More on the Syrian Nuclear Reactor. Now with Video Evidence!
It seems that the CIA really does have the goods on the North Korean/Syrian nuclear partnership. There is apparently a videotape Congress will get to see that shows North Korean officials milling about the Syrian reactor and some details of the reactor and surrounding building. The kicker? It is nearly identical to the one in Yongbyon, even down to how many holes it has for fuel rods.
The reactor didn’t have any fuel in it, and that’s led to some conflicting statements between two articles. In the Washington Post article, David Albright is skeptical that the reactor actually presaged any monkey business.
“The United States and Israel have not identified any Syrian plutonium separation facilities or nuclear weaponization facilities,” he said. “The lack of any such facilities gives little confidence that the reactor is part of an active nuclear weapons program. The apparent lack of fuel, either imported or indigenously produced, also is curious and lowers confidence that Syria has a nuclear weapons program.”
Meanwhile, a source for a Washington Times story is singing a different song.
“The belief is that the reactor was nearing completion,” said one official familiar with the content of the briefings. “It would have been able to produce plutonium.”
I’m going to lean in the direction of the official at this point. I don’t see any reason to give Syria or the Norks the benefit of the doubt here. Albright is a brilliant guy who actually called this reactor as a Yongbyon clone late last year. On the other hand, he’s been very forgiving of Kim Jong-Il without a lot of reason to be so and I think he’s hedging his bets here. The fact that there was no fuel at the time of the bombing doesn’t mean there never would be nor that Syria wasn’t trying to get fuel. I’d say that Assad had at least two, if not three, conduits for getting nuclear fuel: Iran, North Korea, and Russia. It seems awfully early for someone with Albright’s know-how to discount the possibility that a couple of guys who are not exactly married to the truth when it comes to their dealings with us are being honest with us now.
(Post link via memeorandum)
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Category: No More Tyrants
Yee haw! Can't wait fer us to turn that there mid-east into one big ass parkin' lot! Damn them ignant muslims! Go America! Go Jesus! WOOOO!!! McCain 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not sure if there is really any contention between your 2 articles. I think this one might clear things up for you:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/977936.html
So, the plutonium aspect was more extrapolated than witnessed.
Hello Jimmy,
Very nice site – I will have to figure out some of your technology and see if I can apply it to my blog.
Anyway, on Syria. Funny that spoots quoted the bit from Haaretz, which I wrote Thursday night for Friday's paper in English.
The plutonium may have been extrapolated but there are good grounds for such extrapolation: a. there is no evidence of uranium enrichment facilities; b. why build a structure, so similar to the North Korean reactor, with NKs around (they are not your typical tourist), and then leave it empty?
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