PRE-EMPT THIS :

Israel prepares for Iraqi strike 'at any moment' (WORLD TRIBUNE.COM, August 12, 2002)

Officials said the government has prepared a series of plans to defend against and retaliate for any Iraqi missile attack on Israel. They said the plans were discussed and endorsed by the United States.

"Israel should be prepared to face an Iraqi attack at any moment," Israeli Science Minister Matan Vilnai said.

Israel's plans include the deployment of additional assets to defend against any Iraqi missile attack. Officials said Israel wants to deploy two Arrow-2 missile defense batteries, Middle East Newsline reported. [...]

A military statement said the second Arrow-2 battery is being deployed as part of a multi-year test program. The statement said the deployment was planned "a long time ago."

The officials said Iraq could decide to preempt any U.S. attack on the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with a missile barrage against Israel. They said such an Iraqi attack could be aimed at foiling U.S. plans to use Jordan and Gulf states as launching pads for a military campaign against Baghdad.

Considering that Israel withstood SCUD attacks in the last war without responding, who'd blame them if they decided to pre-empt Saddam instead of waiting for him to try to pre-empt the U.S.? And if he does launch missiles at Israel again, especially if he puts gas on them, wouldn't a nuclear response from Israel be justified? Posted by Orrin Judd at August 12, 2002 2:06 PM