“…on June 7, 1981, [Vice President George H.W.] Bush articulated his sympathy for Iraq when Israel bombed Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor in Osirak. The power plant was considered Iraq’s first step toward making a nuclear weapon. ‘Reagan went around the room and asked each of us to give our opinion on the Osirak raid,’ recalled [former Secretary of State] Alexander Haig, who felt strongly that Israel had done the right thing. ‘I remember Bush and then [Chief of Staff James] Baker making it very clear that they thought Israel needed to be punished.’ ”
– Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, Page 67