Peter1469
03-07-2014, 07:48 PM
Israel and the brink (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/06/opinion/the-last-nuclear-moment.html)
October 6, 1973. Israel was caught sleeping by a combined Arab army and came very close to using its nuclear weapons. Prime Minister Golda Meir ignored the requests from her advisers and refused to use the "doomsday weapons". But she did obtain US aid in the form of an airlift of supplies. It allowed the Israeli defense forces to turn the tide against the rampaging Arabs and drive within 20 miles of Damascus (the dream of Crusaders 1000 years ago) and crush the Egyptian military (its tank skeletons still littering the desert today) before a peace treaty was signed.
Like John F. Kennedy a decade earlier, Golda Meir had stared into the nuclear abyss and found a path back to sanity. Mrs. Meir's decision not to accept Mr. Dayan's pessimism not only avoided a nuclear catastrophe, it demonstrated to the world that Israel was a responsible and trusted nuclear custodian.
Ultimately, Mrs. Meir's nuclear legacy goes far beyond those days in October 1973. Her prudence contributed significantly to the creation of the nuclear taboo -- the recognition that nuclear weapons are not like any other weapons humanity has ever invented; that under virtually any circumstances they must never be used.
October 6, 1973. Israel was caught sleeping by a combined Arab army and came very close to using its nuclear weapons. Prime Minister Golda Meir ignored the requests from her advisers and refused to use the "doomsday weapons". But she did obtain US aid in the form of an airlift of supplies. It allowed the Israeli defense forces to turn the tide against the rampaging Arabs and drive within 20 miles of Damascus (the dream of Crusaders 1000 years ago) and crush the Egyptian military (its tank skeletons still littering the desert today) before a peace treaty was signed.
Like John F. Kennedy a decade earlier, Golda Meir had stared into the nuclear abyss and found a path back to sanity. Mrs. Meir's decision not to accept Mr. Dayan's pessimism not only avoided a nuclear catastrophe, it demonstrated to the world that Israel was a responsible and trusted nuclear custodian.
Ultimately, Mrs. Meir's nuclear legacy goes far beyond those days in October 1973. Her prudence contributed significantly to the creation of the nuclear taboo -- the recognition that nuclear weapons are not like any other weapons humanity has ever invented; that under virtually any circumstances they must never be used.