In a bombing raid that took months to prepare, and mere minutes to release the bombs, on June 7, 1981 the Israel Air Force robbed Saddam Hussein of the ability to produce nuclear weapons for at least another decade. It would take the Iraqi dictator years of effort to replace what he had lost in this one day's operation. It would take the free world almost as many years to recognized the debt that they owed to the Israeli leadership which had rid them of this threat.
In these pages, Shlomo Nakdimon has captured the political story behind this operation: the years of futile diplomacy and negotiation, during which the Israeli government attempted in vain to warn the United States and Europe of the impending danger of a nuclear armed Iraq; and following the raid, the months of condemnation and the arms embargo that Israel endured for eliminating this threat. Shlomo Nakdimon's account provides an essential record of these events, and a warning against complacency in the face of a dictatorial madman. While not as riveting as Dan McKinnon's account of these same events, which is told from the pilot's point of view, the political story told by Nakdimon is perhaps of more enduring value. It is sobering to realize how many world leaders knew of Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions, but failed to react. For those readers who want to further explore the details behind Saddam Hussein's early nuclear weapons program, I can recommend the 1984 publication, "Nuclear Proliferation Today", by Leonard S. Spector. However, Shlomo Nakdimon captures the essentials of this story, and hopefully has captured a lesson that we will not soon forget.