Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 3, 1991 TAG: 9102030170
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Top Israeli defense officials indicate they are impatient with the restraint urged on them by the United States, which hopes to hold off an Israeli attack by finding and destroying the Scud launchers itself.
The Iraqis have launched some 30 Scuds at Israel since Jan. 18, killing two Israelis and injuring 270. And although the United States and its allies have bombed some of the launchers, Israeli officials say at least 15 remain.
"We gave you enough time to solve the problem," said Rear Adm. Avraham Ben-Shoshan, Israel's defense attache. "We want to participate and take care of the threat."
But Israeli officials also concede there's not much they can do that the allies haven't already done. And they recognize that the Scuds are meant to lure them into war with Iraq, something they are eager to avoid.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has decided that restraint is a small price to pay for the outpouring of American good will it has generated.
His government, aided by the reassuring arrival of Patriot anti-missile batteries and their American operators, has skillfully convinced the Israeli public that there's less to be gained by attacking than by waiting.
But Shamir has indicated that if Iraq were to fire chemical weapons, Israel would no longer sit still. If that happens, the military is ready with a plan that carries unmistakable Israeli fingerprints, said one source.
The plan calls for Israeli planes to fly over Saudi Arabia into western Iraq and drop paratroopers at points where Scuds have been sighted by reconnaissance planes, he said.
Once on the ground, the commandos could also destroy what's left of the H-2 and H-3 air bases in western Iraq to prevent any possibility of airplanes taking off to attack Israel, the source said.
While highly risky, the plan would reinforce Israel's deterrent image, forged and cultivated by such daring operations as the 1976 commando raid that freed Israeli and other hostages from Palestinian hijackers in the African airport of Entebbe in Uganda.
by CNB