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22 OCT 07 / "Israel Strikes"
An Israeli air
strike apparently destroyed a secret nuclear
reactor construction site in Syria on
September 6th. News of the attack has leaked
out during the weeks since, but details
remain sketchy.
President Bush declined to answer questions
about the mission during a recent news
conference.
ABC News ran a story on Friday based on
a source
identified only a senior Bush administration
official who said the Israelis encouraged the United
States to destroy the facility. The White
House considered an attack with special
operators, but begged off due to a lack of
fissionable material at the location, which
is approximately 100 miles from the Iraq
border. The fact that
the United States did not attack the site is an
indication that President Bush is hesitant
to use military force with a Democratic
majority in Congress and a protracted war in
Iraq that was started due to faulty
intelligence.
Despite the news
reports, no hard evidence of the Israeli attack has
surfaced. And Syria has denied a strike took
place. In addition, there has been no official
pronouncement from the Israeli or American government.
It has also been reported that Israeli
intelligence had a mole inside the
construction site. A completed reactor
could have been used to produce plutonium for a
nuclear bomb.
There is further
speculation that the
facility was being built with the aid of
North Korea. So it appears that while Kim
Jong-il is trying to placate the United States
and the international community by suspending his nuclear weapons program at
home, he has decided to export it to Syria.
North Koreans allying themselves with
Islamist terrorists is not a positive
development as it makes it increasingly
likely that a nuclear device will be detonated in the the United States.
Israel acted
preemptively to
defend itself. And it will likely do the
same against Iran before that nation builds
or acquires nuclear weapons. However,
attacks against Iran would be much more
extensive because of the network of numerous
sites involved in the planning and
development of nuclear weapons. Israel would benefit from the
assistance of the United States military,
although a joint effort would inflame
anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment in
the Middle East. It is inconceivable that
Israel would allow Iran to have nuclear
weapons. Millions of Israelis would be in
imminent danger.
The successful
military operation in Syria demonstrates the effectiveness of
Israeli intelligence, their military
capability, and Prime Minister Olmert's willingness to pull
the trigger despite the public relations
disaster of the short-lived war in Lebanon
which began when Hezbollah launched rockets
into Israel. This time the lack of
outrage from around the world is remarkable.
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