Bad to Worse

The information in the new Seymour Hersh article is dreadful enough for anyone. But Arms Control Wonk makes a strong case that the situation may be even worse than Hersh says:

Hersh obviously thinks such a strike would be foolish, but he repeats a myth that is at least partially responsible for the ardor of proponents of a strike against Iranian facilities:

In 1981, the Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq’s Osirak reactor, setting its nuclear program back several years.

Dan Reiter, a professor at Emory University, has written The Osiraq Myth and the Track Record of Preventive Military Attacks arguing that "closer examination of the Osiraq attack reveals that it did not substantially delay the Iraqi nuclear [weapons] program and may have even hastened it." [Emphasis, mine.]

The explanation for this is worth reading in full, as is Reiter's piece.