DAMASCUS, June 22, 2008
Inspectors To Visit Syria Mystery Site
Int'l Atomic Energy Agency To Examine Building Destroyed By Israel, Allegedly Part Of Damascus' Nuclear Ambitions
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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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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.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
/// SYRIANS REFUSE INSPECTION OF # OTHER SITES !!!!
This article is a fine example of spinning the news .
There are 3 other sites that are very suspect, but the Syrians have REFUSED to let UN inspectors into them.
Rather than being cooperative, and "opening up" they are hiding and shielding and playing a deadly game of cat and mouse. Shoddy or complicent reporting from CBS and alike makes things worse.
The fact that the IAEA has allowed all this time to pass - giving Syria an opportunity to cover up the evidence at the site, and completely construct a new building over the top of the destroyed reactor - demonstrates the ineptitude of the IAEA and its head, Mohamed ElBaradei. He not only says he believes Syria, he defends the ludicrous assertion that the facility in Syria was an empty military building.
In fact, Mohamed ElBaradei has only recently stated that if Israel attacks Iran to prevent them from producing weapons grade plutonium, ElBaradei says he will resign his post.
This, at the very least, gives the appearance that Mohamed ElBaradei is really functioning as political cover for a few middle east countries who are aiming to dominate the region with nuclear weaponry.
Mohamed ElBaradei needs to go. NOW.
Aren''t our friends Feelfree, and his buddies going to post before they go to sleep.
We have been the %u201CBig Brother%u201D to Israel for my entire adult life, unquestioning and unwavering. And while this noble cause has doubtless been of tremendous benefit to the Israeli people, constantly under threat of extinction at the hands of outraged Middle Eastern neighbors, what has been our biggest reward? The answer is, the antipathy of the Muslim world towards the United States. This has always been - and remains - the Elephant in the Room of which none wish to speak.
Why is al Qada at war with us ? You can talk all day about how they %u201CHate Us for Our Freedoms%u201D or how they want to Convert Us - and the Entire World - to Islam.
But in the End, It%u2019s Israel.
It%u2019s always been Israel.
It is, for so many of these nations, the perpetual thorn in their collective side%u2026 the wound which will never heal.
Israel has been Standing Strong for more than half a century. Under our superpower umbrella they have developed a military capability which is the envy of nations many times their size. But will there ever come a time when our national conscience will allow us to open up a new conversation on this ?
Is there not a point at which the global community can say that Israel has Grown Up and should now be capable of standing on its own Two Feet, releiving us of the Burden of Acting as the `Big Brother` on the Playground as we continue to Inflame the Muslim world against us?
Reuters: The Moderate Voice...Speaks without Hesitation Nor Reservation.
He`s saying saying, Enough of Baby Sitting, Solely Protecting Israel, He`s also saying, Lets openly Discuss this issue an how it Effects Our Nations Security as well as Our Future and how this will Effect Us.
We have been the %u201CBig Brother%u201D to Israel for my entire adult life.
Israel has been standing strong for more than half a century. Under our superpower umbrella
But will there ever come a time when our National Conscience will allow us to open up a new conversation on this ?
Is there not a point at which the global community can say that Israel has grown up and should now be capable of standing on its own two feet.
Releiving us of the Burden of acting as the `Big Brother on the Playground.
Doubtless many readers will feel a desire to let fly with the usual claims that I%u2019m some sort of Anti-Semite because of this piece. Feel Free - I%u2019ve heard it all before. I bear no animus toward Israel as a nation and certainly harbor no anger towards Jews of any nation.
But this relationship we share with Israel is unique and decidely (One-Sided in Both Benefits and Costs).
And the Price we are Paying for it Continues to RISE while the REWARDS LOOK MORE & MORE INTANGIBLE.
Feel free to line up the Firing Squad, Readers. I%u2019m Ready for it.
Israel refuses to sign the agreement."
This pretty much says it all. Why should other countries comply when Israel refuses to do so? Ridiculous!
"Is there not a point at which the global community can say that Israel has grown up and should now be capable of standing on its own two feet.
Releiving us of the Burden of acting as the `Big Brother on the Playground.
Doubtless many readers will feel a desire to let fly with the usual claims that I%u2019m some sort of Anti-Semite because of this piece. Feel Free - I%u2019ve heard it all before. I bear no animus toward Israel as a nation and certainly harbor no anger towards Jews of any nation.
But this relationship we share with Israel is unique and decidely (One-Sided in Both Benefits and Costs).
And the Price we are Paying for it Continues to RISE while the REWARDS LOOK MORE & MORE INTANGIBLE.
Feel free to line up the Firing Squad, Readers. I%u2019m Ready for it."
You are right on! And I''ll stand with you when that firing squad forms. This is truth and sound reasoning, not prejudice or bias, no matter what those who find it convenient to use those accusations say.
THATS A LIE !!
Mohamed ElBaradei is really functioning as political cover for a few Middle East Countries who are aiming to Dominate the Region w Nuclear Weaponry.
THATS A LIE ALSO !
Elbaradei: is a UN (Uited Nations Official)
Israel is a `Middle East Country` also, an has 150 Nuclear Weapons, the Only Middle Eastern Country to have Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction.
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You have A$$ Backwards Logic !!
What Threat is Israel Or The USA of Nuclear Attacks by Any Arab Country ?
Ans: None at All...
Israel just wants to be the Sole, Solitary War Lords of the Middle East...Thats All it is.
1. Israel has Over 150 Nuclear War Head Missiles and those are just the 150 Accounted for !!!
NOTE: ISRAEL IS ONLY COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE-EAST REGION.
2. Israel has the Right to EXIST and PROTECT ITSELF and...
Note: AN SO DOES THE THE OTHER MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES, THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO EXIST & PROTECT ITSELF AS WELL, ISRAEL HAS NO EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS OR EXCLUSIVE PRIVELEDGE TO BE ARMED TO THE GILLS WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONRY, THAN ANY OF THE OTHER MIDDLE-EASTERN COUNTRIES...
THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO EXIST, DEFEND ITSELF AND PROVIDE NUCLEAR ENERGY AS WELL.
3. World War 3: Just one More Arab Invasion Away from WW3 Becoming a Reality...
They hate that stuff with a passion.....evidently...
war criminal and his siamese
twin Sheldon Feldon.
Syria: "Okay, we promise."
Posted by j-whitman at 04:22 PM : Jun 22, 2008
Yes, and its Arab neighbors should take an anti-psychotic
New movement in the Middle East,
"bong hits for peace."
I guess that Syria and Iran both know that all they have to do is make it to February 2009 & then all of the heat from the U.S. will be off.
There are 3 sites that Syria has declared off limits to inspections.
Syria is not co operating here. CBS wake up !!
Bravo. Well said and 100% spot on.
There are THREE other SITES that they have declared "off limits" for the UN to look into.
So, What are they HidiNG ???
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.
The problem with that is that many countries that sponsor "terrorism" already have nuclear arsenals, like the US, Britain, and Israel, for examples.
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.
"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.
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)
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.
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 !
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by downsteamjim
June 24, 2008 12:34 AM EDT
- To Impeach W: Don''t tell me Publisher''s Clearinghouse missed you again. So sorry.
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