the extra note: Wednesday is the last day that Parliament convenes before the lengthy break for Persian New Year, so this is a game of chicken. If the Majlis gets Ahmadinejad into the chamber, it is a sign that he is on the political defensive. If the President holds out against that questioning, he is still kicking against his "lame-duck" status. And if he does not appear, it could indicate that the Supreme Leader --- for now --- is quite happy to have an Ahmadinejad who is under threat from his rivals, but who does not have to bow down publicly. Article originally appeared on EA WorldView (http://www.enduringamerica.com/). [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
