Preface
Since mankind entered the 20 th century, with the rapid development of the military industry and the advent of weapons of mass destruction, wars have become more and more cruel and ruthless.
Especially during World War II, due to Einstein's accession, the United States was the first in the world to develop an incomparably powerful atomic bomb, and in this way, it completely reversed the battlefield situation of World War II and won the final victory against fascism. But the tremendous destructive power of the atomic bomb also caused shock to the whole world.
As a result, a wave of atomic bomb fever was caused around the world, and several developed countries with financial resources and technology also possessed their own atomic bombs. Many poor countries with mediocre power have also sought the well-being of civilians in a hurry to pursue nuclear weapons, which cost enormous amounts. If this wave of nuclear weapons is allowed to rage, it will inevitably lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world, and ultimately to the self-destruction of mankind.
As a result, the United States took the lead and joined forces with the Soviet Union and several other nuclear-armed countries to make a commitment to "nuclear non-proliferation," and then launched a global "Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty" with binding force on a strong enemy, attracting many peace-loving countries to join it.
Iraq also signed the treaty shortly after its inception. However, with the advent of the madman Saddam Hussein, he wanted to act as the leader of the Arab world by means of possession of nuclear weapons, so he wanted to achieve the goal of possessing nuclear weapons by building nuclear facilities such as nuclear power plants. As a result, the idea of building a nuclear power plant with developed countries was initiated.
Saddam's dream of nuclear weapons
After reaching the pinnacle of power in 1979, the political scoundrel and authoritarian tyrant Saddam Hussein took advantage of Iraq's oil superiority to achieve short-lived economic development and fully implement a system of free medical care and compulsory education in the country.
In the field of national defense and foreign affairs, it has also rapidly expanded its ambitions, making full use of "oil diplomacy" to expand the country's foreign influence and winning the favor of the French leadership; it is attempting to introduce French nuclear technology in the name of building civilian nuclear power plants, so as to lay a technical foundation for its future development of nuclear weapons.
Being the first country to possess nuclear weapons among the Arab brothers, having gone out of Saddam's dream, has almost become his mantra. It's a mantra, but it can't just be a rhetorical phrase. So, he quickly put this ambitious goal into action.
Although, as early as 1976, when he was still the vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and was in charge of the construction of military technology and facilities, he received Soviet assistance to build a 2-megawatt nuclear reactor on the outskirts of the capital Baghdad, but unfortunately its power was too small to carry Saddam's nuclear ambitions.
If he wants to achieve his grand goal of using nuclear weapons to gain self-respect and lead the Arab world, he can only turn to the developed countries of the West for help. As a nuclear power, the United States obviously could not count on it, so Saddam Hussein turned his eagle-like eyes to Europe and used the oil weapon in his hand to start bargain negotiations with France.
With its advantageous status as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it began negotiations with France in 1978, and it was not until March 1980 that the French Mitterrand government officially announced that it would build a 70-megawatt nuclear reactor for Iraq and be responsible for training hundreds of Iraqi professional and technical personnel in Paris, with a total investment of $260 million.
After the project was negotiated, Saddam Hussein was extremely excited, immediately approved the investment plan, and urged the finance department to pay and close the deal in the fastest way, so as not to have too many dreams at night and ruin his big dreams of spring and autumn.
After the deal, Saddam Hussein was still in high spirits, so he named the Iraqi nuclear project "Tamuz," which was the name of Saddam's favorite Damascus knife, and the small nuclear facilities built with the assistance of the Soviet Union were called "Tamuz 1" and "Tamuz 2" respectively.
With the blessing of France's advanced nuclear technology and fine manufacturing, and under the guidance and supervision of hundreds of French engineers and technicians stationed in Baghdad, the Iraqi nuclear project has been rapidly promoted.
In July 1980, when reporting to Saddam, the experts involved in the inner circle of the project predicted with great optimism that "as long as nothing happens, our 'Tamuz' project will be completed within a year." Saddam Hussein, who listened to the report, was very satisfied, greatly praised the experts involved in the project, and promised that at the celebration banquet, he would reward everyone for their meritorious deeds.
Special forces in the Mossad
On the other hand, the Mossad, Israel's old enemy, was not idle, and was trying to stop the deal between Iraq and France in the early stages of its project contacts with France.
First, they made it clear to the United States that Saddam Hussein's real purpose in building nuclear reactors was true, but the Americans believed that civilian nuclear programs were not within the constraints of the "Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty" and could not find a proper reason to put pressure on France.
The Israeli government then turned to direct contact with the French government, and their foreign ministry met with the French ambassador to Israel to express its concern about France's assistance in the construction of Iraq's nuclear reactors, but the French ambassador said that "Iraq has joined the 'Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty', while the mainland's assistance to Iraq is a civilian nuclear facility, which is completely exempt from the restrictions of the treaty."
On the contrary, it is not unkind for you, Israel, to make irresponsible remarks about our legitimate deals, but they have not signed this treaty?" Now that public diplomatic communication is ineffective, it's time for Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, and its elite special forces to step in.
They first sent 20 capable and beautiful spies to hunt and spy on important scientists in Iraq's nuclear program.
In the selection of the spy target, the Mossad carefully selected the Iraqi nuclear physicist Trus ibn Halim, who was at the heart of the entire project;
However, although Halim himself is easily approachable, he is very cautious, and whenever the beauties talk about key sensitive topics, he always prevaricates with the words "You beauties only need to care about high-end cosmetics and fashionable clothes". At this time, in order to avoid revealing their identities, those female spies had no choice but to laugh over.
On the contrary, the other female spies who approached the scientist's wife in the form of cosmetics sales received more valid information. In early April 1979, the female spy learned from Halimf that Iraq's nuclear program was about to enter the installation stage next month, and that the core equipment had been produced and stored in the warehouse of a factory in France, just waiting to be shipped to Iraq.
Israel's killer weapon
The Baghdad nuclear program is progressing at a rapid pace, and news that it is about to be installed for trial operation has reached the Mossad headquarters in Israel, alarming the military leadership.
They urgently reported to Prime Minister Begin and, after meeting with Interior Minister Peres, came up with a plan to stop the progress of Iraq's nuclear program, namely, sending agents to smuggle into Israel the equipment that was currently awaiting shipment at the factory, and blasting it on the spot in case smuggling was difficult.
As long as Iraq does not receive this equipment in time, it will be at least a few years before it can be reproduced;
The goal has been set, and the action begins immediately. At this time, at 10 o'clock in the morning on April 5, 1979, several strange men who looked like tourists appeared in the small town of Saine in Toulon City, France, and they wandered slowly through the streets, seemingly intoxicated by the beautiful scenery of this Mediterranean town.
However, they are a little different from ordinary tourists, and when they seem to wander aimlessly around the town's largest Mediterranean shipyard, they take out a pen and paper from time to time to quickly and quickly record or draw, and they are very alert.
In this way, the Israeli agents spent only a day walking on the spot, figuring out the layout of the factory, the location of the targets, the regularity of the security patrols, and even the same equipment stored in the same warehouse for other purposes and how to distinguish between them.
A detailed action plan was drawn up and put into practice in the early hours of the next morning.
At about 1 a.m. on 6 April, during the break between the shipyard security patrols, an operational group of four special forces, two of whom were skilled mechanics, drove two heavy trucks to a stop outside the Mediterranean shipyard and turned off the lights.
Quietly cut the alarm and lighting wires leading to the security room along the wall, and immediately found their target according to the sketch drawn by Bai To, and quickly implemented their first plan, which was to remove the "beehive", the core component of the equipment, and transport it back to Israel by heavy truck.
However, after more than 40 minutes of operation, they still did not complete the operation, and seeing that the window period for the security patrol in the factory area was about to pass, the time for resuming patrols was getting closer and closer, and the time left for the special forces was very short. In desperation, these people had no choice but to cut their love and implement the second plan to destroy.
They quickly placed a sufficient amount of explosives at the core of the device, connected the timed detonator, and then slipped out of the wall in a puff of smoke.
At 3:05 a.m., the sentries who were about to resume patrolling suddenly found that the electric lights were not on, and they had a premonition that something was wrong, and before they could go out to check, they heard a loud noise in the direction of the warehouse, and the nuclear reactor accelerator produced for Iraq had been reduced to a pile of scrap metal. It was announced that Saddam's dream of nuclear weapons was temporarily shattered.
Conclusion
As the saying goes, if you don't die, you won't die. In 1980, Saddam Hussein, with his inflated ambitions, brazenly launched a war against Iran, a regional power, prompting Iran's hatred of Iraq's nuclear capabilities to coincide with Israel's striking rivalry.
During the Iran-Iraq war, Iran bombed Iraq's nuclear facilities several times, and although the damage caused was very limited, it gave Israel a strong inspiration.
Therefore, through careful deployment and rigorous training, in 1981, a total of 14 F-15 and F-16 fighters were finally dispatched to fly over the airspace of the two countries, destroying Iraq's nuclear base with a bombshell and completely destroying Saddam's dream of nuclear weapons.
Bibliography:
14 warplanes flew 2,500 kilometers The Israelis ruined Saddam's dream of nuclear weapons
Surprise attack on Baghdad: Raid on Iraq's nuclear facilities with warplanes_News Channel_China Network Television