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White House Diaries
June
09
1981
June 09, 1981
Tuesday, June 9, 1981
Brkfst. at 8:45—back in our go to town clothes. Arrived at W.H. Pres. L.P.—Sec. Haig, Dick Allen, Foreign Minister of Mex. & I met in Oval Office—we are going forward with Caribbean plan. Then joined our cabinets in cabinet room to tie up loose ends & get reports on Mon. meeting. Beautiful State luncheon in East Room—warm exchange of toasts. His people passed the word to ours that they & the Pres. were overjoyed at outcome of the meetings. I feel we really have broken down a lot of barriers & established a feeling of mutual trust. And so farewell. Ended day with an N.S.C. meeting re the bombing of Iraq. P.M. Begin insists the plant was preparing to produce nuclear weapons for use on Israel. If he waited ’til the French shipment of “hot” uranium arrived he couldn’t order the bombing because of the radiation that would be loosed over Baghdad. I can understand his fear but feel he took wrong option. He should have told us & the French, we could have done something to remove the threat. However we are not turning on Israel—that would be an invitation for the Arabs to attack. It’s time to raise H--l worldwide for a settlement of the “middleeast” problem. What has happened is the result of fear & suspicion on both sides. We need a real push for a solid peace. Jus. Dart called—a solid offer has been made for our home. We said yes but we’ll cry when it goes.
