2006 Iran Looks & Sounds Remarkably like 1981 Iraq; Israel May Save the World...Again

by: Steve Yuhas

On June 7, 1981 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered the Israeli Air Forces to take out a nuclear reactor 18 miles outside of Baghdad, Iraq using United States built F-15 bombers and F-16 fighters.  The Osirak reactor was destroyed and all Israeli forces returned to their bases with no loss of nuclear material because the reactor was in the end stages of construction by the French.  So concerned were the Israelis for life that they made the attack on a Sunday to avoid civilian causalities of French workers who were off work that day.  The words and language used by Israel then is similar to the language used by Israel today. 

If the world would listen; Israel may very well be putting the it on notice that as the Europeans call for an emergency session of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - that will not happen until February (some emergency) - and governments realize that two years has been lost to talking - it may very well be the same scenario again; this time with Iran in the cross hairs.

Before leaving for Russia to discuss the situation in Iran, acting Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, told reporters, “Under no circumstances, and at no point, can Israel allow anyone with these kinds of malicious designs against us [to] have control of weapons of destruction that can threaten our existence."

Olmert has been acting Prime Minister since Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke on January 4, 2006 and is not expected to return to his position in the government.

The front pages of newspapers around the world boasted bold print headlines when the talks ultimately failed (forget for a moment that they failed before they started, but Iran needed a way to take time to harden facilities and defenses and the Europeans’ love for meetings is legendary) that Israel was preparing plans to attack Iran should it continue her nuclear program.  As if that were newsworthy or breaking any story - of course Israel has contingency plans to attack Iran - someone has to plan to do something if the world is simply going to sit around and chat as a nation hell bent on her destructions continues to gain weapons to do just that.

It would have been a headline if Israel were not planning a strike against Iran given the comments by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Any high school educated person who read or heard the Ahmadinejad saying that Israel should be “wiped off the map” and that the Holocaust was a figment of imagination cooked up to take land from Arabs would know that a nation would have plans to take out that country's ability to destroy it. 

Considering that Iran has a policy to wipe out another nation and states it openly for the world to hear coupled with the fact that she loves the attention of her clandestine nuclear program it would be folly for Israel not to have plans to invade her first.  I'd put money on the fact that somewhere at the Pentagon the United States still has plans to attack the United Kingdom; will we use them - probably not, but the notion that we didn't have a plan for it would be foolish and hardly worthy of a headline.

Nations plan for war, it is what defense departments and ministries do - why would it be significant that Israel would prepare attack plans against Iran?  Makes you scratch your head sometimes.  I digress.

What the world should do today; though, is consider the language used by Israel in 1981 to justify the attack on Iraq and compare it to the language being used today to discuss Iran.  In 1981 after the attack on the Iraqi nuclear facility Israel said, "The atomic bombs which that reactor was capable of producing whether from enriched uranium or from plutonium, would be of the Hiroshima size. Thus a mortal danger to the people of Israel progressively arose."

The world condemned Israel following the attack (nothing new), but had Israel not acted the idea that Iraq would have simply used nuclear material for power, something it does not need considering the oil it sits above, the Middle East, indeed the world, would be a far different place.

After the attack took place Israel went on to add that French and Italian governments should take responsibility for their efforts to arm Iraq with nuclear weapons, “We again call upon them to desist from this horrifying, inhuman deed. Under no circumstances will we allow an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against our people."

Sound familiar?  It should; the language of 1981 sounds remarkably like the language being used today and the world should take note.  Defending the people of Israel from an Iraqi nuclear threat is no longer debated (except by those who presumably enjoyed the leadership of Saddam Hussein) and those who would doubt Israel’s resolve to defend herself from Iran’s maniacal mullahs should consider that the remarks made by Ehud Olmert were made as he left for Russia, the country helping Iran with her nuclear ambitions.

The Europeans are patting themselves on the back for sticking together over two years of doing nothing and now that Iran has had time to put more defenses on her clandestine program and two more years to get her nuclear program up and running the clock has run out for the world to act.  In an amazing, almost humorous, twist the Europeans called for an emergency meeting of the IAEA that will now take place in February (emergencies at the IAEA are just not what emergencies should be).

In the next few weeks the world will be treated to a litany of speeches by those who believe that Iran should be left alone (Russia will almost certainly be unwilling to place sanctions on Iran because of the lucrative money in the pipeline to provide Iran with nuclear materials) and China will be in no hurry to stop Iran from doing anything either – all because Iran holds the key that could send oil to $100 a barrel instead of $60 a barrel (have to protect those caribou in Alaska though - save don't find oil in America - leave it to the mullahs to blackmail the world with instead - great plan Democrats). 

The Europeans had so many meetings that they’ve put the world in mortal danger because two veto wielding members of the Security Council have financial needs that would make sanctions unpalatable to either one.

It is lucky for the world that Israel exists and is already under attack from virtually every nation in the anti-Semitic United Nations for if any nation is at risk from a nuclear Iran; Israel is certainly the one (along with Russia and China, but that is a story for another day).  The problem is that many people in government do not understand the Middle East and the history there.  It is a region where history is not simply from biblical times; rather, recent history should be considered as well and language this is used very intentionally by people and governments.

The world should be listening as Israel uses language from the 1980s to describe the events taking place in 2006 and, for lack of a better phrase, connect the dots!  It may very well be that Israel will end up saving the world from a nuclear Iran and she will again come under the hostility of the world, but in the end she will again be right if she acts to take out a mortal threat to her people.

The Europeans failed in their attempts to stop Iran from developing anything nuclear and it is with a jaundiced eye that one must look at the ability for Europe to negotiate their way out of anything – they failed to negotiate in the former Yugoslavia and could not stop the slaughter there - why were they trusted with the most important task of stopping a fundamentalist regime from going nuclear?  Let them debate cheese or crackers - not life or death.

Old Europe, as Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld called them, seem to be good for talking, but not so good for acting and when it all boils down they are unwilling or unable to act anyway so just get out of the way and stop with the meetings.  Thankfully, Israel is not afraid to defend her citizens from the grave and mortal threat posed by an evil president who believes himself to be on a messianic mission to destroy the west and Israel.

Look at the language; it is likely that Israel is telling the world that something is going to happen unless the world acts and after old Europe gets done patting itself on the back for doing nothing, but sticking together for the last two years – they may be able to learn something by simply listening.  Talking for two years and declaring yourselves a failure is not success - it is failure and in issues of life and death of people and nations, failure is not an option.

Luckily for the world a few nations understand that and will not allow a nuclear Iran; if only more countries understood that talking is good, but at some point action matters more than words.

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 and may be reached at www.steveyuhas.com or steve@steveyuhas.com