After Saddam
iaddam And Israel
New YorkIJTA — The capture of
Saddam Hussein puts another nail
in the coffin of an Arab dictatorship
known for its anti-Israel activity and
rhetoric. Here are some of the most
significant events in Saddam's regime
and his contentious relationship
with Israel:
*1957 — Saddam joins the Baath
Party.
1969 — Saddam is appointed
vice president by President Ahmed
Hassan al-Bakr. Soon afterward, Iraq
hangs 17 alleged spies, including 11
Jews, in what is seen as Saddam's
first strong message to Israel.
*1979 — Saddam becomes presi-
dent of Iraq, carrying out a bloody
purge in which dozens of military
officers and party officials are exe-
cuted.
1980-1988 — Israel is mainly
on the back burner for Saddam as
Iraq is embroiled in a bloody war
with Iran.
1981 — Israel bombs Iraq's
nuclear reactor at Osirak. Israeli offi-
cials defend the strike in the face of
worldwide condemnation, arguing
that Saddam's regime is attempting
to develop nuclear weapons. Years
later, some of the same voices that
condemned Israel in 1981 say the
strike was the correct move.
Late 1980s — Iraqi and Israeli
officials engage in high-level con-
tacts in an attempt to end mutual
hostilities.
*1991 — Iraq fires Scud missiles
at Israel during the Persian Gulf
War. Under American pressure,
Israel does not respond militarily.
Casualties and damage from the
attacks are minimal, but the rain of
missiles traumatizes many Israelis
and strengthens Saddam's image
among Arabs.
publicly for the first time that the
exercise was training for an assassi-
nation attempt on Saddam.
2000-2003 — Saddam provides
millions of dollars in cash payments
to the families of Palestinian suicide
bombers during the intifada.
2003 — Despite fears that he
would again strike Israel, Saddam
does not fire missiles at the Jewish
state during the U.S.-led war in
Iraq. On Dec. 13, Saddam is cap-
tured by U.S. forces near his home-
town of Tikrit.
*1992 — Five Israeli soldiers are
killed in a military accident in
Tze'elim. This week, Israel admitted
Israeli Target
Israel says 1992 accident came as team prepared to kill Saddam.
DAN BARON
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Tel Aviv
ith the capture of
Saddam Hussein, one
of Israel's urban leg-
ends finally can be
confirmed.
Israeli media revealed Dec. 16
that the Tze'elim disaster, a 1992
military accident in which five
Israeli soldiers were killed at a
Negev training base, came as the
army's top commando unit was
rehearsing a complex plot to assassi-
nate the Iraqi leader in retaliation
for his Scud salvos during the 1991
Persian Gulf War.
Though that scenario had been
rumored for years, it officially was
kept under wraps by military cen-
sors and top military brass. Israel's
army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe
Ya'alon, called the release of the
information this week "irresponsi-
ble. Some things should be kept to
ourselves rather than shared with
the world," he told reporters.
Media reports describe a bold and
brutal plan. A team from Sayeret
Matkal — Israel's version of the
12/19
2003
18
Delta Force or the SAS — would be fitted into its nose, can be visually
guided to its target.. It could be fit-
airlifted quietly to Saddam's home-
ted with a variety of warheads suit-
town of Tikrit, where he was
ing different needs.
expected to attend the funeral of
Israel sometimes uses an adapted
his father-in-law, who was dying of
version
today, fired from helicopter
diabetes-related ailments. They
would hit Saddam with guided mis- gunships, to target Palestinian ter-
rorists, the sources said.
siles and in so doing restore to the
But the
Jewish state
plan
went
the deterrent
drastically
reputation it
on Nov.
had enjoyed
"The mission was seen as a awry
5,
1992.
in the
strategic necessity, not some During a
region.
rehearsal at
Many
macho
stunt."
the
Tze'elim
believed
military
base,
Israel had
—Danny Yatom
the
missile
forfeited its
misfired and
deterrent
slammed into
power by not
the commando team, killing five.
responding to Saddam's Scuds dur-
The Israeli military chief of staff
ing the war.
at
the time, Ehud Barak, left the
"The mission was seen as a strate-
scene
as medics moved in to help.
gic necessity, not some macho
Though
Barak was cleared of crimi-
stunt," Danny Yatom, a former
Sayeret Matkal member and Mossad nal culpability in the incident — he
was needed in a command capacity
chief, told Channel 1 television.
overseeing the response to the inci-
The type of weapon that was to
dent, rather than administering first
be used against Saddam still is a
aid — charges that he fled the
state secret. According to security
scene would haunt him throughout
sources, it was an Israeli-made mis-
his political career.
sile that, using a miniature camera
Ironically, one of the few sur-
vivors of the botched test was Eyal
Katvan, the soldier "playing"
Saddam; he ended up hospitalized
with serious injuries.
The mission was then called off.
Labor legislator Ephraim Sneh,
who was a member of the Knesset's
Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee in 1992, said then-
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had
ordered the assassination operation.
"The credit should be given to the
prime minister because it was his
courage to approve this operation,"
Sneh told the Associated Press.
Israel Radio said the troops
involved were volunteers and
understood that they were to "fight
to the death" or commit suicide in
Iraq rather than allow themselves to
be captured.
Though the Military Censor's
Office lifted the gag order on the
Tze'elim affair, the reports caught
the top brass by surprise. But
Yatom was unfazed.
"I am confident that Sayeret
Matkal has and continues to carry
out missions which will never be
known, and rightly so," he said. H