The WSJ reports:
What really happened in the Syrian desert near the Euphrates River on the night of September 6, 2007? The Bush Administration is finally due to answer that question today when it briefs Members of Congress. We've been hearing, and the press is now reporting, that the Administration will confirm that Israel bombed what the U.S. believes was a nascent plutonium-producing nuclear reactor being built with North Korea's assistance.
According to reliable sources (Global Security.org among others)the reactor was not nascent but nearing operational capacity for the sole purpose of plutonium production (not "research" or "power generation.") The IAF fighter squadrons apparently used advanced radar jamming technologies that defeated not only the sophisticated Russian antiaircraft warning systems deployed (as in Iran), but large swaths of all radio frequencies from northern Syria into southern Turkey. So there are a lot of embarrassed players in-theater with wadded up BVDs at the moment. Problem is, this intel will be widely discredited as just another "Iraq WMD" casus belli cluster fornication from the war-mongering war mongers of the anti-Halliburton variety. When reached for comment as to the North Korean involvement, former UN Ambassador Bolton said, "I believe we have now found proof of the chinks in Syria's armor." But maybe they will give the usual response: "Of course we had nothing to do with this and promise to never do it again" just to keep the "negotiations" going. What a bloody diplomatic mess.
For further commentary, please sign up for my free weekly newsletter at "Geopolitical Insights @ JWebbhasnoclue.net"
Posted by: JWebb | April 25, 2008 at 12:27 AM
Maybe if the Halliburton/KBR/Blackwater/etc. military-contract/oil-machine-entangled Bush Administration hadn't been lying constantly to Congress and the American people since day one in just exactly this way, things they tell us would be more likely to be taken at face value. That's what occurs to me to think.
Posted by: Marco McClean | April 25, 2008 at 03:34 PM
Government statements, or any sort of political statements, even anti-government statements, should never be taken at face value. Everyone has an agenda. That's not necessarily to say that everyone with an agenda is a liar, but people see things through their own corrective lenses. That's why, when this sort of story appears, it needs to be watched over a period of time to see how it morphs.
Posted by: gail | April 25, 2008 at 11:03 PM
Just in this post and comments, there are traces of at least three versions of events.
Posted by: gail | April 25, 2008 at 11:11 PM