actually that's what I meant ... LOL ... guess I was thinking ratios(?) ... yes, I was aware no F-15 had been shot down in Air-to-Air combat ... thanks for the correction ...
love that bird ...
Posted on 01/18/2003 12:59:55 PM PST by yonif
Israel's first astronaut, mission payload specialist Col. Ilan Ramon, is a career fighter pilot who bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, a senior official said.
The attack, in which eight IAF F-16 warplanes obliterated the French-built Osiraq reactor near Baghdad, was a milestone in Israeli aviation history because the planes flew over enemy Arab territory for hours without detection.
The pilots flew in a tightly bunched formation to send off a radar signal like that of a large commercial airliner.
In 1998, an Iraqi defector claimed the Israeli attack spurred Saddam Hussein to speed up plans to build a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile, with the Columbia space shuttle successfully launched on Thursday, Ramon, 48, will focus on carrying out a series of scientific experiments.
Among the materials taken along are genetically engineered adult stem cell cultures, which will be used for an experiment prepared by scientists from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
It focuses on building new, specialized cells by isolating adult stem cells taken from bone marrow and converting them into bone, cartilage, or tendon cells by introducing specific genes into them.
The experiment will advance the stem cell work of Prof. Dan Gazit of the skeletal biotechnology laboratory at HU's Faculty of Dental Medicine. Gazit and his wife Dr. Sulma Gazit are guests of the US National Aeronautics and Space Agency and witnessed the launch of the space shuttle.
The shuttle crew will examine the influence of weightlessness on the creation of bone cells in space as compared to their development on earth. The findings are likely to have bearing on understanding the mechanisms involved in development of osteoporosis in astronauts and also the molecular influences involved in creating bone cells in space and on earth.
Ramon, a mechanical engineering graduate of Tel Aviv University, will be on board with his fellow astronauts for 16 days.
TAU has scheduled a special mid-mission conference call between university scientists and journalists on Monday to update them on the team's experiments. Among these is the Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment, which will include five of the seven astronauts on board and a crew in a specially outfitted plane flown in the footsteps of the orbiting space shuttle Columbia while it flies over the Mediterranean Sea. They will simultaneously take measurements and study the effect of dust particles on climate change.
Meanwhile, in a speech delivered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Scientific Club of the Association of the Friends of the Weizmann Institute, he said he was pleased to send greetings to Israel's first astronaut.
A few minutes before arriving at the meeting, he had a phone conversation with Ramon, whom he described as "a man busting with national pride."
"Col. Ramon's flight and his mission into space are a source of honor to us all, and his success is yet another step in Israel's integration into the space age. We wish him and the entire crew of the Columbia space shuttle success in their mission and a safe return home," said Sharon. President Moshe Katsav sent a microfiche Bible the size of a credit card to Ramon to take with him on his shuttle mission.
Katsav wished Ramon success and said Ramon will also conduct experiments for Israeli institutions. Ramon's father gave him some family photos to take into space, and a brother gave him a letter to read in orbit.
Israel's own two-decade old space program has been beset by costly failures, most notably the aborted launch of a $50 million spy satellite in 1998.
Greer Fay Cashman contributed to this report.
Sorry, but it's not
as cool as it seems. Back in
1985 [!]
NASA gave a "prince"
from Saudi Arabia
a ride for nothing
on 51-G.
(Rumors say it was to prove
to Muslims the earth
really isn't flat.)
But the House of Saud came first,
before Israel.
Or the time the Soviet Union shot down a commercial airliner?
First of all, neither was our ally.
To be cold bloodedly, not accidentaly, attacked or spyed on by an ally is the worst outrage to it's dignity a nation can face.
Israel is our ally, and I want them to continue to be our ally.
When people start the "my Israel, right or wrong" mantra and contend we cannot disagree with Israel in any way then I think there is a legitimate question as to which nation they are in fact a loyal citizen of.
So9
So we didn't give Iraq satellite intelligence and low-interest (or NO-interest) loans at that time?
Dear Mr. Tourney: Thank You for your letter to President George W. Bush concerning USS LIBERTY. I am answering on behalf of the President.
I can certainly understand your motivation in writing. The People of the United States will forever remain in debt to those crewmen of USS LIBERTY who sacraficed their lives in the service of their country. In reference to your letter, the main question posed to the investigative report was whether the attack by the Israeli armed forces on USS LIBERTY was deliberate. The Navy convened a court of inquiry immediately after the event to review this question and address other concerns. Much of the hearings and testimonies were classified as they dealt with the nature of the Navy's electronics and communications technology. Large portions of this report have subsequentaly been declassified.
Israel accepted responsibility for the attack and made a public apology for the incident. Additionally, as you already know, the Government of Israel paid reparations for the death and injuries suffered by your shipmates on LIBERTY and for the damage to the ship caused by this tragic and unfortunate incident.
The results of the investigations, and the conciliatory actions of the Government of Israel, were considered satisfactory to Administration and Defense officials. At this time, there is no precendent to reinvestigate this case and no plans have been made to do so. Please be assured that we have taken measures to prevent an incident of this tragic nature from occurring in the future. Again, thank you for writing to the President. Sincerely, (sig) CHRISTOPHER J. ROUIN Director, White House Liason Office Office of the Secretary of the Navy
I see. Anyone who ever criticizes the Peoples Republik of Israel is anti-Semetic. The Peoples Republik is without fault or sin.
So9
The fact that anti-semites and Holocost Revisionist idiots have jumped on the "Liberty" incident does not make put Israel in the right.
So9
As yes, the old Spotlight where you could blame every evil and conspiracy in the world on either Israel or some "zionist". What a delusional bunch of nutcases!
That just warms the heart!
Tammuz-1 was named after a month in the Islamic calendar, but the name Tammuz far predates Islam. It originated as the name of the Sumerian agricultural god Dumuzi, whose cult lasted for 4000 years. The central ritual of this cult was the celebration/mourning of the death of Dumuzi (or Tammuz to the Canaanites), whose passing ensured the continuation of life on earth.
 |
| Osirak Building after the Attack |
At 6:35 p.m. local time on 7 June 1981 eight Israeli F-16 Falcons appeared out of the sunset approaching al-Tuwaitha. In 80 seconds 13 bombs blew a hole in the concrete dome of Tammuz-1 and exploded inside, completely demolishing the reactor core, and the reactor building down to its foundations. The attack was carried out before the reactor had gone critical so no radiation was released. It was still some time before the reactor would have begun operation - the enriched uranium fuel had not been loaded in the reactor, and was unharmed by the attack.
Operation Babylon - the Israeli attack on Tammuz-1 was carried out by eight F-16s and six F-15 Eagles to provide air cover. This was the longest range attack in Israeli Air Force history, 1100 km, at the extreme limit of combat range of the F-16 fighter-bombers. Mid-air refueling could not be carried out for the return leg of the mission, since they might be pursued by hostile fighter, so the F-16s had to be "clean" (i.e. in a minimum drag configuration). At the time of the attack it was widely reported that laser guided bombs had been used, given the precision of the bombing: one bomb blew a hole in the reactor containment vessel, the other bombs were lobbed through the hole, only one bomb fell elsewhere (this was repeated for example in [Ostrovsky and Hoy 1990]). In fact laser guided bombs were not used, the drag produced by the laser designator pods was too much. Instead it was simply carried out by precision visual bombing.
Cont'd at
LBJ's lawyer, Clifford:
"I do not know to this day at what level the attack on the LIBERTY was authorized and I think it is unlikely that the full truth will ever come out. Having been for so long a staunch supporter of Israel, I was particularly troubled by this incident; I could not bring myself to believe that such an action could have been authorized by Levi Eshkol. Yet somewhere inside the Israeli government, somewhere along the chain of command, something had gone terribly wrong--and then had been covered up. I never felt the Israelis made adequate restitution or explanation for their actions..."
So9
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