The United States has acknowledged that Israel obtained
far more intelligence information on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
program.
U.S. officials said Israel's Mossad knew more about Iraq's nuclear
weapons program throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. The officials said the
CIA acknowledged this after the 1991 Gulf war, Middle East Newsline reported.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Israeli intelligence
superiority led to the decision by the Jewish state to destroy Iraq's Osirak
reactor in 1981. At the time, the Reagan administration deplored the Israeli
strike and withheld weapons shipments to Israel.
"It is damn lucky that the Israelis took out the Iraqi nuclear
capability when they did because they were years ahead of our best
estimates, as we found out in Desert Storm [in 1991]," Rumsfeld said on
Aug. 2.
After the Gulf war, U.S. officials said Iraq was about a year away from
completing its nuclear weapons programs. They said this disproved previous
assessments that Baghdad was nearly a decade away from nuclear bombs.
The U.S. officials said Rumsfeld and other senior members of the Bush
administration have adopted the Israeli model in their policy toward Iraq.
Last month, President George Bush warned that the United States would adopt
a policy of preemptive strikes against countries that are building a weapons
of mass destruction program.
Rumsfeld's assertion regarding Israeli intelligence comes as U.S.
officials said Iraq has accelerated efforts to purchase equipment required
for producing fuel for nuclear weapons. The Washington Times quoted Bush
administration officials as saying that Iraqi agents were trying to purchase
stainless-steel tubing used in gas centrifuges. The tubing is regarded as a
key component in producing the material for nuclear weapons.
Rumsfeld said rogue states can develop nuclear weapons much quicker than
during the Cold War. He said much of the equipment required is dual use,
which can deceive the international community.
"I mean biologicals can be done in mobile vans," Rumsfeld said. "It
isn't like it takes an underground city and billions of dollars to do this.
It's doable."
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is said to have
relayed a message to Washington that the Jewish state will respond to any
Iraqi missile attack. Sharon has ordered military commanders to draft
preparations for any Iraqi missile barrage and a military response.
The Israeli Yediot Aharonot daily reported on Friday that Israel's
mlitary has accelerated missile defense preparations over the last week.
This has included the launching of plans to deploy a second Arrow-2 missile
defense battery east of the coastal city of Hadera. Another Arrow battery
has already been deployed in an air force base in southern Israel.
