Product Description

The first authorized inside account of one of the most daring—and successful—military operations in recent history

From the earliest days of his dictatorship, Saddam Hussein had vowed to destroy Israel. So when France sold Iraq a top-of-the-line nuclear reactor in 1975, the Israelis were justifiably concerned—especially when they discovered that Iraqi scientists had already formulated a secret program to extract weapons-grade plutonium from the reactor, a first critical step in creating an atomic bomb. The reactor formed the heart of a huge nuclear plant situated twelve miles from Baghdad, 1,100 kilometers from Tel Aviv. By 1981, the reactor was on the verge of becoming “hot,” and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin knew he would have to confront its deadly potential. He turned to Israeli Air Force commander General David Ivry to secretly plan a daring surgical strike on the reactor—a never-before-contemplated mission that would prove to be one of the most remarkable military operations of all time.

Written with the full and exclusive cooperation of the Israeli Air Force high command, General Ivry (ret.), and all of the eight mission pilots (including Ilan Ramon, who become Israel’s first astronaut and perished tragically in the shuttle Columbia disaster), Raid on the Sun tells the extraordinary story of how Israel plotted the unthinkable: defying its U.S. and European allies to eliminate Iraq’s nuclear threat. In the tradition of Black Hawk Down, journalist Rodger Claire re-creates a gripping tale of personal sacrifice and survival, of young pilots who trained in the United States on the then-new, radically sophisticated F-16 fighter bombers, then faced a nearly insurmountable challenge: how to fly the 1,000-plus-kilometer mission to Baghdad and back on one tank of fuel. He recounts Israeli intelligence’s incredible “black ops” to sabotage construction on the French reactor and eliminate Iraqi nuclear scientists, and he gives the reader a pilot’s-eye view of the action on June 7, 1981, when the planes roared off a runway on the Sinai Peninsula for the first successful destruction of a nuclear reactor in history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24517 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-01
• Released on: 2005-03-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Download Description

The first authorized inside account of one of the most daring—and successful—military operations in recent history

From the earliest days of his dictatorship, Saddam Hussein had vowed to destroy Israel. So when France sold Iraq a top-of-the-line nuclear reactor in 1975, the Israelis were justifiably concerned—especially when they discovered that Iraqi scientists had already formulated a secret program to extract weapons-grade plutonium from the reactor, a first critical step in creating an atomic bomb.

The reactor formed the heart of a huge nuclear plant situated twelve miles from Baghdad, 1,100 kilometers from Tel Aviv. By 1981, the reactor was on the verge of becoming "hot," and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin knew he would have to confront its deadly potential. He turned to Israeli Air Force commander General David Ivry to secretly plan a daring surgical strike on the reactor—a never-before-contemplated mission that would prove to be one of the most remarkable military operations of all time.

Written with the full and exclusive cooperation of the Israeli Air Force high command, General Ivry (ret.), and all of the eight mission pilots (including Ilan Ramon, who become Israel's first astronaut and perished tragically in the shuttle Columbia disaster), Raid on the Sun tells the extraordinary story of how Israel plotted the unthinkable: defying its U.S. and European allies to eliminate Iraq's nuclear threat.

In the tradition of Black Hawk Down, journalist Rodger Claire re-creates a gripping tale of personal sacrifice and survival, of young pilots who trained in the United States on the then-new, radically sophisticated F-16 fighter bombers, then faced a nearly insurmountable challenge: how to fly the 1,000-plus-kilometer mission to Baghdad and back on one tank of fuel. He recounts Israeli intelligence's incredible "black ops" to sabotage construction on the French reactor and eliminate Iraqi nuclear scientists, and he gives the reader a pilot's-eye view of the action on June 7, 1981, when the planes roared off a runway on the Sinai Peninsula for the first successful destruction of a nuclear reactor in history.

"Rodger Claire handles a complex story with ease and assurance. Infused with an understanding of the pilots and their historical mission, Raid on the Sun illustrates how what they achieved for Israel was as vital as that earlier flight of the Enola Gay to Hiroshima to end World War Two. Claire has created a patient, scrupulous story that still unfolds with the pace and verve of a thriller. Don't wait for the movie of the book. Buy it now."
   GORDON THOMAS, AUTHOR OF GIDEON'S SPIES: MOSSAD'S SECRET WARRIORS

"Raid on the Sun is an extraordinary look into the most secret, and perhaps the finest, air force on the planet. It is also a blistering indictment of the international arms industry that sells modern weapons to anyone with money. Raid on the Sun is required reading for everyone in the age of terror."
   STEPHEN COONTS, AUTHOR OF FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER

"A stunning eye-opener, shocking you with the realization of the enormous service the Israeli Air Force rendered the free world with its 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein's nuclear facility. Claire went right to the source—the Israeli pilots who flew the mission—to tell in colorful detail the full story of this historic strike."
   From Publishers Weekly
This gripping account of Operation Babylon, the Israelis' 1981 raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak, is the first to draw on planners' and pilots' own memories. The raid was planned to follow a long campaign of espionage, sabotage and outright assassination by the Mossad, which had failed to prevent the French-built reactor from being about ready to produce weapons-grade plutonium in the summer of 1981. Then the Israeli air force, taking its new F-16s on their first combat mission and one far beyond their designed performance, struck, obliterating the reactor with no losses, few misses and only one civilian casualty. Tactics, technology and weapons are all presented in a clear manner that does not slow the pace. L.A.-based journalist Claire's group portrait of the eight superlatively skilled and trained pilots includes Zeev Raz, the squadron leader and now a general; the ace, Iftach Spector, who missed his target because he suffered a blackout induced by the flu; and Ilan Ramon, who became Israel's first astronaut and was lost on the Columbia.The final result reads like a techno-thriller that is difficult to put down once the mission gets airborne.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
This selection recounts "Operation Babylon," Israel's daring 1981 raid on Iraq's nuclear reactor at al-Tuwaitha. This successful operation is credited with preventing Saddam Hussein from acquiring the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. This techno-thriller begs to be made into a movie. The narration by Adam Grupper is in the dramatic action mode, appropriately evoking the boldness and self-effacing heroism of the Israel Air Force pilots and re-creating moment by moment the actual tension of the mission as it unfolds. Unfortunately, the story today, given circumstances in the Middle East, is more relevant than ever. J.W. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Israeli top guns - The young ones.
Excellent insight to a fearless young band of Israeli top gun pilots.
Courageous, professional and accurate. A humane inside look at what Israel does best, it's military prowess bursting through the pages.
Very well written and quite stirring to read as the climax builds up to it's final conclusion.
Israel will continue to survive as long as such fine young men can be found amongst each generation.

Excellent informal history of a magnificient undertaking
Saddam Hussein at one time had designs on the entire Middle East. He viewed himself as a modern Saladin, the unifier who would bring the return of the Caliphate and ultimately lead to the domination of the world by Saddam and his brand of Islam, which was largely secular, but could be used as a cloak.

It isn't difficult to imagine yourself powerful when you have billions of dollars coming in from some of the largest oil reserves in the world. Some countries, like France, fall all over themvelves in a rush to sell you advanced weapons. Heck, Jacques Chirac will even be happy to sell you not only a large nuclear reactor, but a lot of high grade uranium to go with it. Uranium that can be processed into nuclear weapons.

Thus it was that an increasingly rambunctious and hostile Iraq came into possession of a large nuclear reactor that would soon be able to weaponize uranium for manufacture into nuclear weapons.

The tiny State of Israel was an announced target for Hussein. The nation had already fought five wars for its survival. The threat of nuclear armed Islamic nation nearby was overwhelming. It would take only three or four nuclear weapons on Israel to inflict tremendous, perhaps devestating damage.

Israel decided not to rely on the promises of French politicians that the nuclear reactor and uranimum they sold to Iraq would not be used for weapons development. Instead the Israelis embarked on their own "Mission Impossible" - - - launching an attack to take out the reactor, known as Osirak.

It looked impossible. The reactor was almost 600 miles away and three hostile countries would have to be overflown. The only delivery platform that Israel had were F-16 aircraft - which didn't have the specified range.

This book tells the story of the planners and pilots who acheived the impossible.

It is a riveting story. Dissension racked the cabinet of Menachim Begin. The Mossad conducted daring missions to delay the building of the reactor and supplying it with fuel. Key personnel on the Iraqi project were turned into unwitting spies and some died under mysterious purposes.

Finally the decision was taken that Osirak had to be bombed before it became operational.

Planning and preparation took over a year. Only a few people knew of the upcoming mission. Somehow, F-16's needed to be made into machines that could make a 1,200 mile round trip in hostile airspace - a range beyond the specifications of the F-16.

The story of how the mission to bomb Osirak was pulled off is riveting. Claire is a good reporter, though he relies on some dubious sources (Seymour Hersh) and makes many technical errors that even non-experts will detect. One, for example, is referring to the American Stinger as an air-to-air missile. It is a ground-to-air weapon.

Still, the story is enthralling. Daring men, desperate men on a mission to preserve their nation. It's the kind of courage one wishes were more common.

Jerry

Raid on the Sun
Excellent narrative, based upon interviews with the principle pilots. Well written, accurate, interesting and fast reading.