OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 16 August — Rumblings from Israel over its readiness to strike back if attacked by Iraqi missiles grew yesterday, as officials stressed that it would not be hampered by the constraints that applied in Operation Desert Storm.
Israel would be free to hit back at Baghdad if Iraq – which fired 39 Scuds into Israel during the Gulf War 11 years ago — attacks Israeli targets in response to an assault by the US, said Dore Gold, a senior Israeli government adviser.
Israel could respond with nuclear weapons to a non-conventional attack by Iraq, the Israeli daily Haaretz also said yesterday, quoting US intelligence sources.
“If Iraq strikes at Israel with non-conventional weapons, causing massive casualties among the civilian population, Israel could respond with a nuclear retaliation that would eradicate Iraq as a country,” the newspaper said.
“In the worst case scenario,” says the US intelligence report presented to US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “Israel could face an existential threat to important urban areas such as Tel Aviv or Haifa,” the daily said.
“Under such conditions, it would threaten nuclear retaliation against Iraqi cities and military forces to cease the (Iraqi) attack,” Haaretz added.
“If the Iraqi attack were to continue, and there was a lethal biological strike on an Israeli city, Israel would certainly respond with nuclear strikes against Iraqi cities that were not yet in the hands of American forces,” the report said.
“Such an Israeli reaction could destroy Iraq as a state,” said Haaretz, quoting the report.
Meanwhile, Israel yesterday began vaccinating against smallpox and would soon hand out anti-radiation pills to the public, as fears grew of attack by Iraq.
The Health Ministry said yesterday it had inoculated 700 health workers and was awaiting a government decision on whether to vaccinate up to 150,000 more, including police, ambulance workers and hospital staff.
“We still don’t have the exact list but it will be something between 15,000 and 150,000 people,” said ministry spokesman Ido Harari.
White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said yesterday the United States has no choice but to take action against Saddam. But President George W. Bush had not decided “how he wants to do it” or how to “make the case for particular methods”, she said.
“We certainly do not have the luxury of doing nothing,” Rice, a pivotal player in Bush’s administration, told BBC radio.
“We believe the case for regime change is very powerful.” Bush has labeled Iraq part of an “axis of evil” intent on seeking weapons of mass destruction. Iraq denies the charges.
Rice said Saddam had twice come close to acquiring nuclear weapons.
“This is an evil man who, left to his own devices, will wreak havoc again on his own population, his neighbors and, if he gets weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them, on all of us,” she said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has backed Bush staunchly since the Sept. 11 attacks but while polls show Americans support an attack on Iraq, most Britons do not.
Iraq, meanwhile, sent neighbors such as Turkey and Iran a wake-up warning yesterday about the risks they run if Washington attacks Baghdad.
“Our Arab neighbors and others who willingly or unwillingly allow themselves to be carried along by the current of American arrogance and bend blindly to US plots must understand that US interests make no distinction between one side or another and if one is targeted today, the turn of others will come tomorrow or the day after,” the influential daily Babel said.
“The greatest loss for Turkey will be its relations with Iraq,” said the newspaper run by Saddam’s elder son Uday.
In another development, Iraq’s Revolution Command Council, the country’s highest ruling body, yesterday nominated Saddam for another seven-year mandate during an Oct. 15 presidential referendum. (The Independent)
