Posted on 06/23/2008 10:31:19 PM PDT by forkinsocket
VIENNA -- U.N. nuclear inspectors Monday examined a site in Syria that the United States says housed a secretly built nuclear reactor nearing completion when it was bombed by Israel nine months ago, a diplomat said.
Syria denies that it has a covert nuclear weapons program and says the Israelis hit an ordinary military structure being built at Al Kibar, in the northeastern desert.
Neither Syria nor the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has issued any information about the visit of the inspectors since their arrival Sunday in Damascus, the Syrian capital.
A senior diplomat in Europe familiar with the IAEA said the inspectors had reached the site and examined it.
The source gave no further details, but diplomats said earlier they were expecting to spend the day at Al Kibar.
The team led by Olli Heinonen, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's global inspectorate, was also due to hold talks with Syrian officials before returning to Vienna on Wednesday.
Syria's silence on the visit, to which it agreed June 5, indicates how sensitive the issue is for President Bashar Assad.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Wow!
It took them only 9 months AFTER the destruction of the site - to arrive for inspections!
Such a joke....
Right, because we have seen what an immense help he has been in the inspection of Iranian facilities. The Iranians have made excuses, stonewalled, and outright lied at every phase. Giving material to El Baradei would have only alerted the Syrians and given them the opportunity to move/hide their true plans.
All I needed to know about their intentions was demonstrated in their response (or lack thereof) to the Israeli raid. After the building was bombed, they expressed little reaction and simply bulldozed the site. They knew they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Don't fault the UN for that delay. It took their Syrian friends that long to completely cleanup the site. The Syrians also had to get Baby Milk Factory signs printed up in English for the UN Photographers.
I wonder if it is possible to clean up a bombed nuclear facility completely enough so that all the evidence is destroyed. I assume the crack U.N. Inspection Team will actually have working Geiger Counters, but that might be too much to hope for.
What’s to inspect now? The Syrians bulldozed and buried the site after the Israelis blasted it....
Nothing to see here ..move along....I see nothing etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.