Iraq urges UN to discuss A-raid

Iraq has called for an urgent meeting of the Security Council to discuss Israel's June 7 attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor in Baghdad, Monitor special correspondent Louis Wiznitzer reports.

The attention here will be focused on:

* Whether the Arabs will press for sanctions against Israel or settle for a condemnation of the Jewish state.

* Whether the United States will vote in favor of a condemnation or abstain and be content with verbally thrashing israel.

Meanwhile, the consensus here among diplomats from Western, nonaligned, and socialist countries is that Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin opened a Pandora's box and created a dangerous precedent. "He has resorted to state terrorism and opened the way toward international anarchy," one Western diplomat said.

Diplomats here say India now may feel justified in launching a preemptive strike against Pakistan's nuclear facility; the Soviet Union against China's facilities; the US against the Soviet Union's; or vice versa.

"If countries are allowed to self-righteously proclaim that they are right and that the others are wrong and to act preemptively against each other on that self-serving assumption, the United Nations would serve no purpose and international law would become identical to the law of the jungle," a senior diplomat with legal experience said.

Israel is condemned here by almost everyone. But Iraq itself stands on shaky ground as a result of its having acted as an aggressor against Iran. What most diplomats also believe is that Mr. Begin's initiative may have far-reaching consequenses. "This is perhaps a turning point, for the worst, in contemporary history," a Europe an analyst said.