The Israeli attack on Syria.

The US and Israel have refused to co-operate with the UN invetigative body that is attempting to find out if the Syrian facility attacked was a nuclear reactor under construction. It is not surprising since as this article in Raw Story the nuclear reactor story is likely a concoction of Cheney et al. Critics have pointed out that the satellite photo shows that there are not even any fences around the facility and no guards. This is surely an unlikely situation. The article lists quite a few of the fanciful speculations about the nature and purpose of the attack but very little has been established as fact.

Satellite photos don't lie.

It is strange that most reports do not mention that the area has no fence and no guards! The whole episode does sound fishy with all sorts of wild speculation and unverified accusations.

Satellite photos don’t lie

*Details of Syria ‘nuke site bombing’ emanate familiar scent of
political spin *

B. Michael
Published: 11.07.07, 20:04 / Israel Opinion


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3468755,00.html
The story known as “the operation in Syria” (according to foreign
sources: an Israeli bombing of a Syrian target) continues to stir the
imagination of journalists across the world. Not a week goes by without
yet another hair-raising twist being reported regarding this
mythological incident.

Last week we saw Aviation Week, a respectable magazine by all means,
join the ranks of storytellers. It told its readers that Israeli
satellite Ofek 7, which was launched to space in June 2007, directed
the
first accusatory finger at the site suspected of being a nuclear
reactor.

Meanwhile, al-Jazeera went as far as taking the Israeli Air Force out
of
the story, attributed the mission to the American Air Force, and
informed its viewers that the site was hit by a “tactical nuclear
bomb.”
No less.


As we recall, the Sunday Times reported that the IDF’s elite Sayeret
Matkal unit was part of the celebration and told its readers how those
guys infiltrated the Syrian desert in the middle of the night and
marked
the target with lasers. The newspaper did not detail whether only Jean
Claude Van Damme took part in the operation, or Tom Cruise as well.

Each legend of this sort is marketed enthusiastically, read
passionately, and then spreads from one newspaper to another, from one
channel to another, and from one website to another, as if it was some
kind of contagious virus immune to doubts.

Yet the questions, doubts, and bewilderment refuse to go away. Here is
a
hint below:

* Initially, the 2007 satellite images were published, as if the
suspicious structure was only discovered this year (see the
abovementioned Aviation Week report.) However, soon after that,
images from September 2003 surfaced, and it turned out that the
American intelligence community has been familiar with this
structure for four years. Why then did persistent leaks to
newspapers claim that Israel was the one that relayed the
information to the Americans? Isn’t it more logical that it was
the other way around?

* Any child with a personal computer can view (even now) the
“reactor” using Google Earth. The coordinates are as follows:
35.42’24.68 – North; 39.49’56.44 – East. Those who do
this will
realize quickly that this story is even more ancient than
thought.
The main structure in Google can be seen clearly and sharply, but
the other two structures are completely absent from the images
–
the “pumping station” on the riverbank and the rectangular
building a bit north of the “reactor.” In the images from
2003, we
can already see some of the rectangular structure, but the
“pumping station” is still absent. One does not need to be a
genius to realize that Google’s satellite images were shot even
before September 2003. That is, this “reactor’ was at least
five-years-old. Perhaps more. So what exactly happened that made
the operation so urgent and essential?

* Close scrutiny of Google Earth elicits an almost grotesque
finding. This “reactor” is not surrounded by any fence. There
is
no wall there either, no watchtowers, no residential structures,
no patrol roads, no anti-aircraft positions, and no
barracks…nothing. Just like that, on the riverbank, between two
civilian roads, lies a nuclear reactor, and we don’t even see a
guard post in the periphery. Does this sound serious? Recently,
so
it seems, someone directed Israel’s attention to this
embarrassing
inconsistency. Quickly, a wonderful excuse was found: this
facility was so secretive that even the Syrian army didn’t know
about it, and therefore it was unguarded. It appears that it’s
much likelier to assume that this reactor was so secretive that
nobody in Syria knew about its existence. Only the Israelis knew.

* One must completely lack a sense of smell in order not to sense
the heavy familiar scent emanating from this story: The scent of
a
political-intelligence spin incredibly similar to the pre-Iraq
War
spin. A sequence of circular and manipulative intelligence
schemes, piles of nonsense premised on tidbits of information,
and
the exploitation of this entire mess for the sake of political
objectives of various leaders and their camps, both here and in
the United States.

As we excitedly read the Sunday Times legends and eagerly go over
Aviation Week’s tales, we should dedicate a few minutes of thought to
the abovementioned option as well.
___________________________________

Syrian "Nukes"? Not so fast.

This is from this site. I really don't think that one can be sure of any of these stories. There was an attack but what it was on we really haven't much of a clue.
We have all sorts of stories. Many of the stories are designed to advance an agenda on the part of the US and Israel. None of the stories will point out that the attack was a clear violation of international law. Can you imagine if Syria carried out such an attack on Israeli nuclear facilities!

Syrian "Nukes"? Not So Fast...
By Noah Shachtman October 26, 2007 | 10:29:19
So what did the Israelis really blow up in the Syrian desert last month? The conventional wisdom says it was a partially-built nuclear reactor, maybe constructed with North Korean help. Arms Control Wonk Jeffrey Lewis isn't so sure.

The New York Times' Mark Mazzetti and Bill Broad have two very good stories on the suspect site in Syria — one placing the leaks about the site in context of Administration internal debates over North Korea; the other reporting on new satellite imagery showing that North Korea has wiped clean the site.

I am sitting in an airport, but I thought a few points bear mentioning:

Syria has long expressed a desire to have a nuclear reactor; North Korea would probably sell a reactor if the price was right. On face, the story is not implausible.
The pictures showed a large building near a river. That’s about it. If the building was a reactor, it was very far from completion. Absent reliable human intelligence, I see nothing that conclusively demonstrates the building was a reactor although IAEA inspections would have been decisive on this point.



Assuming it was a reactor, it is much too early to make design determinations based on imagery. Overhead identifications of reactors can, and are, often wrong as they were in the cases of Baotou — a fuel fabrication facility in China mistaken for a plutonium production reactor — and the gigantic North Korean whole in the ground that is Kumchang-ri. Intelligence Community estimates of the size and type of the Yongbyon reactor, at a comparable stage, were incorrect.
The people leaking are those dissatisfied with US policy. “A sharp debate is under way in the Bush administration,” Mazetti and Helene Cooper reported, about “whether intelligence that Israel presented months ago to the White House … was conclusive enough to justify military action by Israel and a possible rethinking of American policy toward the two nations.” Obviously, that rethinking hasn’t happened yet. The people who lost that debate are leaking national security information, appealing to the press. That is precisely why Hoekstra (R-MI) and Ros-Lehtinen called for more information — this is about North Korea, not Syria.
We haven’t heard from the people who, as Mazetti and Cooper reported, were “cautious about fully endorsing Israeli warnings” or “remain unconvinced that a nascent Syrian nuclear program could pose an immediate threat.” They might have important information to add, were they willing to leak it.
Syria has wiped the site clean — a move that The Institute for Science and International Security's David Albright and Paul Brannan note “dramatically complicates any inspection of the facilities.” What ever Damascus may have been doing, we’re much less likely to know, now. One of the best reasons for pressing for inspections at the site, rather than bombing it, is to get answers to the questions about what the site was and how it got there. After Israeli bombed Osirak in 1981, Iraq simply continued its nuclear weapons program in secret. It was not the bombing of Osirak, but rather UN inspections, which eventually disarmed Saddam Hussein.
In short, we don’t know what the site was, what (or who) survived the strike, and where it is now.

-- Jeffrey Lewis, cross-posted at ArmsControlWonk.com

Israel admits air strike against Syria.

So it was a military target. But what? The Israelis are so coy. One thing they do not need to worry about is a reporter ever bothering to mention that the raid is a flagrant violation of international law. Imagine if Iran or Syria had carried out a military raid deep in Israeli territory! I suppose technically the Israelis and Syria are still at war since peace negotiations stalled 7 years ago. But North and South Korea are also technically at war but you don't hear of South Korea launching military air strikes on the North. All hell might break lose.

Israel eases media blackout, admits air strike on Syria
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 2, 2007 | 3:44 PM ET
CBC News
Israel partially lifted a media blackout on Tuesday on an air raid over Syria last month, admitting its warplanes struck an unspecified "military target" deep inside Syrian territory.

Israel's military censor had imposed a total blackout on coverage of the Sept. 6 air strike, which elevated tensions between two countries that have been formally at war since 1967.

On Tuesday, the censor's office allowed preliminary details to be published after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad confirmed the air strike in a televised interview.

"Israeli air force planes attacked a military target deep inside Syria on Sept. 6; the military censor allowed for publication today," Israel's Army Radio reported.

The censor continued to bar publication of other key details, including the target of the raid, which forces participated in the mission and whether the operation was successful.

At the time of the incident, Syria said only that warplanes entered its airspace, came under fire from anti-aircraft defences, and dropped munitions and fuel tanks to lighten their loads while they fled.



On Monday, Assad told the BBC that an "unused military building" was hit. Assad said the raid showed Israel's "visceral antipathy towards peace" and added his country would retaliate.

Syria denies reports of nuclear help from N. Korea
Journalists in Israel are required to submit articles related to security and military issues to the censor, which can make changes to stories or bar publication altogether. In a rare move, the censor's office issued a special directive about the Syrian air raid, specifically prohibiting publication of any details.

Violation of the censorship orders can result in the loss of press credentials or other sanctions.

While the easing of press restrictions confirmed the air strike, questions remain over what the target was and why Israel launched the raid.

Some unidentified U.S. officials, have speculated that Israel attacked a weapons shipment destined for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, or attacked a nuclear facility built with North Korean technology.

North Korea, which provides missile technology to Syria, has denied any nuclear link. Syria also has denied receiving North Korean nuclear help.

Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967. Peace negotiations between the two countries collapsed in 2000.

With files from the Associated Press

More on Syrian raids and nuclear materials

One must read this with a great deal of skepticism. The Israeli's themselves have maintained a complete silence and censorship. The Syrians make it sound as if the Israelis simply dropped "ammunition" and turned around. They also jettisoned fuel tanks over the Turkish border. Most of the reports I have seen fail to mention that this attack is a clear and flagrant violation of International Law. Apparently no one cares. Imagine if Cuba just went and dropped some bombs on south Florida because they saw some Cuban exiles gathering an expeditionary force there, or thought they did.
Most articles like this can just be safely filed under psy-ops. The authorities are always anonymous of course but "well-placed" or "expert".
If the US keeps up with this type of report then do not be surprised if the nuclear deal with North Korea comes unstuck once again.


From The Sunday TimesSeptember 23, 2007

Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.

The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.

They confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Related Links
Snatched: Israeli commandos ‘nuclear’ raid
Blast at secret missile site killed dozens
Israeli special forces had been gathering intelligence for several months in Syria, according to Israeli sources. They located the nuclear material at a compound near Dayr az-Zwar in the north.

Evidence that North Korean personnel were at the site is said to have been shared with President George W Bush over the summer. A senior American source said the administration sought proof of nuclear-related activities before giving the attack its blessing.

Diplomats in North Korea and China believe a number of North Koreans were killed in the strike, based on reports reaching Asian governments about conversations between Chinese and North Korean officials.

Syrian officials flew to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, last week, reinforcing the view that the two nations were coordinating their response