Inspectors To Visit Syria Mystery Site

(CBS)  This report is by CBS News' George Baghdadi, reporting from Damascus.

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A delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Syria on Sunday, hoping to get to the bottom of the mystery of the Syrian remote building which was destroyed by the Israelis last September on suspicion it was a plutonium-producing reactor.

Led by IAEA chief inspector Olli Heinonen, the inspectors will stay until Tuesday.

Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has recently told an Indian newspaper that the allegations were "fabricated 100 percent."

He said his country would welcome the visit but insisted the mission would be limited to the Al-Kibar site in the Syrian eastern desert, 90 miles north of the Iraqi border.

Syria's ambassador to the U.N. Ibraheem Jaafari denied late last month that the site was a nuclear installation, saying it only contained a disused military building.

The Israeli airstrike inside Syria on Sept. 6, 2007, reignited international debate over whether the Syrians are trying to overcome past obstacles by starting their own small nuclear program, or by trying to buy nuclear components from an outside supplier. Washington believes it is North Korea.

Head of the IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei cast doubt on Syria's ability to construct and run such a complex nuclear process, but urged the Syrians to fully cooperate.

Syrian political analyst Ibrahim Darraji said Damascus had allowed the inspectors in, in order to avoid any confrontation with the international agency, suggesting Syria would gain at the end of the day.

"When Damascus gets all the documents and proofs needed from the inspectors that the site is clean, Israel would be legally and politically responsible," Darraji, a professor at the Damascus University, said.

"I believe Syria would have the right then to activate its demand to scrutinize Israel's responsibility for the aggression in September … Furthermore, the U.S. would also be morally and politically responsible as it was the party pushing for the visit of the inspectors," he added.

Israel has never commented publicly on the intended target of its bombing in 2007, but the alleged Syrian nuclear program came into the spotlight in May when the U.S. published photos that Washington said was evidence that Syria was secretly trying to build a nuclear reactor.

"Such photos were a funny reminder of the huge embarrassment suffered by ex-general and former U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell when he was made to lie to the world live on TV with fake photos about Iraqi mobile chemical weapons factories that never existed," one analyst told CBS News.

"It is too difficult to believe the U.S. administration after all the lies about Iraq and other disasters it unleashed in our region," he added, noting that the U.S. pressure came less than a fortnight after the news of Turkish-sponsored Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations became public and "the rush of the news on European and Arab diplomatic activity in Syria."

One analyst suggested the political use of the issue became clear when Israel called on Syria to cut its close relations with Iran.

"It seems that Syria is not heeding the call - at least up until now," he said.

Under its inspection agreement with the IAEA, Damascus has an obligation to report nuclear projects as soon as planning gets underway.

Israel refuses to sign the agreement.

Despite the nuclear allegations, spirits in Damascus are good: Israel and Syria have launched indirect peace talks (with Turkey acting as mediator), after previous negotiations were broken off in 2000.

Signaling the breaking of the international isolation, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has invited his Syrian counterpart to Paris for a July 13 Euro-Mediterranean summit, which Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert is also due to attend.

[downsteamjim]

To Impeach W: Don''t tell me Publisher''s Clearinghouse missed you again. So sorry.

[hamiltongrad]

According to the AP, there are 3 other sites, that that UN AEIE wanted to INSPECT but the SYrians said NO WAY !
There is far more to this story. Far more danger to the Western World. Far less cooperation from a signatory than should be.
And CBS , no SPIN to nake things look better, it makes you look worse !

[ajayvee]

Well, if Heinonnen discovers that the site was indeed a North Korean nuclear plant, Israel will say "I told you so!". If on the other hand Heinonnen discovers that the site was a jelly-beans factory, Israel will discredit him and label him an anti-semite. And America, England, Germany and a few others countries with large Jewish populations will applaud and dutifully repeat the Israeli spin. The more things change ......

[hamiltongrad]

NeoConn: You sir are a hypocrite. The children suffering under Sadam, the women picked up and raped at will, the gassed KUrds, the Kuwaittis under threat, the support with BASES for Al- Queda, the total lack of freedom of speech, the continued firing at UN inspector planes, the stealing of oil for food money, and THE POLLUTION by OIL FIRES CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING !!!!SET DELIBERATELY IN 1991 THAT WAS AN ATTACK ON THE GLOBE CAUSING CLIMATE CHANGE....
AS A progressive we believe in freedom. hypocrite.

[hamiltongrad]

////// MORE TO THiS STORY''''''''
SYRIA BLOCKS INSPECTIONS - CBS FORGETS TO REPORT///////////////////////////////

"Syria told a 35 nation meeting in Vienna that it will LIMIT the sites the UN inspectors will see..." (AP)
"The IAEA wants to visit three other suspected nuclear sites during it June 22 - 24 planned inspection." (AP) "But Othman told the board that other sites the agency WANTS to check for HIDDEN nuclear ACTICVITY would remain OFF LIMITS." (AP)

[neoconrcrazy]

LieUSA - here for you from the horses mouth :


"The deceptive campaign against Obama, who is Christian, "threatens to undo the enormous strides that Jews and Muslims have made together in this country," the New York mayor Bloomberg said.

The lies are "cloaked in concern for Israel, but the real concern is about partisan politics," said Bloomberg, who is Jewish. "This is wedge politics at its worst, and we''ve got to reject it - loudly, clearly and unequivocally."


LieUSA, you''re an embarrassment to honest Americans.

[neoconrcrazy]

There is no moral or legal equivalency between US, UK and Il. and Western Europe vs. terrorist groups who are targeting the innocent for death

Posted by hamiltongrad

no moral equivalency?

Over 500''000 innocent iraqis have been killed by the unwarranted bush war. you find this morally justified?

you, sir, are a morally bereft hypocrite.

[hamiltongrad]

To Brainbs: you are very confused. There is no moral or legal equivalency between US, UK and Il. and Western Europe vs. terrorist groups who are targeting the innocent for death, as a goal to kill innocent people. The goal of sending a child with explosives onto a crowded bus of children is to kill children. By God, We even have lawyers for these scum we catch, they on the other hand torture, cut out eyes, etc for those they catch. Do you see the difference ? If not , you ,u must be a total jerk, and one of the bad guys yourself. Idiot.

[brianbwb-2009]

"The world needs to make it clear that we''''re not going to tolerate countries who support terrorism developing nuclear weapons." Posted by standlee5

The problem with that is that many countries that sponsor "terrorism" already have nuclear arsenals, like the US, Britain, and Israel, for examples.

[pensacola88]

The inspectors will confirm what we already know.

This type of event has repeated itself numerous times and always resulted the same way. A crude and inefficient techonoly is pursued and then abandoned.