Raid on the Sun(74)

Later that morning, at the regular Monday meeting of Reagan’s NSA team, the White House chieftains were all in high dudgeon over what they considered unwarranted Israeli aggression. Secretary of State Alexander Haig, normally a staunch Israeli supporter, called the raid “reckless.” He argued that the United States had no choice but to formally protest the attack and should impose sanctions on Israel immediately. Reagan’s chief of staff James A. Baker agreed that “some kind” of sanctions were called for. Israel had violated the strict conditions of the sale of military hardware. Its raid was clearly an offensive action.

Finally, it was Weinberger’s turn to speak. He told Reagan that, in his estimation, they had no other choice but to suspend the remainder of the F-16 sale to Israel—at least, temporarily. Four new planes were sitting in the hangar at General Dynamics awaiting delivery even as they spoke.

Throughout the meeting, Reagan listened patiently and said nothing. Privately, however, the president could not see what the big deal was. In fact, at one point he looked across the table at Richard Allen and rolled his eyes, as if to say, “Oh, brother!”

But in the end, Reagan agreed to go along with the recommendations of his advisers. The State Department would immediately release a statement strongly condemning Israel’s “aggressive” and “unprovoked” attack on Iraq. Invoking the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, Secretary of State Haig announced that the United States was immediately suspending any further sales of F-16s to Israel, including the four planes sitting at General Dynamics.

Haig and the administration bureaucrats had had their way: they had slapped Israel on the wrist—hard. But prevailing opinion concerning Israel’s action was hardly lockstep inside Washington’s corridors of power. As early as the first Monday morning meeting of Defense, it was clear that many around the table, including ranking members from the Joint Chiefs, had at least a grudging admiration for the boldness and the remarkable precision of the attack. Others, like Richard Perle, at the time an assistant secretary of defense under Weinberger, disagreed with the decision to censure Israel and were outspoken in their support of the Israeli action. Perle thought it a great act of antiproliferation, the exact thing the United States should be doing more of.

Indeed, late Monday afternoon, when Richard Allen brought in the highly classified KH-11 satellite photos of al-Tuwaitha to show to the president, Cap Weinberger, and the Pentagon generals, the reaction of the group was amazed silence. Clearly seen were the surrounding fences, the outlying buildings, the main gate, the guard towers—everything perfectly, immaculately intact. But in the middle of it all stood a deep, gaping hole: the site of the former Osirak reactor, utterly and surgically obliterated.

Reagan studied the photographs, then finally said what many present had silently been thinking.

“Okay, yeah, yeah, I see,” the president said, referring to the putatively damning evidence of Israel’s perfidy. “But what a terrific piece of bombing!”



Monday morning, July 8, Hagai Katz headed with his family to the countryside to celebrate Shavuot with tractor rides, picnicking on hay bales, and listening to the outdoor songfests. Radios everywhere played traditional Israeli folk songs and music. Katz and his wife were sitting on a hay bale, nibbling on their packed lunch, when a man picnicking next to them leaned toward Hagai and announced, “Did you hear? We just blew up Iraq’s nuclear reactor!”

Katz couldn’t believe his ears. What the hell? he thought. They had all just been resworn to secrecy the night before. How did the news get out?

Zeev Raz and his wife had elected to celebrate Shavuot by staying home and relaxing for the first time in months. At 3:30 in the afternoon, the music programming on the radio was interrupted by a special announcement: the Israeli Air Force had successfully destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor, a critical part of the country’s plans to produce an atomic bomb.

Raz was shocked by the announcement. But he said nothing.

The last eighteen months had been a hard time for Raz and his wife. He had been gone long hours, involved in something intense and serious, something she had been completely cut out of. She worried, and she hated the many, many hours he spent away from home. Something had been eating at him. She could see it in his face, feel it in his body. Especially in the last few weeks. But he wouldn’t tell her. She felt cheated and, gradually, resentful.

Now, finally, it was clear. With the announcement, she knew how important her husband’s work had been. Her eyes filling with tears, she walked to Raz and hugged him.