Ruth King

On February 13th, 2005, James Baker was interviewed on ABC by George Stephanopolous who asked if Prime Minister Begin had been right to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor. Remember that Baker was then Ronald Reagan's Chief of Staff and his reaction had been apoplectic (his wrath no doubt increased by the animus he felt for Israel even as a youth at Princeton University where his senior thesis argued that the U.S. should not have recognized Israel at its birth). Baker replied that Israel was right and the American administration was wrong. Of course Baker went on to promote more anti-Israel policies as Secretary of State in the first Bush administration.
Baker's confession that he was wrong should remind us that Israel must do unpopular things, despite short term consequences. History will remember Begin far more kindly for taking out the Osirak reactor than for Camp David, which will one day be seen for the folly it was, setting Israel on the path of "territory for nothing" on which it is still tragically embarked.