6/8/1981

“On June 8, 1981, the Israeli Air Force used American-made F-15 and F-16 fighter planes to launch preemptive strikes on the Osirak nuclear reactor outside Baghdad, Iraq. Israel had gathered intelligence indicating that the Iraqis were using secret underground bunkers attached to the facility to build nuclear bombs, weapons it was certain were meant for Israel. The attacks were widely condemned. The Reagan administration swiftly issued several statements denouncing the Israeli action and suspended plans to ship four more F-16s to Israel as it reviewed whether the strikes violated a 1952 agreement between the United States and Israel that restricted the use of American-made planes to defensive actions.”

 – Stephen F. Hayes, Cheney, Page 168