Biden announced that Washington doesn’t support an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which to some knowledgeable observers, given Biden’s record, makes that more likely.
There are many other hypocrisies and fallacies, but obviously the first thing to be said about Israel’s propaganda regarding Iran’s nuclear program being weaponized is that Israel has its own massive nuclear weapons program that both it and the US government have refused to acknowledge for decades, as I’ve long documented.
But one myth is little known and important to understand as Israel seems to be eyeing striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The Telegraph yesterday claimed: “Israel did the world a historic favour when it bombed Iraq’s Osirak reactor in 1981.”
Bullshit.
Israel would claim in 1981: “From sources whose reliability is beyond any doubt, we learn that this reactor, despite its camouflage, is designed to produce atomic bombs.” Which seems to be a case of projection given their deceit regarding their Dimona facility.
In fact, Richard Wilson, who was Mallinckrodt research professor of physics at Harvard University, visited the Osirak Iraqi reactor in 1982 after it was bombed by Israel. He told me back in 2006: “Many claim that the bombing of the Iraqi Osirak reactor delayed Iraq’s nuclear bomb program. But the Iraqi nuclear program before 1981 was peaceful, and the Osirak reactor was not only unsuited to making bombs but was under intensive safeguards. Certainly, Saddam Hussein would clearly have liked a nuclear bomb if he could have had one, but the issue is whether there were enough procedures for that reactor in place to prevent him from doing so and all the indications are that there were enough procedures.
“The Osirak reactor was destroyed in June 1981. It was not until early in July 1981 that Saddam Hussein personally released Dr. Jafar Dhia Jafar from house arrest and asked him to start and head the clandestine nuclear bomb program. The destruction of Osirak did not stop an Iraqi nuclear bomb program but probably started it. Worse still, the Israelis were so pleased with themselves that it appears that neither they nor the CIA looked for and understood the real direction of the Iraqi nuclear bomb program.
“In the international discussions with Iran, this must be borne in mind. Bombing a peaceful program, rather than controlling it, is very dangerous. But, alas, this is not the lesson that many people, who have not studied the technical evidence, have gained.” Wilson died in 2018. See his piece in New Outlook: “Iraq’s uranium separation: the huge surprise.”
Hellbound and Down 