Why Israel launched a preventive military strike on Iraq's nuclear weapons program (1981): The fungibility of power resources

In 1981, Israel launched a preventive military strike against a nuclear reactor that Iraq was constructing at the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center. The low fungibility of Iraq's power resources, and especially its nuclear weapons program, shaped Israel's decision-making process. First, it motivated Israel's executives to disaggregate Iraq's capabilities. Though they identified Baghdad's emerging nuclear weapons program as a threat, there was little pressure to act more broadly. Second, it pushed Israel's leaders to favour delaying strategies to stall Iraq's program. Third, it motivated Israel's leaders to favour a preventive military strike to delay Iraq's nuclear program from becoming more fungible.