Cheney camp 'behind Syrian reactor claim'.

This is from ABC (Australia) This article gives a motive as to why the U.S. might want to play up North Korea's alleged role in building a reactor in Syria. This could derail negotiations with North Korea if they are not already on the rails.
Of course the U.S. always takes every opportunity it can to blacken the reputation of Syria. No one notices that attacking the reactor was a clear violation of international law and the UN charter. Israeli (and US) violations of international law or the UN charter don't count. They are the good guys after all.


Cheney camp 'behind Syrian reactor claim'
Posted Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:04pm AEST
Updated Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:26pm AEST


'Out to scupper diplomacy': Dick Cheney (File photo) (Getty Images: Win McNamee)

Video: US Govt outlines allegations (ABC News) Audio: US says Israel destroyed suspected nuclear reactor in Syria (AM) Related Story: N Korea helped Syria build bombed reactor: US US Government allegations that North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor have been greeted with scepticism because of their timing.

Israeli jets bombed the alleged site in Syria's eastern desert last September.

Today, after months of whispers, the White House publicly claimed that the target of the strike was a nuclear reactor.

It said the reactor was being built with North Korean help and was not intended for peaceful purposes.

US intelligence officials said the reactor had been close to becoming operational when it was destroyed.

But Mike Chinoy, from the Pacific Council on International Policy, says the claim needs to be taken in its political context, as North Korea's denuclearisation reaches a critical stage.

"Everything I'm hearing from my own sources in Washington is that what you have now is a kind of push back by Vice-President [Dick] Cheney and his office and other hardliners who are opposed to diplomatic dealings with North Korea," he said.

"[They are] hoping that by making public these allegations of nuclear cooperation it will torpedo the diplomatic process."

Earlier White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the US would be continuing its six-country talks with North Korea.

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.
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