WASHINGTON, April 24, 2008
Smoking Gun Images Of Syria Nuke Reactor?
Video Made By U.S. Intelligence Claims N. Korea Secretly Helped Syria Build A Reactor, Which Was Nearly Operational
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Video
Syria's Covert Nuclear Reactor
This handout video produced by U.S. intelligence describes the "nuclear reactor Syria was building secretly" at Al Kibar. The video also claims N. Korea "assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities."
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Video
Korea Helps Syria Go Nuclear
Members of Congress are up in arms over ground-level photos just released by the Bush administration showing a North Korean nuclear reactor in Syria. David Martin reports.
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Photo
These two satellite images made available by DigitalGlobe shows a suspected nuclear facility site in Syria before and after a Sept. 6, 2007 Israeli airstrike (AP/DigitalGlobe)
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Seven months after Israel bombed the reactor, the White House broke its silence and said North Korea assisted Syria's secret nuclear program and that the destroyed facility was not intended for "peaceful purposes."
The disclosure could undermine six-party negotiations to try to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. The White House issued a two-page statement after lawmakers were given details about the reactor in a series of briefings on Capitol Hill. The White House said the International Atomic Energy Agency also was being briefed on the intelligence.
While calling North Korea's nuclear assistance to Syria a "dangerous manifestation" of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and its proliferation activities, the U.S. said it remained committed to the talks.
The administration said that after the reactor was damaged beyond repair, Syria tried to bury evidence of its existence.
"This cover-up only served to reinforce our confidence that this reactor was not intended for peaceful activities," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities."
CIA Director Michael Hayden, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley briefed lawmakers, who were shown a video presentation of intelligence information that the administration contends establishes a strong link between North Korea's nuclear program and the bombed Syrian site. It included still photographs that showed a strong resemblance between specific features of the plant and the one near Yongbyon.
According to officials familiar with the presentation, it did not show moving images inside the facility or any North Korean workers, but included photographs that depict similarities between the North Korean and Syrian reactor designs.
U.S. negotiators have been trying hard to close a deal in which North Korea would admit to and give up all its nuclear activities in return for being taken off the list of countries that support terrorism, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
But at the same time, the administration had all the photos showing North Korea was secretly helping Syria build a reactor that could produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, adds Martin. The images include a photo that U.S. intelligence says shows the head of Syria's nuclear agency with one of the North Koreans who was negotiating with the United States.
By making the photos public, Martin reports, the U.S. is telling North Korea: "If you won't come clean, we'll come clean for you."
The Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed by Israeli jets was within weeks or months of being functional, a top U.S. official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The official said the facility was mostly completed but still needed significant testing before it could be declared operational.
No uranium, which is needed to fuel a reactor, was evident at the site, a remote area of eastern Syria along the Euphrates River. But the U.S. official said the reactor was similar in design to a North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, which has in the past produced small amounts of plutonium, the marterial needed to make powerful nuclear weapons.
Top members of the House Intelligence Committee said the reactor posed a serious threat of spreading dangerous nuclear materials.
"This is a serious proliferation issue, both for the Middle East and the countries that may be involved in Asia," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.
Hoekstra and Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, told reporters after the closed meeting that they were angry that the Bush administration had delayed briefing the full committee for eight months.
"It's bad management and terrible public policy to go for eight months knowing this was out there and then drop this in our laps six hours before they go to the public," Hoekstra said.
President Bush's failure to keep Congress informed has created friction that may imperil congressional support for Bush's policies toward North Korea and Syria, he said.
"It totally breaks down any trust that you have between the administration and Congress," Hoekstra said. "I think it really jeopardizes any type of the agreement they may come up with" regarding North Korea.
A senior administration said the White House went publc with the evidence now to prevent an even broader confrontation in the Middle East region, reports CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller.
"We feared that if knowledge of this event spread quickly Syria might feel greater pressure to react," the official said.
The White House also stressed that North Korea's assistance on the Syrian reactor was an issue of "great international concern."
"The construction of this reactor was a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the region and the world," Perino said in the statement. "This is particularly true because it was done covertly and in violation of the very procedures designed to reassure the world of the peaceful intent of nuclear activities.
"The United States calls upon the international community to redouble our common efforts to ending these activities and preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction in this critical region."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 386 CommentsWANT SOME KOOL AID?
Interesting, Ishreal bombs a place with no proof other than a google earth map......
Lets Roll Big John to an easy victory in November, you have my vote sir !!!
you sir have the mind of a war criminal.....
You cannot TRUST ANYTHING that the Israel or the Bush admin says about Syria, Iran, Iraq or any other country for that matter.
They have their own agenda and it has been proved they will fake evidence and speak out right lies to get what they want which is regime change in Iran and unbarred access to the vast oil fields of the middle east.
Assuming the CIA isn''t fitting the intelligence to the desired result again, that is (Bushit starts another war before he leaves office).
Thanks, Jimmeh!
SO FREAKING WHAT?
ISRAEL HAS HAD OVER 60 YEARS TO MAKE PEACE WITH THESE PEOPLE SO BE IT!
AMERICA STAND UP OR SHUT UP!
Just like the Italian letter, or maybe yellow cake and all the other garbagea. Wait till a CIA agents gets outed again.
Where is Novak on that one. God neo cons you are going to be baried alive in Nomvember. Another wolf cry and now you see what happens.
PS for those of you who beleive that MaCain has a chance forget it. The only thing that is happening now is the media needs sells so they make it seem that the vote is divided well it is the Democrats and the Independents are deciding which one they want Hillary or Barack.
So just give it up neo cons you will not win in fact you are going to lose more seats in congress.
Blood bath in Novmember.
Posted by ajayvee
high five! absolutely from the people who gave us "THE WAR ON TERROR", now in its fifth season -
a blockbuster story of man''s messanic calling to free the world.....
take your fake videos and shove it where da sun dont shine!
wow, that''s new. we just picked up another "american" who was spying in Army research laboratory in NJ for guess who ?
yes, the country we "share values" with - the Jewish State of israel....
Posted by JoeCoolSwat at 12:03 PM
"your" an idiot? ***? How about "you''re" you jack.arse.
I love it when really ignorant people call other people ignorant - it''s always good for a laugh.
Posted by JoeCoolSwat
Maybe there wasn''t any "terrorist" attack on the US in seven years because the alleged threat was totally overblown? Perhaps it was used as an excuse to further the neocon idea for changing the Middle East? Perhaps 9/11 was also used as an excuse to spend trillions more on the industrial military complex, now that the Cold War has ended, and therefore removed the only viable threat to the US?
Bush''s illegal actions vis.a.vis "Eye Rack" has undoubtedly created whole generations of would be "terrorists" -- certainly, lots of people who will go through life hating all things American.
I am happy to see that your (or should I say, you''re?) views are in the minority at this point as most people now realize what a disaster the current president has been.
Posted by CBS_Oliver
i''d say it''s worse than that. tantamount to "moral racism" in that they believe themselves to be of a superior nature, hence any notion moral universality is rejected.
Hmmm....
Well for the intelligence community it is a done deal, closed, not useful in any current work. But for politicization purposes it is *** interesting. It is, with a little spin, a fine way to proclaim that the enemy is at the doorstep and we need to "PROTECT" our country and the people, and continue the war in our fight against TERRORISTS. I''m thinking that the reason that this caliber of intelligence is public might have to do with the idea that it was discovered after the fact that this facility was actually an unused warehouse making the players look stupid, and that can''t be good. So the spin, and the resulting reason for more funding.
Jeeze... they are intelligence types; they are experts at deception and people manipulation. It''s their stock and trade, it is what they do.
So ignore this *** it''s just a simple parlor trick
The establishment of the state of Israel was a religious decision based on a biblical prophecy. The wars against Iraq were based on biblical prophecies too. Both Christians and Muslims believe in the return of Jesus (peace and the blessing of Allah be upon him). Here is a question in this regard: If Jesus was to descend, do you think he will side with Chevron, Shell, Exxon, Cheney, Pat Robertson, Halliburton, Blackwater, the Zionist entity, the Saudi royal family, the Egyptian military family etc or do you think he will side with the Palestinian, the Lebanese, the Afghani, the Somali, and the Iraqi widows and orphans and refugees?
For my friend who asked, what about going back to the borders of 4 June 1967? IT IS NOT AN OPTION. After 9 April 2003 and 12 July 2006, there is no place for the Zionist settlers except as citizens of countries like the USA and the UK. On the other hand, there is "the half a trillion dollars solution", the West need consider before it too becomes a NO OPTION.
Liberals - shamelessly selling out America for short term partisan political gain
So what if Syria is building a nuclear reactor? So what if North Korea is helping them? Why is America getting its panties all up in a bunch?
oooh.. Syria is threatening the world. Oooh. Syria needs to come clean before the world.
There are almost 200 other countries in the world. No other country has complained about this. They are carrying on with their daily lives but not the US. The US has to start banging the drums and make it an issue and force it down the throats of every other country and the United Nations. It has to act like the world enforcer.
And, then we wonder why some countries hate us.
Well said!
Also well said!
Hey if we resumed hostilities with North Korea do you think the Chinese would interfere this time?
Explain - This Death Threat by : speakinup
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jmcgilvray - I''''d take the 60-80 a week to be rid of far left liberals.
Posted by speakinup at 07:35 PM : Apr 24, 2008
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Posted by dogsoul at 04:17 PM : Apr 24, 2008
No contributions to McCain and the Republican National Party is making postcards out of these photos and selling them? How pathetic... They could be the before and after of photos of D1ck Cheney''s hunting lodge...
Has anyone heard of the 9/11 court cases in the US District Court, Southern District of New York with attorney Jerry Leaphart?
Check the following links or google their names:
http://drjudywood.com/articles/NIST/Qui_Tam_Wood.html
http://nomoregames.net/index.php?page=911&subpage1=federal_case
Three names to remember:
Attorney Jerry Leaphart
Dr Judy Wood
Dr Morgan Reynolds
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