Ron Paul Supporters - Red Herring Addicts

FLASH BACK - 1981: Israel bombs Baghdad nuclear reactor!

FROM THE BBC:

"The Israelis have bombed a French-built nuclear plant near Iraq's capital, Baghdad, saying they believed it was designed to make nuclear weapons to destroy Israel.

It is the world's first air strike against a nuclear plant.

An undisclosed number of F-15 interceptors and F-16 fighter bombers destroyed the Osirak reactor 18 miles south of Baghdad, on the orders of Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

The army command said all the Israeli planes returned safely.

The 70-megawatt uranium-powered reactor was near completion but had not been stocked with nuclear fuel so there was no danger of a leak, according to sources in the French atomic industry.

Mortal danger

The Israeli Government explained its reasons for the attack in a statement saying: "The atomic bombs which that reactor was capable of producing whether from enriched uranium or from plutonium, would be of the Hiroshima size. Thus a mortal danger to the people of Israel progressively arose."

It acted now because it believed the reactor would be completed shortly - either at the beginning of July or the beginning of September 1981.

The Israelis criticised the French and Italians for supplying Iraq with nuclear materials and plegded to defend their territory at all costs.

The statement said: "We again call upon them to desist from this horrifying, inhuman deed. Under no circumstances will we allow an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against our people."

The attack took place on a Sunday, they said, to prevent harming the French workers at the site who would have taken the day off.

There have been no reported casualties.

The Osirak reactor is part of a complex that includes a second, smaller reactor - also French-built - and a Soviet-made test reactor already in use.

Iraq denies the reactor was destined to produce nuclear weapons."

In 1981 Israel bombed the nuclear facilities in Iraq... with no casualties. The anti-war crowd in Ron Paul's camp are against striking Iran's facilities preemptively because of the babies and women and loss of life. Yet that is not at all what anyone is suggesting. Simply put, the US and Israel are not taking off the table the option to take out Iran's nuclear facilities militarily. That is all. Using the women and children, when they are not even in the equation, is called a "red herring". In debate, a "red herring" is anything that diverts attention from a topic or line of inquiry. So whenever the idea of taking out an Iranian nuke site is proposed they say "what about the women and children"?

Neither the Israelis nor the US are proposing war with Iran. Their response could lead to that but it would be their choosing. Israel simply wishes to eliminate the threat from Iran, even recently in fact, that they have Israel`s annihilation as a primary objective. See this post for more on that.