Attack - and Fallout: Israel and Iraq

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prepared. They replied in perfect Arabic, apparently convincing the ground spotters that the sighting was either Jordanian or Saudi aircraft. As the flight went on, the Israelis were aided by the fact that the surrounding Arab countries have failed to establish an integrated air defense command. Thus the Jordanians did not pass on the sighting either to Saudi Arabia or to Iraq.

The flight plan, exact details of which remain secret, skirted the southern tip of Jordan, then proceeded northeast across the top of Saudi Arabia. From time to time the jets would flash over a reference point, and the group leader would radio a code message ("sand dune yellow") to the war room in Tel Aviv's Defense Ministry building. The warplanes remained well beyond the range of U.S.-operated AWACS radar aircraft currently assigned to the Saudis and patroling the country's Persian Gulf perimeter. The job of the one AWACS that was airborne at the time was solely to survey the gulf area. Its effective radar range of 230 miles could not reach the Israeli attacking aircraft, exactly as the Israelis had anticipated.

At 5:10 p.m. Israeli time, the lead fighter penetrated Iraqi airspace. The aircraft continued to change course continuously as they moved in on target, howling through the Sunday twilight at 400 m.p.h. For months the Israelis had studied the route up the Euphrates Valley, convinced that they could negotiate it without being detected by radar or ground observers. Fifty minutes after takeoff, the warplanes sighted their target, the distinctive cupola housing the nuclear reactor. The aircraft wheeled and climbed toward the setting sun—the classic maneuver prior to attack.

While the six twin-engine F-15s provided a protective umbrella, the specially armed F-16s screamed into their bombing runs. The lead plane fired a pair of video-guided precision "smart" bombs, to punch through predetermined spots in the domed concrete. The following aircraft launched their own explosives through the jagged holes: a dozen conventional bombs weighing 2,200 Ibs. each. After a series of shattering roars, the roof collapsed, burying the reactor's radioactive core under hundreds of tons of concrete and steel debris. Fire raged through the site. Two of the attackers, carrying cameras rather than heavy explosives, made a pass to film the scene. Then they streaked for home, ignoring ineffectual puffs of antiaircraft fire and leaving behind the one civilian casualty, one bomb that failed to explode and the mangled nuclear ambitions of Iraq.

In Baghdad, a line of barrage balloons designed to foil low-flying aircraft floated placidly above the city. With the sun hovering low on the horizon, the jets had appeared suddenly out of nowhere. When the bombs dropped, there were muffled explosions. As guests arrived at the Italian embassy to celebrate the host country's national day, some speculated that the detonations might have had something to do with the nuclear establishment. In downtown Baghdad, in the suqs (marketplaces) and along the riverbanks, no one seemed to notice. No antiaircraft fire was heard until an hour later. The city went to bed largely unaware that Israel had carried out its brilliant attack.

Israel, too, was eerily silent about the raid. Begin had instructed his new press secretary, Uri Porath, to prepare an official announcement at short