Quote:Advocate said: Israel would not have nuked Iraq, mainly because it would not have to. It could have largely demolished Iraq using conventional weapons.
Walter said: It was necessary to keep Israel out in order to keep the Arabs in the American-led anti-Saddam coalition.
Besides that, this policy enjoyed the overwhelming support of the civilian population which "bore the brunt of the 39 Iraqi Scud attacks"
"No need to nuke Japan, we can invade them and win that way" cried the softies in WW2 but Truman overuled them and delivered a double-whammy of two nuke bombs that brought the war to an immediate end, thereby saving countless American soldiers lives.
Same with the Gulf War. If Israel had wiped out Baghdad with a nuke, Saddam would have surrendered immediately, and it would have been an object lesson to the muslim world that "nobody better mess with Israel, not now, not ever!"
As for Israelis supporting the non-nuke option like Avi Shlaim claims, if that's true then maybe Israel really has gone soft, or else it's just a cover story to gloss over the fact that Israel has to do what America tells them..