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The Syrian-North Korean Nuclear Connection

April 24th, 2008 at 04:51pm Mark Noonan

Was the Israeli move the best to make, or should we have sent Obama to talk to the Syrians and North Koreans?

WASHINGTON — A Syrian nuclear reactor built with help from North Korea was weeks away from functioning, a top U.S. official said Thursday after lawmakers were briefed on the site destroyed last year by Israeli jets.

The official, who wanted anonymity, told The Associated Press that the facility was mostly completed but still needed significant testing before it could be declared operational.

Still, Syria’s ambassador to the United Kingdom denied that North Korea’s cooperation with Syria had any nefarious purpose…

…Intelligence officials told several House and Senate committees that the destroyed site was designed to produce a small amount of plutonium, a highly radioactive substance.

Plutonium-producing reactors are of international interest because the material can be used to make high-yield nuclear weapons or “dirty bombs” that disperse radioactive material when they explode, rendering an area potentially unsafe for humans for years.

The reactor was not finished when it was blown up, but U.S. intelligence officials had acquired videotape and other evidence to demonstrate that it resembled the nuclear reactor at Yonbyon, North Korea. No uranium — the fuel for a reactor — was evident on site.

Given Syria’s close links to Iran, we cannot rule out that the Iranians were also involved - it would be rather logical for Iran, under pressure on its own nuke program, to shuttle some of it over to Syria, which wasn’t nearly under the scrutiny that Iran is under. Also, North Korea needs money - of which Syria has none; as we haven’t noted a willingness on the part of North Korea to be charitible, we must presume that North Korea was getting something out of the deal…perhaps some Iranian petrodollars? Certainly, very extensive investigation is needed, and the hope is that our intelligence services are investing a lot into this.

We must ensure that of all the lunatic regimes in the world that North Korea be the last one of them to obtain nuclear weapons - diplomacy and diplomatic pressure, by all means, but when push comes to shove, we must be willing to act decisively to prohibit regimes like Syria’s or Iran’s from becoming nuclear.

Tags: Iran, Israel/Judaism, North Korea, nuclear weapons, Syria

Entry Filed under: War on Terror

30 Comments

1. SEW | April 24th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

Barry has it under control.
2. Kahn | April 24th, 2008 at 5:31 pm

Our intelligence people are saying they didn’t know about it until the Israelis told them. WTF? The place is right next door to Iraq, we’ve got like a gazillion planes and ESM and ECM planes and trucks and satellites and they didn’t know?????

Liberals… THIS is why we’re in Iraq. Not GWB, but CIA, DIA, and NSA.
3. Diana Powe | April 24th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Ahh, yes. The ever-popular and always credible (at least for the credulous) anonymous “top U.S. government official”. They’ve never steered anyone wrong.
4. Canuckguy | April 24th, 2008 at 6:15 pm

I am surprised there hasn’t been more flak over the destruction of the site. You would think the Syrians and their allies would have been hollering about Israeli intrusion into its air space. You know, the usual sabre rattling. Odd, such a sober muted reaction.
5. kimberly4victory | April 24th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

True, CG. If the intelligence wasn’t credible as DP is suggesting, Syria would have been shouting “Death to Israel” from the rooftops. Since they are not, I tend to believe the intelligence was spot on.
6. Iran » The Syrian-N&hellip | April 24th, 2008 at 7:07 pm

[...] On The Real With Chuck D | Air America Radio wrote an interesting post today on The Syrian-North Korean Nuclear ConnectionHere’s a quick excerptGiven Syria’s close links to Iran, we cannot rule out that the Iranians were also involved - it would be rather logical for Iran, under pressure… [...]
7. Diana Powe | April 24th, 2008 at 8:07 pm

Fox News, quoting the ever-helpful lone anonymous government official, declares that it was a “Syrian nuclear reactor built with help from North Korea” that Israel bombed. However, it would seem that the information isn’t nearly so clear. Where have we seen that before?

However, in three months of reporting for this article, I was repeatedly told by current and former intelligence, diplomatic, and congressional officials that they were not aware of any solid evidence of ongoing nuclear-weapons programs in Syria. It is possible that Israel conveyed intelligence directly to senior members of the Bush Administration, without it being vetted by intelligence agencies. (This process, known as “stovepiping,” overwhelmed U.S. intelligence before the war in Iraq.) But Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations group responsible for monitoring compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, said, “Our experts who have carefully analyzed the satellite imagery say it is unlikely that this building was a nuclear facility.”

Joseph Cirincione, the director for nuclear policy at the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., think tank, told me, “Syria does not have the technical, industrial, or financial ability to support a nuclear-weapons program. I’ve been following this issue for fifteen years, and every once in a while a suspicion arises and we investigate and there’s nothing. There was and is no nuclear-weapons threat from Syria. This is all political.” Cirincione castigated the press corps for its handling of the story. “I think some of our best journalists were used,” he said.

A similar message emerged at briefings given to select members of Congress within weeks of the attack. The briefings, conducted by intelligence agencies, focussed on what Washington knew about the September 6th raid. One concern was whether North Korea had done anything that might cause the U.S. to back away from ongoing six-nation talks about its nuclear program. A legislator who took part in one such briefing said afterward, according to a member of his staff, that he had heard nothing that caused him “to have any doubts” about the North Korean negotiations—“nothing that should cause a pause.” The legislator’s conclusion, the staff member said, was “There’s nothing that proves any perfidy involving the North Koreans.”

Morton Abramowitz, a former Assistant Secretary of State for intelligence and research, told me that he was astonished by the lack of response. “Anytime you bomb another state, that’s a big deal,” he said. “But where’s the outcry, particularly from the concerned states and the U.N.? Something’s amiss.”

Israel could, of course, have damning evidence that it refuses to disclose. But there are serious and unexamined contradictions in the various published accounts of the September 6th bombing.
______________
Source: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/11/080211fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all

But, hey! Fox News has a single anonymous “top U.S. official” telling them the real story.
8. kimberly4victory | April 24th, 2008 at 8:52 pm

Vincent Cannistraro, Director of Intelligence Programs for the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan and Chief of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency’s Counterterrorism Center under President George H. W. Bush, said Sunday that what the Israelis hit was “absolutely not a nuclear weapons facility.”

“Syria has a small nuclear research facility and has had it for several years,” Cannistraro said. “It is not capable of enriching uranium to weapons capability levels. Some Israelis speculated that the Syrians had succeeded in doing just that, but according to the US intelligence experts that is simply not true.”

But “Syria has a chemical weapons capability and has been trying to chemically weaponize war heads on their existing stocks of North Korean originated missiles,” Cannistraro added.
9. kimberly4victory | April 24th, 2008 at 9:09 pm

BTW, DP, the Sunday Times and other media were also running the “nuclear plant” story.
10. js | April 24th, 2008 at 9:58 pm

whats the use of arguement DP?…there isnt anything to dispute…israel told us before they leveled the place….they leveled it…they told us they leveled it…and now our guys disclose video documenting it as fact….suck up to ignorance why dont you…deny your nose to spite your face…whatever…deny Syria’s chemical plants in sudan…doesnt matter…its all on record…facts that spit back in your face…have fun wallowing in denial…

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40454
11. Kahn | April 24th, 2008 at 10:00 pm

Diana, get off it. NPR and the other networks are on this also. The IC briefed Congress today and is giving non-classified briefings to the press.

Story is: 1. Israel discovered this and had spys inside and around the facility who took pictues and videos of the site that were shown to Congress today. 2. We didn’t have a clue. 3. We have sionce verified the information as have other nations.

Most important - we didn’t have a clue.

Again, you say Bush lied (not about this, in general)? The IC told him Iraq had nukes and missed them in India, Pakistan, AND Syria. Freakin’ Syria. There is room for anger here - but not at “necons” or Bush. Be mad at the IC

Translation - Intelligence Community

I’ll bet the Israelis didn’t tell the CIA until after they bombed so the New York Times wouldn’t tip off the Syrians.
12. Diana Powe | April 24th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

Would that be the same Israelis who conduct military espionage against the United States?
13. js | April 24th, 2008 at 10:57 pm

ya, you got it DP, the same israeli’s who showed the US how to actually make the patriot system work….isnt that something!@!
14. js | April 24th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

actually khan, we did know…just before the strike we had a large build up of naval power in the region…
15. bagni | April 24th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

markyria
the green goofballs are confused
why if north korea helped the syrians with nukes
would the current admin relax the nuke reporting rules they’re supposed to follow
can you help ’splain this to us spatial types?
16. js | April 24th, 2008 at 11:30 pm

did you ever notice its easier to kill flies when you dont use the shotgun?
17. Christian Wright | April 24th, 2008 at 11:53 pm

“I am surprised there hasn’t been more flak over the destruction of the site. You would think the Syrians and their allies would have been hollering about Israeli intrusion into its air space.”

Maybe that’s because it NEVER happened.
18. Christian Wright | April 24th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

I found the link.

They bombed a WATER PUMPING station.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IK21Ak03.html
19. Kahn | April 25th, 2008 at 12:38 am

Diana - well, yah. The Israelis spy on us big time. I’ve mentioned that before. In order of spying its: Russia, China, Israel.

Any computer equipment from ANY of those nations has to go through a special security screening process to look for spy technology. They’s even found “extra” chips in keyboards that were mini-computers waiting to be triggered to connect to web sites overseas to dump information.

It’s not a very friendly world out there. You should look past your partisan attitudes and join us in defence of the nation some time.
20. Kahn | April 25th, 2008 at 12:41 am

CW, They bombed a water pumping station? You are really an idiot.

js, well I don’t have access to classified information. Maybe they did tell us before the strike, I don’t know. We didn’t know about the nuke plant though. Not until Israel told us. THEY had spies on the ground. The best way to operate once your enemies figure out to not use radios and to disguise things from satellites. Thats what the IC told Congress today…
21. Mark Noonan | April 25th, 2008 at 1:32 am

bagni,

Your wish is my command - but I don’t know about the relaxation of any nuke reporting rules…can you clarify?
22. Mark Noonan | April 25th, 2008 at 1:33 am

CW,

If it were a water station, Syria would have brought the world media to the site and clearly shown it as such…

You really gotta start thinking before writing…
23. Christian Wright | April 25th, 2008 at 8:19 am

Noonan:

Read the link.
Intelligence sources determined it was not a nuclear site years ago. They only bombed it to show Iran they could.
24. RC | April 25th, 2008 at 10:51 am

I believe the Israelis had good intelligence and went for it. Good for them!
The Israelis are a long term allie of ours. Yea, we spy on each other but as Kahn stated ‘It’s not a very friendly world out there.’

Didn’t they bomb Iran’s reactor in the 80’s? Maybe I’m thinking of something else.
25. js | April 25th, 2008 at 11:02 am

you gotta be joking CW Stooge, pointing to a conspiracy theory to debunk facts that are already solidly established is a pipe dream….your link is a dud.
26. js | April 25th, 2008 at 11:03 am

“Didn’t they bomb Iran’s reactor in the 80’s? ”

no, that was in iraq
27. RC | April 25th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

ahhh, thanks js.
28. bagni | April 25th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

markahootchie
does this apply?
you be the jovian judge

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120821851545814633-search.html?KEYWORDS=north+korea&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month
29. bagni | April 26th, 2008 at 12:19 am

markaniac
us spacecowboys fell off the back a bit this week
ooops
more currently
read today washington is hinting there would be a “more rigorous verification process going forward”
too bad the release of the intelligence on the n korea/syrian ties is “re-exposing deep rifts within the bush admin on foreign policy”
30. Christian Wright | April 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Deleted - off topic.

The Syrian-North Korean Nuclear Connection

30 Comments

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