Review Raid On The Sun, Inside Israel’s Secret Campaign That Denied Saddam The Bomb

Claire, Rodger, Raid On The Sun, Inside Israel’s Secret Campaign That Denied Saddam The Bomb, Broadway Books, 2004

 

Rodger Claire’s Raid on The Sun, Inside Israel’s Secret Campaign That Denied Saddam The Bomb is about the 1981 raid upon Iraq’s nuclear reactor. The government of PM Menachem Begin was convinced that Iraq was only a few years away from getting a nuclear bomb and decided to stop the program with an air strike. The author mainly focuses upon the Israeli decision making and then the pilots. Unfortunately the author relied upon an Iraqi defector for much of the information about Iraq’s program and was misled as a result.

 

The author goes over Iraq’s attempt to create a nuclear program which faced a number of problems. First the Russians ripped off Baghdad selling it a damaged reactor. Iraq then made a deal with France. That’s when Israel began a secret campaign to stop Iraq’s effort by bombing equipment heading for Baghdad and assassinating scientists and engineers. The Israeli government was convinced that despite its work Iraq was on the cusp of building a bomb. In 1977 for instance the country’s intelligence service believed that by the mid-1980s Iraq could build 2-3 bombs. That timeframe continually got revised downward with 1982 being the last date. This was completely wrong. The Iraqis were never close to a bomb which will be discussed below.

 

The majority of Raid On The Sun is about the decision making within the Israeli government and then the training and raid by the Israeli pilots. It goes into great depth on the later such as how Israel bought F-16 planes from the United States, how they were going to get those jets to Iraq and back since it was far outside their range, and more. Claire goes through each one of the pilots to personalize them.

 

The biggest problem with the book is the conclusion. The author relied upon Khidhir Hamza a former nuclear scientist and Iraqi defector for much of his information about Saddam’s plans. He claimed that after the Israeli raid Iraq went back to work on enriching uranium but faced setbacks with money and the Iran-Iraq and Gulf Wars. He went on that Iraq never gave up even during the 1990s when United Nations inspectors were investigating the program. The author adds his own thoughts that the Israeli raid was the beginning of the end of Iraq’s aspirations to become a nuclear power. This is mostly false.

 

In fact, Iraq worked on enriching uranium starting in 1979 but made little progress because the techniques surpassed the country’s capabilities. It did continue work after the Israeli bombing, didn’t get very far again because of the complicated processes it tried and stopped after the Gulf War. Hamza’s tale comes from the fact that he was trying to ingratiate himself with U.S. intelligence before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Claire did not know this so he can be forgiven for relying upon a defector. Claire’s ideas were off as well as Iraq was never close to getting a bomb. It simply lacked the equipment and know how.

 

Raid On The Sun is a very quick read. It comes off more like an in depth magazine piece than a book. You get all the ins and outs of what the Israelis did and does try to provide the Iraqi side as well which is welcomed since Iraqis usually get ignored in Western books. The ending has problems as noted because it used an Iraqi defector right before the U.S. invasion. Still if you want a quick run through of the 1981 Israeli raid then this would be a good start.

 

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