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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| CIA chief says strike on Syria was collaboration with 'foreign partner' |
| 2008-09-17 |
| The destruction of a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor last year was the result of an intelligence collaboration that included a "foreign partner" who first identified the facility's purpose, CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said on Tuesday. The reactor at the desert outpost of Al-Kibar was flattened in an air strike on September 6, 2007 that senior U.S. intelligence officials have said was carried out by Israel on its own initiative. "Our foreign partnerships ... were critical to the final outcome," Hayden said in a speech for delivery to the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles. A U.S. intelligence official declined to specify the partner Hayden referred to or to say whether it was Israel. He said there have been no signs that Syria was trying to replace the destroyed reactor. Israel has never given an account of the strike or formally confirmed that it took place and some Israeli officials have quietly voiced dismay at U.S. disclosures about the strike. "We were able last year to spoil a big secret, a project that could have provided Syria with plutonium for nuclear weapons," Hayden said. Hayden said a report from the unnamed foreign partner first identified the facility as a reactor similar to one in North Korea, although U.S. intelligence had identified it as suspicious. "When pipes for a massive cooling system were laid out to the Euphrates River in the spring of 2007, there would have been little doubt this was a nuclear reactor," Hayden said. "We would have known it was North Korean, too, given the quantity and variety of intelligence reports on nuclear ties between Pyongyang and Damascus." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Fernando Poo |
| Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats 2008-09-17 16:55 |
| #11 Outer Slobovia |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-09-17 13:17 |
| #10 Who might this foreign partner be? Who would be nervous about Syria having nukes and not want to say so. Everyone in the area except Iran. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-09-17 11:54 |
| #9 Thanks, A5089. Gromgoru does blame the U.S. for a lot of Israel's problems that Israel has brought on itself, usually by failing to act decisively. It's not America's fault that Israel didn't take out Hezb when it had the chance. We kept the UN off their necks for six weeks while they dithered and blew a God-given chance to eliminate those scum. I will be deeply saddened if Israel succumbs to those 7th Century morons attacking it but I'll know exactly where the blame lies and it won't be with the U.S. |
| Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-09-17 11:42 |
| #8 It's got to be tough to watch things go to hell in your own country. We'll all get to know the feeling better if The One is annointed. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-09-17 07:55 |
| #7 Yes, it's nice to know some people are taking Israel's best interests at heart, as the current leadership and I'd guess a sizeable part of the israeli people seem bent on national suicide. So, yes, it's nice to have the USA covering Israel's back, and I think you're very wrong in blaming the wrong direction your country is headed to onto the USA and its influence on you. Just like the "eurocentered" french nationalists and the rabid antiamericans of all stripe, it's a scapegoat; your (and our) troubles are all SELF-CREATED. You should be more self-critical, and lay off the snark against the yanks a bit, too. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-09-17 05:04 |
| #6 Thank you for saving us Juden from Syrian nuke, Mr Hayden! |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-09-17 04:20 |
| #5 Upper Volta. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2008-09-17 03:08 |
| #4 The Duchy of Grand Fenwick. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-09-17 02:50 |
| #3 Ruritania. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-09-17 01:39 |
| #2 rich or paranoid neighbors. neighbors or close near-neighbors: Saudia Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan or Iraq. Yerope: France, be my guesses |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2008-09-17 01:38 |
| #1 New Zealand? Costa Rica? Whoever could they mean? |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2008-09-17 00:48 |