If Iraq attacks Israel with non-conventional weapons, causing
massive casualties among the civilian population, Israel could
respond with a nuclear retaliation that would eradicate Iraq as a
country. This assessment, from American intelligence, was
presented last week to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, Haaretz reported Thursday.
The U.S. intelligence assessments include an analysis of possible
Israeli responses. The lowest probability is that Israel would
respond initially with a conventional military retaliation if it is
slightly harmed, and would add a warning that a non-conventional
response was possible if the Iraqi attacks on the Israeli civilian
population continued.
According to the newspaper, the possibility of Israel using nuclear
weapons against Iraq appears in a document submitted by military
expert Dr. Anthony Cordesman, a fellow at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, to the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee.
In the worst case scenario, writes Cordesman, Israel could face an
existential threat to important urban areas such as Tel Aviv or
Haifa. Under such conditions, it would threaten nuclear retaliation
against Iraqi cities and military forces to cease the Iraqi attack.
Meanwhile, it is reported that the US government has offered
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) millions of dollars to
establish humanitarian relief projects in Iraq and neighboring
areas ahead of military action against Saddam Hussein™s regime.
In a front page article, the London-based newspaper the Financial
Times (FT) said the US state department had called on NGOs to
bid for US$6.6 million of government funds to pay for at least five
US humanitarian projects. It would constitute the first time that
the United States has funded relief work in Iraq since United
Nations embargo was imposed on the country 12 years ago, the FT
quoted a US official as saying.
Once the projects -- including facilities for medical care, shelter,
water and relief supplies for refugees -- were in place,
international aid workers would be evacuated from the region
ahead of any military action, and replaced by local staff.
"I find it strange that at this particular moment, the US
government is announcing an open competition for proposals for
humanitarian assistance projects in Iraq, specifying that it can be
in any part of the country," said Joel Charny, vice president for
policy at Washington-based Refugees International. "It seems in
contradiction to the policy of embargo and limiting assistance to
areas controlled by (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein," Charny
added, according to the FT. (Albawaba.com)
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