Raid on the Sun

Inside Israel's secret campaign that denied Saddam the bomb

By: Rodger Claire

Narrated by: Adam Grupper

From the earliest days of his dictatorship, Saddam Hussein had vowed to destroy Israel. So when France sold Iraq a top-of-the-line nuclear reactor in 1975, the Israelis were justifiably concerned. The reactor formed the heart of a huge nuclear plant situated twelve miles from Baghdad, 1,100 kilometers from Tel Aviv. By 1981, the reactor was on the verge of becoming "hot," and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin knew he would have to confront its deadly potential. He turned to Israeli Air Force commander General David Ivry to secretly plan a daring surgical strike on the reactor -- a never-before-contemplated mission that would prove to be one of the most remarkable military operations of all time.
Written with the full and exclusive cooperation of Israeli Air Force high command, General Ivry (ret.), and all of the eight mission pilots, Raid on the Sun tells the extraordinary story of how Israel plotted the unthinkable: defying its U.S. and European allies to eliminate Iraq's nuclear threat. Claire recreates a gripping tale of personal sacrifice and survival, of young pilots who faced a nearly unsurmountable challenge: how to fly the 1,000-plus-kilometer mission to Baghdad and back on one tank of fuel. He recounts Israeli intelligence's incredible "black ops" to sabotage constructions on the French reactor and eliminate Iraqi nuclear scientists, and he offers a pilot's eye-eye view of the action on June 7, 1981, when the planes roared off a runway on the Sinai Peninsula for the first successful destruction of a nuclear reactor in history.©2004 Rodger W. Claire; (P)2004 Simon & Schuster, Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Amazing story and background information

Really very good story , easy to listen to, fast moving and great brackground information on this historic event

Historical techno-thriller

This has been my favorite audible book. It has historical detail, adventure, technical details and has excellent narration and sound quality. It's also a good length for an audio book--not overly wordy.

Absolutely fascinating

I knew very little about the destruction of the nuclear station Osiraq but this book brought history to life. The Israeli's didn't want to take a chance with their security and took matter into their own hands. It was incredible to understand the intelligence and chain of command and desperation involved in these maneuvers.
What I really didn't know till after listening to this book was that Ilan Ramon who was one of the pilots on this mission was one in the same as the Ilan Ramon that was killed in Space Shuttle Columbia in Feb/03. The description of each of the men and their superiors who were involved in this very delicate operation was truly enlightening. It was hard to put the ipod down. The narrator Adam Grupper read very well too. I came across this book because I was looking for something he read after I heard him read The Lincoln Lawyer. Although he didn't need to use different accents in this book, he reads with conviction and excitment in his voice. This book was an excellent retelling of history. A must listen!

Fascinating detail of a historic strike

Is it hypocritical for Israel to have its own nuclear weapons and deny the Arab world the same, as they did when they destroyed the Osirak nuclear center in the early 1980's? Only through the lens of moral relativism. This strike was an early blow in the global war on terror, a wildly brave tooth-pulling of a brutal dictator by the region's only liberal democracy, an absolute victory of right over wrong.

Still, it was harshly condemned at the time. All that is here, along with the details of the mission preparation and an inside look at the political to-and-fro that accompanied it within Israel. Great reading.

Great Book

Totally grasps your attention and keeps you listening, you may find yourself listening for the entire length of the book in one sitting (I did).