The C.I.A. on Thursday released an undated image of what it said was part of a Syrian reactor that Israel destroyed last year. (Central Intelligence Agency, via Associated Press)
Posted on 04/25/2008 1:54:33 AM PDT by freerepublic_or_die
The Bush administration released detailed photographic images on Thursday to support its assertion that the building in Syria that Israel destroyed in an airstrike last year was a nuclear reactor constructed with years of help from North Korea.
The administration said it withheld the pictures for seven months out of fear that Syria could retaliate against Israel and start a broader war in the Middle East.
The photographs taken inside the reactor before it was destroyed in an air raid on Sept. 6 clearly show the rods that control the heat in a nuclear reactor, one of many close engineering similarities to a reactor halfway around the world where North Korea produced the fuel for its nuclear arsenal.
While the photographs were not dated, some taken on the ground seemed to go back to before 2002.
But after a full day of briefing members of Congress, two senior intelligence officials acknowledged that the evidence had left them with no more than “low confidence” that Syria was preparing to build a nuclear weapon. They said that there was no sign that Syria had built an operation to convert the spent fuel from the plant into weapons-grade plutonium, but that they had told President Bush last year that they could think of no other explanation for the reactor.
Among the photographs shown to members of Congress and reporters on Thursday was one of the manager of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear plant with the director of Syria’s nuclear agency. A car in the background has Syrian license plates.
When asked about North Korea’s motivation for the project, one of the senior intelligence officials said simply, “Cash.” He refused to say how much.
The revelation of the plant’s existence is not new;
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
An article about pictures with no pictures?!!
There’s a video at the New York Times page that provides a very comprehensive visual overview. I tried copying the video
url to post but couldn’t get it to work. Please go to the NYT article page to view the video.
I don’t see the video. Where are you seeing it, on the page?
It’s on the New York Times page itself, Follow the excerpted text to the end and click “read more” New York Times...
The NYT site’s video provides a clear analysis of Syria’s attempt to construct weapons grade plutonium. No mention of RAF interdiction to destroy it. No nuclear materical on site.
Found it, and just watched it. Thanks.
We ought to be able to find that on a .gov site, it’s clearly a government video.
Here’s the White House statement on this:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080424-14.html
Statement by the Press Secretary
Today, administration officials have briefed select Congressional committees on an issue of great international concern. Until Sept. 6, 2007, the Syrian regime was building a covert nuclear reactor in its eastern desert capable of producing plutonium. We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria’s covert nuclear activities. We have good reason to believe that reactor, which was damaged beyond repair on Sept. 6 of last year, was not intended for peaceful purposes. Carefully hidden from view, the reactor was not configured for such purposes. In defiance of its international obligations, Syria did not inform the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the construction of the reactor, and, after it was destroyed, the regime moved quickly to bury evidence of its existence. This cover-up only served to reinforce our confidence that this reactor was not intended for peaceful activities.
We are briefing the IAEA on this intelligence. The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities. The Syrian regime supports terrorism, takes action that destabilizes Lebanon, allows the transit of some foreign fighters into Iraq, and represses its own people. If Syria wants better relations with the international community, it should put an end to these activities.
We have long been seriously concerned about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its proliferation activities. North Korea’s clandestine nuclear cooperation with Syria is a dangerous manifestation of those activities. One way we have chosen to deal with this problem is through the Six Party Framework. Through this process we are working with our partners to achieve the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The United States is also committed to ensuring that North Korea does not further engage in proliferation activities. We will work with our partners to establish in the Six Party Framework a rigorous verification mechanism to ensure that such conduct and other nuclear activities have ceased.
The construction of this reactor was a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the region and the world. 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. This development also serves as a reminder that often the same regimes that sponsor proliferation also sponsor terrorism and foster instability, and cooperate with one another in doing so. This underscores that the international community is right to be very concerned about the nuclear activities of Iran and the risks those activities pose to the stability of the Middle East. To confront this challenge, the international community must take further steps, beginning with the full implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions dealing with Iranian 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.
I’m sure its available at government, military sites.
I just got through a little digging at whitehouse.gov and defenselink.mil
It didn’t pop up at all, though some references to it did, from a press briefings with Dana Perino.
Huh????? Other than by deniable proxies, Syria is never going to start anything military against Israel. And the proxy (Hamas and Hezbollah) war has been on from before this reactor thing.
Is this further brilliant analysis by State?
I have to say this “reactor” looks like a pile of crap, but asssuming that’s what it is, the purpose can only be military/ terrorist. This thing certainly isn’t part of any new energy program.
Note the cover over the top to hide it from satellite view.
Also I suppose this means there was an asset on the ground, and that he is no longer needed.
Ping! Be mindful that this appears in the NY Slimes.
The big hole in the side of the containment vessel is the tipoff — that's where the uranium slugs go in. Once the reactor is operational (i.e. critical), slugs of natural uranium can be fed in through the hole and the excess neutrons in the center of the reactor will "cook" it into plutonium ( n —> 238U —> 239U — 2b —> 239Np —> 239Pu ). Plutonium cannot be used as fuel in most power reactor designs. It is primarily used in the production of nuclear weapons.
A reactor intended to produce electrical power has no need for a hole in its side. Research reactors often have such holes, but there isn't a research center or university anywhere near this place. This is a plutonium oven, pure and simple. No wonder the Israelis blew it up.
I’m sure it’s just a wild coincidence that the traitor and incompetent Jimmuh Carter was toasting Hamas and the Assad dynasty in Syria not long ago.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080424-14.html
Thanks for the links.
Thanks for the knowledgeable analysis.
The thing looks like it was salvaged from a junkyard.
I assume the safety record for N. Korea nuke workers isn’t quite up to OSHA standards.
Yes, without a doubt it is the work of a 'government coming to help' as it looks to be aimed at someone with a sixth grade education.
However, even though Jethro Bodine may understand it... 
I fear it will go over the heads of most of the Republican lawmakers watching it and all of the Democrats!
Do you mean Israeli Air Force?
Or are you implying the Brits should have gone in!
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