U.S. Condemns Israel for ‘unprecedented’ Air Attack

The United States condemned Israel today for what it said was its “unprecedented” bombing attack which destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor and said that it would investigate whether the use by the Israeli Air Force of American-made planes violated U.S. law.

But, at the same time, the State Department stressed that it hoped that the bombing yesterday would not prevent President Reagan’s special envoy Philip Habib from continuing his mission in the Mideast. “We wanted to(continue) in cooperation with the concerned parties,” the Department spokesman, Dean Fischer, said. “We hope these parties share our sense of the mission’s continued importance.”

Habib is in Paris and Fischer said he had no idea when he would be going to the Mideast.

The statement condemning Israel was read to reporters by Fischer. “The U.S. government condemns the reported Israeli air strike on the Iraq nuclear facility, the unprecedented character of which cannot but seriously add to the already tense situation in the area,” the statement said. “Available evidence suggests that U.S.-provided equipment was employed in possible violation of the applicable agreement under which it was sold to Israel and a report to this effect is being prepared for submission to the U.S. Congress in accordance with the relevant U.S. statutes.” Fischer said he had no idea when the report will be submitted.

ISRAEL CONDEMNED IN THE STATEMENTS

The State Department condemnation came after the regular press briefing was delayed for an hour, and two hours after Fischer had issued an earlier statement which said the bombing attack was “a very serious development and a source of utmost concern” but carried no judgement. Fischer said the change in tone came because of additional information but would not say from where and how it was obtained. He said both statements were approved at the highest levels at the State Department and the White House.

Fischer stressed the U.S. had no advance warning of the Israeli raid. “We had no information about this attack until after it took place,” he maintained. He said Washington received the information yesterday afternoon from Israel through the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Fischer had no comment on whether the U.S. AWACS reconnaissance planes stationed in Saudi Arabia had been able to spot the attack.

The Department spokesman would not agree with Israel’s assessment that Iraq was planning to build a nuclear weapon at the reactor. Nor would he comment on previous expressions of concern made by the U.S. government over the possibility that the French-built reactor could be used to build atomic weapons.

SAYS IRAQ PARTY TO TREATY

“Iraq is a party to the non-proliferation treaty and has undertaken to accept the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency on all its nuclear activities, ” Fischer said. “We have had no evidence Iraq had violated its commitment under the treaty.”

However, Fischer said the U.S. has expressed many times “concern” that “the availability of highly enriched uranium and acquisition of substantive nuclear facility can increase the risk of nuclear proliferation, particularly in sensitive and volatile areas like the Mideast.”

Fischer noted that Israel had not signed a nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the U.S. but stressed that Israel had always declared that it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Mideast.

The Department spokesman said he knew no details of how much damage had been inflicted on the Iraqi nuclear plant or whether there had been any injuries. But in his first statement, Fischer said that “our initial estimate of potential radiation effects is that they would probably be minimal and limited to the immediate vicinity of the installation.” He added the U.S. government “is ready to respond to any requests for help in monitoring the extent of any nuclear effect and in dealing with any other related problems.”

In his discussion of the investigation of possible violation of American Law, Fischer refused to link the bombing in Iraq yesterday with Israel’s bombing of terrorist bases in Lebanon. There have been numerous requests to the Department on whether Israel’s use of U.S. weapons in Lebanon was a violation of U.S. law but the Department maintained that it was studying the matter. Fischer said today that an investigation involved the question of whether the weapons were used for defense purposes.

Fischer also would not say whether the U.S. would cut off its arms supply to Israel if Israel was found to have violated U.S. law in using American weapons against Iraq. This, however, was done to Greece and Turkey when they were accused of violating U.S. law by using American weapons for offensive purposes.