Operation Opera went like clockwork. It took only 80 seconds for Saddam Hussein?s cherished ambition to build a nuclear weapon, over which his experts had laboured for six years, to be obliterated by Israeli strike aircraft swooping from a blazing summer sky.
The destruction of Iraq?s Osirak reactor on June 7, 1981 was among the most successful preventive attacks in modern history. Just 16 bombs dropped by eight F-16s derailed Saddam?s nuclear programme, buying enough time for the dictator to seal his own downfall by occupying Kuwait and paving the way for the invasion of 2003. The history of the Middle East changed ? and not a single Israeli aircraft was lost.
With Operation Opera seared into their collective memory, is it any wonder that Israeli leaders look at Iran?s nuclear ambitions and contemplate the same solution? If the rhetoric coming from the defence ministry in Tel Aviv is to be believed, the option of destroying Iran?s nuclear facilities with a series of air strikes is being considered more seriously than ever before. Indeed some anonymous briefings to the Israeli media come close to suggesting that a decision to launch a new Operation Opera has already been taken, with timing the only remaining issue.
An unnamed ?decision-maker? ? presumed to be Ehud Barak, the defence minister ? told the Haaretz newspaper that Israel could not afford to wait for the US to act. ?We need to look at the reality right now with total clarity,? he said. ?Israel is strong and Israel is responsible, and Israel will do what it has to do.?
David Blair is chief foreign correspondent of The Daily Telegraph.
The above article was published in telegraph.co.uk on August 16th, 2012 (7:50 p.m. BST).
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