ABSTRACT
On April 20, 1991, in response to the obligations stipulated in United Nations Resolution 687, Iraq submitted to the Secretary General of the United Nations a letter detailing its nonconventional weapons arsenal and its production capacity in this realm. During the Gulf War, some 38-42 al-Hussein missiles — armed with conventional warheads — were launched by Iraq against Israel. In the realm of active defense, the Israel Air Force was placed on the highest alert status and intensified its air patrols dramatically, to be ready to intercept incoming Iraqi aircraft carrying chemical ordnance. The final contribution to the enhancement of Israeli nuclear deterrence of an Iraqi chemical attack came from an unexpected source: American Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney. In the event, Israel refrained from adopting a flexible declaratory policy, and thereby nurtured Saddam Hussein's hope that he might obtain Israel's intervention by striking at its population centers.
