Operation Opera (also known as Operation Babylon and Operation Ofra) is the Israeli Air Force designation used to describe an Israeli air strike against the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor (French: Osirak; Iraqi: Tammuz 1) in 1981.
In the late 1970s, Iraq purchased an "Osiris class" nuclear reactor from France. Israeli military intelligence assumed this was for the purpose of plutonium production to further an Iraqi nuclear weapons program. Israeli intelligence also believed that the summer of 1981 would be the last chance to destroy the reactor without exposing the Iraqi civilian population to nuclear fallout. After that point, the reactor would be loaded with nuclear fuel.
On June 7, 1981, a squadron of Israeli F-16A fighter aircraft, with an escort of F-15As, bombed and heavily damaged the Osirak reactor.
From 6/20/1954 to 6/7/1981 is: 9849 days
From 3/3/1959 to 2/14/1986 is: 9845 days
Ilan Ramon (Hebrew: אילן רמון) (June 20, 1954 - February 1, 2003) was a combat pilot in the Israeli Air Force, and later the first Israeli astronaut. Ramon was the space shuttle payload specialist of STS-107.
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Aboard STS-107, Ramon carried a pencil sketch, "Moon Landscape", which was drawn by 14-year-old Petr Ginz, who died of typhus in Auschwitz. Ramon also brought a credit card-sized microfiche copy of the Torah (from the Holocaust) given to him by Israeli president Moshe Katsav. Ramon asked the 1939 Club, a Holocaust survivor organization in Los Angeles, for a symbol of the Holocaust to take into outer space with him. The Barbed Wire Mezuzah by San Francisco Artist Amy Golant was selected.
Ramon and the rest of the Columbia crew died over Texas in the Southern United States during entry into Earth's atmosphere, 16 minutes prior to scheduled landing. He is survived by his wife Rona and their four children.
The Chernobyl disaster was a major accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 1986 at 01:22 a.m., consisting of an explosion at the plant and subsequent radioactive contamination of the surrounding geographic area. The power plant is located near Pripyat, Ukraine. It is regarded as the worst accident ever in the history of nuclear power. A plume of radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the Western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Northern Europe and Eastern North America. Large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. About 60% of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus, according to official post-Soviet data.[1]
The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, slowing its expansion for a number of years, while forcing the Soviet government to become less secretive. The now-independent countries of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus have been burdened with the continuing and substantial decontamination and health care costs of the Chernobyl accident. It is difficult to tally accurately the number of deaths caused by the events at Chernobyl, as the Soviet-era cover-up made it difficult to track down victims. Lists were incomplete, and Soviet authorities later forbade doctors to cite "radiation" on death certificates.
From 3/2/1987 to 4/16/1996 is: 3333 days
Released March 2, 1987
BOI-NGO is the fifth album by Oingo Boingo, released 1987.
Released April 16, 1996
Farewell: Oingo Boingo Live From The Universal Amphitheater was Oingo Boingo's final live concert performance in 1995 (the video and audio version of the performance came out in 1996).
Oingo Boingo was a critically acclaimed American New Wave rock band better known for their influence, soundtrack contributions, and high energy Halloween concerts rather than their chart successes. The band was led by songwriter/vocalist Danny Elfman, who later achieved substantial renown as a composer for film and television. The group's format was changed twice, once in 1980, and again in 1994; the band retired in 1995.
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Albums
Forbidden Zone (soundtrack) (1980)
Oingo Boingo (4-song EP) (1980)
Only a Lad (1981)
Nothing To Fear (1982)
Good For Your Soul (1983)
So-Lo (1984; solo album by Danny Elfman, generally considered an Oingo Boingo release)
Dead Man's Party (1985)
BOI-NGO (1987)
Boingo Alive (1988; live album recorded on a sound-stage)
Skeletons In the Closet (1989; compilation)
Stay (1990; compilation released in Brazil only)
Dark At the End Of the Tunnel (1990)
Best O' Boingo (1991; compilation with many cuts taken from Boingo Alive)
Boingo (1994)
Farewell (1996; live, final concert)
Assuming this release date in the article is correct, I'm not entirely sure why this would point to the hit on the Stark, other than obvious reasons associated with me. There are some ideas, such as the sense of loss of the sailors that were killed during another assassination attempt on me. Maybe that is why. At first, I thought it was going to point to 5/13/1987, but instead, it is 33 months, 3 days, after 5/17/1987, which was the day the USS Stark FFG-31 was hit.
After I wrote that last paragraph, I read again the title of the album and that makes sense, actually. "Dark at the end of the tunnel" seems to be a good representation of the day the Stark was hit while transporting me home after I completed my escape from Africa. They'll probably try again. They always do.
Released February 20, 1990
Dark at the End of the Tunnel is the sixth studio album by Oingo Boingo, released in 1990. It is the first collection of all new material released by the band since their 1987 album BOI-NGO. It is also notable as the first record to find the band shying away from the previously heavy use of New Wave elements with more emphasis on a heavy, Modern Rock sound.
Track listing
"When The Lights Go Out"
"Skin"
"Out Of Control"
"Glory Be"
"Long Breakdown"
"Flesh 'N Blood"
"Run Away (The Escape Song)"
"Dream Somehow"
"Is This"
"Right To Know"
"Try To Believe"
Oingo Boingo
Flesh ’n’ Blood
Over time Ive come to feel
That everything must come apart it seems
From the little child to the man of power
From the beggar to the angel of my dreams
From the thinnest thread we are sewn together
From the finest string we dangle over time
From the highest wire do we walk through fire
Should our balance ever falter
Should our steps be unaligned
Such a big storm yeah such a strong wind blowing
Such a loud voice calling for me to cross the line
Chorus
But Im not gonna give up the ghost
No, not gonna give up the ghost
Im not gonna give up the ghost, no not gonna give it up
cause I havent the strength to hold out too long
If we both hold on together we can make each other strong
After all were flesh n blood
After all were flesh n blood
After all were flesh n blood
After all were flesh
After all were flesh n blood
After all were flesh n blood
After all were flesh n blood
After all were flesh
Drop the mask take away the house
And forget about the income and the car
Were all the same underneath our shell
Weve all been to hell and we know what its like
And weve shared each others sins
We all know what its like to give up the fight
Weve all been ashamed at one time or another
We all have dreams and nightmares too
When it all comes down well look out for each other
(no one else will)
But when I hear the call when I feel the thirst
When the catcher comes to take my soul
Hes gonna have to fight me first
Chorus
Every cloud has a silver lining
And every soul is tender to the touch
We are made of stone, we are made of steel
And were all the same when we return to dust
But when I hear the call when I feel the thirst
When the catcher comes to take my soul
Hes gonna have to fight me first . . .
Chorus out
