Bears repeating...
By the way, this can be used as a sign...
Posted on 09/22/2007 7:30:07 PM PDT by Libloather
Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid
Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter
September 23, 2007
Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.
The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.
They confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
Israeli special forces had been gathering intelligence for several months in Syria, according to Israeli sources. They located the nuclear material at a compound near Dayr az-Zwar in the north.
Evidence that North Korean personnel were at the site is said to have been shared with President George W Bush over the summer. A senior American source said the administration sought proof of nuclear-related activities before giving the attack its blessing.
Diplomats in North Korea and China believe a number of North Koreans were killed in the strike, based on reports reaching Asian governments about conversations between Chinese and North Korean officials.
Syrian officials flew to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, last week, reinforcing the view that the two nations were coordinating their response.
“...they were tipping warheads with radioactive materials on their missiles.”
We really can’t conclude on the target unless we get more information. And no one is really talking. There’s lot of inferences but nothing concrete.
What we do know is that the Syrians, North Koreans and Iranians are not happy.
Everyone else seems quietly pleased.
Besides, the people that need to know about the results of the North Korean atomic tests, already know those results in great detail. And Syria would not need to get nuclear items for a dirty bomb via North Korea. There’s other sources that would be easier is my guess.
So let’s put aside the dirty nuclear North Korean material. It’s bigger than that.
I can’t stand the “its Bush’s fault.!” and “Bush is dumb”.
Spot on...Thank you for saving me from having to reply to that post.
The protest is meaningless and was an attempt to establish that they were not in fact the one’s who spilled the beans. Plausible deniability...
Meetings with Syria mean nothing if they are looking for a big bone to through to us.
It’s possible just doesn’t seem probable that after decades of failure in the paranoid nation state, there is close cooperation with the ultimate enemy: the US.
You have a good chapter for a Tom Clancy novel. I just don’t know how possible it is in fact.
National Nuclear Security Administration
If it's your stuff, (insert terror-sponsoring state of your choice), we'll know. Expect a visit.
Not true we will send sternly worded letters and sit more uprightly in our chairs so the press can talk about our changing posture toward the activities in the region.
“Now that is interesting. They can determine where it came from.”
Yes - based on trace impurities etc they can fingerprint the source of the fissionable material.
(clenches fists over keyboard to keep from typing WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN TO EVERY LEFTIST *SSH*LE WHO WENT AND VISITED WITH ASSAD)
If Syria has it, you KNOW that Iran has it. I wonder how much they have, and if they could have given some to terrorists to build a suitcase bomb.
Excellent links, especially that first one.
"So - what was attacked near Dayr az-Zawr? It's possible it was North Korean "nuclear material" recently shipped to Syria, i.e., stuff to make radioactively "dirty" warheads, but nothing to make a real nuke with as the Norks don't have real nukes.
Another possibility is it was to take out a stockpile of long-range Zilzal surface-to-surface missiles recently shipped from Iran for an attack on Israel.
A third is it was a hit on the stockpile of Saddam's chemical/bio weapons snuck out of Iraq and into Syria for safekeeping before the US invasion of April 2003.
But the identity of the target is not the story - for the primary point of the attack was not to destroy that target. It was to shut down Syria's Russian air defense system during the attack. Doing so made the attack an incredible success.
Syria is shamed and silent. Iran is freaking out in panic. Defenseless enemies are fun."
Why is Russia buzzing Norway’s air defense recently, do you imagine?
The IAF has no choice but to regularly train to a level that Navy and USAF pilots might only see during exercises such as Red Flag or William Tell(etc.). I’m speaking of training.
Having the bad guys minutes, even seconds from your doorstep necessitates super-readiness. For the IAF, this means pushing crews and equipment to the breaking point with greater frequency than their American counterparts. The Israelis break their stuff. Our guys can’t break their stuff due to mandates, budgets, politics, and Wing Commanders wanting to keep their jobs.
I’d say we have a generation of fighter pilots who are up to speed with IAF pilots due to 15+ years of continuous operations in the ME theater. That said, our guys would be behind the curve were they to wake up, unaware, in an Israeli barracks - the Israelis are the best for their unique mission and circumstances.
This is getting scary. What is really scaring me is why the PRC+PLA is so silent. If we can prove proliferation on the part of NK, we have a reason to take them down. The PRC will NOT want that to happen. I almost wonder if they might invade NK first just to keep it out of our hands. I hope we’re watching the PRC/NK border closely.
Sadly, where the media ought to be exposing the shear ineptitudes of Pelosi, Kucinich, et al regaridng their hugs and kisses for Assad, they will actually go out of their way to cover up the gross stupidity and dangerous naivete` of same!
I don’t have a clue...
Great abd truly stated sign ... but alas, it’s too much truth for the American democrat voter because it impugns their savvy for continuing to support the bastards!
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