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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iraq
Index
On June 7, 1981, Israeli air force planes flew over
Jordanian, Saudi, and Iraqi airspace to attack and destroy an
Iraqi nuclear facility near Baghdad. In a statement issued after
the raid, the Israeli government stated that it had discovered
from "sources of unquestioned reliability" that Iraq was
producing nuclear bombs at the Osiraq (acronym for Osiris-Iraq)
plant, and, for this reason, Israel had initiated a preemptive
strike. Baghdad, however, reiterated a previous statement that
the French atomic reactor was designed for research and for the
eventual production of electricity.
The attack raised a number of questions of interpretation
regarding international legal concepts. Those who approved of the
raid argued that the Israelis had engaged in an act of legitimate
self-defense justifiable under international law and under
Article 51 of the charter of the United Nations (UN). Critics
contended that the Israeli claims about Iraq's future
capabilities were hasty and ill-considered and asserted that the
idea of anticipatory self-defense was rejected by the community
of states. In the midst of this controversy, the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came under fire from individuals and
from governments who complained that the Vienna-based UN agency
had failed to alert the world to developments at Osiraq. IAEA
officials denied these charges and reaffirmed their position on
the Iraqi reactor, that is, that no weapons had been manufactured
at Osiraq and that Iraqi officials had regularly cooperated with
agency inspectors. They also pointed out that Iraq was a party to
the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
(informally called the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT) and that
Baghdad had complied with all IAEA guidelines. The Israeli
nuclear facility at Dimona, it was pointed out, was not under
IAEA safeguards, because Israel had not signed the NPT and had
refused to open its facilities to UN inspections.
After the raid, Baghdad announced that it planned to rebuild
the destroyed facility. Although France agreed in principle to
provide technical assistance, no definitive timetable had been
announced as of early 1988.
Data as of May 1988
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