Word: israel
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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Israeli intelligence concedes that it cannot be absolutely certain of detecting Iraqi missile preparations in advance. As a precaution, civil defense officials are bracing for a worst-case scenario in which 20 to 30 missiles hit the populated coastal region, causing thousands of casualties, before Israel can cripple Saddam's war machine...
...respond to Iraqi gas with an A- bomb. In fact, even in this situation, an Israeli nuclear retaliation would be extremely unlikely. Those weapons are reserved for the dark hours when the nation's existence is at stake; despite Saddam's apocalyptic rhetoric, Iraq is militarily incapable of destroying Israel. Moreover, Israeli generals are confident that their conventional weapons can both paralyze Baghdad and stop dead any Iraq troop movements into Jordan...
Ironically, Israel's options have been limited by the U.S. presence in the gulf. For example, one Israeli plan -- drawn up before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait -- is believed to call for waves of warplanes to knock out several dozen Iraqi military targets, including chemical, biological and nuclear installations. Now, say Israeli officials with some remorse, that plan may no longer be viable because it would interfere with U.S. strategy. Instead, Israel is preparing a series of more limited responses gauged according to the severity of any Iraqi strike against Israel, and officials admit that any move by Jerusalem short...
Saddam knows that any attack on Israel will bring a crushing response, whether by Israeli or U.S. forces. In fact, it can be argued that Saddam dare not attack Israel alone because a crippling counterstrike by the Israelis would completely undercut his pose in the Arab world as the one leader capable of smoting Israel, even if the attack did not literally kill...
...Saddam may be able to drag Israel into the conflict without risking military retaliation. Well-placed sources say Iraqi agents in Jordan are preparing to destabilize King Hussein's regime, which could prompt intervention by Israel and Syria while diverting the world's attention. Among the targets already identified: U.S. Ambassador Roger Harrison. Says an Israeli military official: "Creating havoc in Jordan would serve Saddam Hussein's interests well. It might even bring Israel, Syria and even the Saudis to send troops to the Jordanian border...