Osirak and the UN Mission in Somalia JINSA Gottesman Lectures
The Air Force cadets leaned forward in their chairs. It was evening, after a long day of classes and sports and studying, but they hung intently on every word coming from the front of the auditorium. Brig. Gen. Amos Yadlin, Chief of Israel Air Force Intelligence, explained to them how as a young pilot he had figured out the destination of an impending operation – one he knew would be crucial to the future security of Israel.
“He (the IAF Commander) told me to calculate whether my F-16 could fly 600 miles without refueling.
The Air Force cadets leaned forward in their chairs. It was evening, after a long day of classes and sports and studying, but they hung intently on every word coming from the front of the auditorium. Brig. Gen. Amos Yadlin, Chief of Israel Air Force Intelligence, explained to them how as a young pilot he had figured out the destination of an impending operation – one he knew would be crucial to the future security of Israel.
“He (the IAF Commander) told me to calculate whether my F-16 could fly 600 miles without refueling. I went back to my office to do the calculation, but first I drew lines. To the west was the Libyan desert – nothing there to bomb. To the north – nothing. To the south – nothing. To the east – bingo! Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor!”
Under the auspices of JINSA’s Gottesman Lecture Series, the 750 senior Air Force Academy cadets were the first people to hear in English the details of the 1981 Osirak reactor raid. General Yadlin explained the difficulty of planning the top secret mission and provided details about its execution. There was film from the gun sights as the planes approached the target and one fleeting image of the smoke plume afterward – no one wanted to linger after the job was done.
And there was a touching bit of history. The planes were forced by winds to take off to the south over the Gulf of Aqaba. Sailing in the Gulf was the yacht of King Hussein of Jordan. The King clearly saw the Israeli Air Force planes taking off and flying north over his country. Later, Yadlin learned the King warned the Jordanian Air Defense Command and the Saudi government, but never notified the Iraqis.
At the end of the session, the cadets rose in a standing ovation. General Yadlin modestly said they were being polite. Not so, said the Academy Superintendent, who had heard the lecture, “They never stand.”
The reception mirrored the one given by 900 West Point cadets to Gottesman Lecturer Gen. (ret.) Cevik Bir, former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces and Commander of the UN Mission in Somalia. Gen. Bir is also the primary architect of the Turkey-Israel strategic relationship.
The West Point cadets learned how ill-equipped the UN is to mount peace enforcement operations under hostile circumstances, how little interoperability exists, and how reluctant countries are to provide troops to UN missions. In order to be effective in future missions, Bir said, the UN would have to have a standing designated force comprised of donor troops that train together and stay together for a reasonably long period of time. Otherwise, he concluded, existing alliance such as NATO, or individual countries such as the U.S. will have to carry the burden of peace enforcement.
A senior seminar class had the unique opportunity to have Gen. Bir participate in their discussion of Black Hawk Down – an account of the failed Mogadishu raid in Somalia. Gen. Bir provided an overview of the responsibilities of the international force, which was the backdrop to the mission of the U.S. forces. Gen. Bir also met with Lt. Gen. Daniel Christman, West Point’s Superintendent, for a discussion about the role of Turkey in NATO and the Middle East, and Russian activities in Central Asia and Caucusus.
The Gottesman Lecture Series, endowed by JINSA Board Member Jerome Gottesman of New Jersey, sends speakers to all of the American service academies to help educate the future leaders of the U.S. military about Israel and the security issues faced by the U.S. and its allies. Brig. Gen. Yadlin was the third speaker at the Air Force Academy, and Gen. (ret.) Bir was the fifth lecturer at West Point.