Some Wonder Where the Yellow Went,
As Kids Brush Their Teeth with Pepsodent
We Would Have Wondered Where Reactor Went,
Had the Syrian
s Brushed Their Teeth with Plutonodent!
April 25, 2008
The United States was quite right after 911 to identify the combination of Syria, North Korea, and Iran as the “Axis of Evil.” Most of the world laughed at including North Korea as being part of such an axis, but our assessment has since been shown to be correct. The three excerpts from the last two days, which follow, have made our case.
Begin DEBKAfile Excerpt 1
CIA to disclose Israeli September raid destroyed Syrian plutonium reactor
April 23, 2008, 6:59 PM (GMT+02:00)
The Los Angeles Times reports that the CIA plans to brief key lawmakers
in a closed-door session April 24 about the mysterious Syrian site that was targeted by an Israeli air raid last September.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly 320 was first to report on Oct.
6, 2007 that the target of the Israeli raid on Sept. 6, 2007, was a plutonium reactor in a remote part of Syria..
The CIA officials will tell lawmakers they believe the reactor would have been capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons but was destroyed before it could do so.
They will also say that though US officials had had concerns for years about ties between North Korea and Syria, it was not until last year that the new intelligence [gathered in the Israeli raid] provided them with the evidence.
Begin DEBKAfile Excerpt 2
Exclusive: Pyongyang scrambles to offset impending Syrian plutonium reactor revelations in Congress
April 23, 2008, 8:53 PM (GMT+02:00)
The CIA plans to reveal to a closed-door congressional panel session Thursday April 24 that the Syrian site targeted by Israel’s air raid last September was a reactor capable of producing plutonium
for nuclear weapons, thereby offering final proof of North Korea’s nuclear ties with Syria. This is reported by the LA Times.
DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources reveal that Pyongyang took the unusual step Wed. April 23 his week of ordering its Damascus embassy to gather Arab correspondents in the Syrian capital for an extraordinary briefing: The first secretary told them that North Korea had nothing to do with the destroyed reactor. However, he did not deny that Pyongyang maintained extensive military ties of cooperation with Damascus.
This week, a US delegation arrived in the North Korean capital to discuss Pyongyang’s failure to meet its December deadline for dismantling its nuclear program.
Begin DEBKAfile Excerpt 3
US releases new images of North Korean reactor in Syria
April 25, 2008, 11:03 AM (GMT+02:00)
Top Korean and Syrian nuclear officials caught on camera
The undated photos show the head of the North Korean reactor fuel plant with the head of the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission in Syria and the same official attending the Six-Party Talks.
Thursday night, the White House in Washington broke its silence on Israel’s Sept. 6, 2007 attack on a nuclear site in northern Syria.
Spokeswoman Dana Perino stated its conviction that North Korea helped Syria build a secret nuclear reactor. She spoke after intelligence officials briefed US lawmakers about the Syrian nuclear facility that was destroyed by Israel last year
“We have good reason to believe that the reactor, which was damaged beyond repair on Sept. 6 of last year was not intended for peaceful purposes,” she said.
A Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help was weeks away from functioning, a top U.S. official told lawmakers.
The Syrian ambassador denied the report as a “fantasy.” He said the US had a record of “fabricating evidence of nuclear activity in its allegations against Iraq before the 2003 invasion.”
Perino’s statement did not mention Israel.
It said Syria was building a “covert nuclear reactor” in its eastern desert that was capable of producing plutonium.
Syria did not inform the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency about the construction of the reactor and after it was destroyed, Syria “moved quickly to bury evidence of its existence,” the White House said.
The United States has long been “seriously concerned” about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its proliferation activities and Pyongyang’s cooperation with Syria was a “dangerous manifestation” of those activities, the White House said.
North Korea missed a December 31 deadline to make a declaration of its nuclear programs in a deal with the United States, Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea.
“The construction of this (Syrian) reactor was a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the region and the world,” Perino said.
That development underscored the international community was right to be concerned about the nuclear activities of Iran and “must take further steps” to confront that challenge, she said.
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