Search Is Urged for Syrian Nuclear Sites, U.S. Presses U.N. on 3 Alleged Facilities

Source: WaPo

U.S. Presses U.N. on 3 Alleged Facilities

By Joby Warrick and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 29, 2008; Page A14

The Bush administration is pressing U.N. inspectors to broaden their search for possible secret nuclear facilities in Syria, hinting that Damascus's nuclear program might be bigger than the single alleged reactor destroyed by Israeli warplanes last year.

At least three sites have been identified by U.S. officials and passed along to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is negotiating with Syria for permission to conduct inspections in the country, according to U.S. government officials and Western diplomats. U.S. officials want to know if the suspect sites may have been support facilities for the alleged Al Kibar reactor destroyed in an Israeli air raid Sept. 6, the sources said.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, which has been seeking access to the Al Kibar site since shortly after the bombing, has acknowledged receiving requests to expand the scope of its inspections, but provided no details.

U.S. government officials declined to describe the specific sites that have drawn interest, or to discuss how they were identified. However, the United States and other Western governments have long been interested in identifying possible locations for a facility in Syria that might have supplied nuclear fuel rods for a Syrian reactor. Although the Al Kibar site was described as nearly operational at the time of the Sept. 6 bombing, it had no clear source of the uranium fuel necessary for operation, according to U.S. intelligence officials and diplomats familiar with the site.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/28/AR2008052803061.html?hpid=moreheadlines

...we thought, hell why not go ahead and bomb Syria at the same time, and save on the cost of fuel" an unidentified source told the paper. "It was all about the American taxpayer and how best to suit their needs."

Just to give y'all a heads up!

that they're all plotting to attack the defenseless USA.

Carter says there might just be some secret nuclear stuff going on there.

of the known world. We are the country threatening to use nuclear bombs against a sovereign nation. We used illegal and lethal bombs in Iraq both times, filling the country with depleted uranium; we used bombs which ignite and burn people to death as in Fallujah. We are the Axis of Evil all by ourselves.

Official defends US monitoring of Syrian site By FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 29, 9:22 PM ET



WASHINGTON - A senior intelligence official on Thursday defended U.S. efforts to monitor an alleged Syrian nuclear facility that the U.S. says was built with North Korean help.

Joseph DeTrani, the national intelligence director's mission manager for North Korea, said U.S. intelligence had been watching the reactor very closely and for a number of years.

"This was not a failure," he told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "Action was taken when it was going operational, and they are now out of business."

The structure in the remote eastern desert of Syria was bombed by Israeli jets in September 2007. Syria's ambassador to the United States has said the United States fabricated pictures allegedly taken inside.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_go_ot/us_nkorea_syria;_ylt=Ai3ccTFw82c_f_VeMNXmU9gNJ_wE