Israel urged to attack Iran nuke plant
Stategic report calls for second-strike capability
Posted: May 15, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A report submitted to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calls for the Jewish state to plan pre-emptive strikes against Iran’s nuclear plant and nuclear second-strike capability as a deterrent against its hostile neighbors in the Middle East.
The report, "Israel's Strategic Future," says Israel must prevent its enemies from developing weapons of mass destruction through strikes against vital facilities.
Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, a premium, online intelligence newsletter published by WorldNetDaily, first reported Israel has already begun drawing up plans for a strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities that could come before the end of the summer.
The report says Israel has been threatened by a biological or nuclear first-strike that seeks to exploit Israel's small space and high population density.
"To meet its ultimate deterrence objectives -- that is, to deter the most overwhelmingly destructive enemy first-strikes -- Israel must seek and achieve a visible second-strike capability to target approximately 15 enemy cities," the report says. "Ranges would be to cities in Libya and Iran, and recognizable nuclear bomb yields would be at a level sufficient to fully compromise the aggressor's viability as a functioning state. All enemy targets should be selected with the view that their destruction would promptly force the enemy to cease all nuclear/biological/chemical exchanges with Israel."
The report also called on Israel to develop a multi-layered ballistic missile defense system.
Iran last month announced plans to begin building a heavy-water reactor that can produce weapons-grade plutonium, Israel began drawing up plans to demolish it – much as it destroyed an Iraqi nuclear facility more than a decade ago.
While Tehran insists the facility is purely for research, the decision heightens concern about Iran's ability to produce nuclear aims.
The 40-megawatt reactor could produce enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon each year, according to sources.
While construction is set to begin in June, Iran already had previously announced plans to build such a reactor last year to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
The reactor site is at Arak, next to an already built heavy-water production plant. It is to replace a reactor using non-weapons grade enriched uranium that the Iranians mothballed because they said it was outmoded and lacked fuel.
Because enrichment can be used both to generate power and make nuclear warheads, Iran has said it has suspended all enrichment activities to prove its peaceful intentions. It also cannot buy enriched fuel on legal markets because of international suspicions about its intentions.
Observers wonder out loud why Iran, a nation with vast oil reserves, is so intent on producing nuclear power.
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