The only thing that would've been "jaw-dropping" is U.S. intel actually picking up the facility. The Mossad getting the job done is par for the course.
Officials said that the facility had likely been there for months if not years.
If we can't even find a nuke facility that had been in the same place for years how does anyone think we could've tracked the movement of Saddam's WMDs?
Between July and September, weeks of high-level talks took place. The Israelis wanted to destroy the facility immediately, and had some support from the American intelligence community that had managed to miss this development. However, Condoleezza Rice and others did not. They wanted to "confront" the Syrians first
The Arabists (including Condi, btw) in Foggy Bottom strike again! I suspect they were concerned about an Israeli strike "hurting the peace process" or some other ridiculous fantasy.
The Israelis, who actually originated the "Bush doctrine" decades ago, appear to be the only nation still using it.
The U.S. used if for about a month or two.
Israel, more worried about the consequences of a nuclear Syria -- something that should worry us as well -- simply ignored Washington after weeks of argument and acted in its own self-interest.
Big props to someone to whom I never thought I'd give any -- Ehud Olmert.
“Big props to someone to whom I never thought I’d give any — Ehud Olmert”
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It’s his appointment of Ehud Barak as Defense Minister. Barak at least, has learned his lesson from his earlier disastrous term as PM.