U.N. Eyes Pics Of Possible Syria Nuke Site

(AP)  U.N. experts have begun analyzing satellite imagery of the Syrian site struck last month by Israeli warplanes, diplomats said Friday, disclosing what amounts to the first independent look at reports that Damascus was hiding a nuclear facility.

It was unclear where the material was obtained or what exactly it showed. One of the diplomats who is linked to the International Atomic Energy Agency - the U.N. nuclear watchdog examining the photos - said IAEA experts were looking at commercial images, discounting suggestions from other quarters that they had come from U.S. intelligence.

Separately, a senior diplomat familiar with the issue indicated that agency experts were looking at several possible locations for the Israeli strike. Two other diplomats said initial perusal of the material had found no evidence that the target hit Sept. 6 was a nuclear installation. They emphasized, however, that it was too early to draw definite conclusions.

All of those speaking to The Associated Press were briefed on the agency's receipt of the images but demanded anonymity because their information was confidential.

Since the bombing, news media have quoted unidentified U.S. officials as saying that the airstrike hit some sort of nuclear facility linked to North Korea, which is now in the process of dismantling its nuclear weapons program. On Friday, The Washington Post cited American officials as saying the site in Syria's eastern desert near the Euphrates River had characteristics of a small but substantial nuclear reactor similar to North Korea's facility.

Officials of the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog and the U.S. diplomatic mission to the IAEA had no comment Friday. But IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming indirectly rebuked Washington earlier this week, saying the agency "expects any country having information about nuclear-related activities in another country to provide that information to the IAEA."

The investigation by the IAEA is important because it is the first instance of an independent and respected organization looking at the evidence and trying to reach a conclusion as to what was hit.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, cautioned that - without full U.S. cooperation - the IAEA's probe might be hampered because commercial satellite imagery "may not be of sufficient quality to figure out difficult questions." Still, he welcomed IAEA involvement, saying it gave the chance for a neutral organization to "provide an assessment and give the international community some guidance about what has or has not happened."

Syria denies that it has an undeclared nuclear program and North Korea has said it was not involved in any nuclear program in the Mideast nation. Damascus has said the Israelis targeted an empty building, and the agency has said it has no evidence to the contrary.

The diplomats said that Vienna-based Syrian diplomats have met with senior IAEA representatives since the bombing, but have provided no substantive information that would indicate their country had nuclear secrets.

Syria has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and has allowed agency experts to inspect its only known nuclear facility - a small, 27-kilowatt reactor, according to diplomats linked to the IAEA.

[on_alert247]

Grazing said "And in a sense this has been the cause of superiority of Muslim culture, because it was benefiting from the scientific advances they were discovered at time of quiet and prosperity."

Where did you learn this? It sounds like a twisted version of pre-Renaissance history.

[grazinggoat]

Technology cannot advance in a culture that suppresses it based on religious reasons. Obviously you haven''''t read any of the books on the rise of Sufism.
Posted by on_alert247 at 12:08 AM : Oct 20, 2007

agree with you and this is true for all religions that supress Science as a neutral knowledge. Middle-Eastern people have been more advanced technologically, relative to Europe and Western Societies because their governnors have been providing the conditions for the brains to lay their discoveries... And in a sense this has been the cause of superiority of Muslim culture, because it was benefiting from the scientific advances they were discovered at time of quiet and prosperity.

[on_alert247]

Obama-Osama!? Honestly I could care less if he wins. There won''t be peace in Palestine, Chechnya, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Thailand, Iraq, Pakistan or any other place where Islamic extremists are killing people. He can''t change it, nor any American or European. Peace must come from within moderate Islam.

[grazinggoat]

George Bush''''s war in Iraq/Afghanistan = history of Islamic warfare

Some strange logic you got there or purposeful misdirection. What''''s gonna happen when he is no longer in office?
Posted by on_alert247 at 11:57 PM : Oct 19, 2007

-He will retire on his Columbia ranch and get invited by his filthy rich cronies on the French Riviera... And another idiot liar will take over and accuse the Arabs of all World Havocs. Unless America votes in some decent president who will redirect the Middle_East policies toward a fairer equilibrium between all nations and religions. Obama. Wink! Wink!

[on_alert247]

grazing:
Think you missed the point entirely. What did the Roman Catholic church have to do with culture and technological innovation? If your answer is nothing but squelching it, then you obviously don''t know anything about history and philosophy. If you know the history, then there is the tie between religion, culture and technology. Technology cannot advance in a culture that suppresses it based on religious reasons. Obviously you haven''t read any of the books on the rise of Sufism.

[grazinggoat]

It shouldn''''t be surprising that those middle-eastern countries who are trying to advance technologically are doing so by following western cultural practices to the chagrin of the Islamic fundamentalists.
Posted by on_alert247 at 11:44 PM : Oct 19, 2007

-May you agree on technology has no culture? be it western or Eastern. Technology is technology. Neural science is neutral, real and true to every culture and belief. So please don''t make extra effort in order to look stupid!

Don''t forget that that Arabs have been at the origine of a lot of inventions and discoveries aside form the huge social sciences, mostly captured throughout their commercial caravaning up to China, India, Persia, and Northern Africa. To some extent their carvan routes were secured by the conversion they were successful to impose with their logics about life views and then avant-gardist sociologic views of life.

[on_alert247]

George Bush''s war in Iraq/Afghanistan = history of Islamic warfare

Some strange logic you got there or purposeful misdirection. What''s gonna happen when he is no longer in office?

[grazinggoat]

All of these civilizations were at war with Muhammed''''s armies and many were converted to Islam under threat of death.
Posted by on_alert247 at 11:44 PM : Oct 19, 2007

-sounds pretty much like the Walking-Liar''s declaration: '' be with us or against us (or die)! So what''s new on Earth?

[on_alert247]

Grazinggoat said "- Don''''t really know, but Arabs have always asked for tecl and industries, bu they were deprived from it by the conglomerates of Zionist pressure groups in Europe and America, helped by their brainwashing campaigns painting the Arabs as savage uneducated traditionalists (refer you to the Abbot and Costello TV shows, Lawrence of Arabia, ''''the return of the Mummy/ the lost arch'''', and Never without my daughter''''."

Alert! Alert! Another delusional ''Elders of Zion'' fruitcake. Let''s get a few things straight about middle-eastern culture: The ancient Egyptians weren''t Muslim at the height of their civilization, nor were the Meccans or the Persians or the Babylonians. All of these civilizations were at war with Muhammed''s armies and many were converted to Islam under threat of death. It shouldn''t be surprising that those middle-eastern countries who are trying to advance technologically are doing so by following western cultural practices to the chagrin of the Islamic fundamentalists. This is the exact reason militancy has been on the rise in many of these countries; according to many renowned Islamic scholars.

[ajmarine1]

It''s time to go, good night to all.