Saddam Hussein at a nuclear reactor in France in 1975. Jacques Chirac is at right in the glasses. Saddam wanted a nuclear reactor capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. France supplied its Osiris reactor which was named Osirak (Osiris + Iraq). It was being erected when it was destroyed in a Sunday strike (June 7, 1981) by the Israelis, timed to save the lives of the French scientists helping with the construction. See Israeli tribute to the raid and to astronaut Ilan Ramon who took part.
