Report: Syria dismantling facility targeted by IAF

Haaretz Service ^ | October 19, 2007 | Haaretz Service

[waimea.man]

Syria has begun dismantling the ruins of a site that was bombed by the Israel Air Force on September 6, the Washington Post reported Friday. According to the report, which quotes senior U.S. officials, this could be an attempt by Syria to avoid an international inspection of the bombed facility.

...The Washington Post quoted top U.S. officials as saying that photos taken from the air reveal that that the site had the characteristics of a small but significant nuclear reactor, similar to those found in North Korea.

[waimea.man]

The paper quoted weapons experts as saying that Israel and the U.S. decided not to approach the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency with their concerns over Syria's plans because they feared that the agency's weak response would encourage the country to continue its nuclear work.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The IAF already dismantled it for them.

[Cap Huff]

Ping

[Steely Tom]

I guess they’re dismantling what’s left of it.

[wastedyears]

[waimea.man]

The article says: Arms specialists have said with near certainty that Syria would have taken several years to complete the nuclear reactor, and a much longer time to produce significant amounts of plutonium for possible use in a nuclear weapon.

If that's true, I wonder why the Israelis decided to blow it apart now.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Surprised Rice and Bush havent ordered Israel to help rebuild it

[Menehune56]

I wonder why the Israelis decided to blow it apart now.

My hunch is that this was a coordinated message to the Iranians to demonstrate what's going to happen to their nuclear program. The utter silence by other Muslim countries to this event says Iran is not likely to get much sympathy.

[IrishMike]

That little event that didn’t happen ... HaHaHaHa
Opened the eyes of a lot of scumbag terrorist supporting nations that they’re not safe, anywhere or at any time.
No matter the promise makers sales pitch from Russia or China on the ‘quality’ and ‘superiority’ of their weapons
..... we got the goods.

Thank you IAF .. MESSAGE DELIVERED

[zerosix]

You stole the words right out of my MOUTH!

IAF did indeed tackle the "demolition and remodeling" job for the Syrians, at no cost!

[waimea.man]

I think you may be right.

I also find it interesting that whenever Bush is asked about it, all he says is a terse “no comment.”

[Southack]

"If that's true, I wonder why the Israelis decided to blow it apart now."

Because the U.S. response with Bush in Office now is expected to be better than with Hillary when the plant would have been finished later.

It is a correct gamble. The world offers no condemnation for the bombing. Mission accomplished.

[ASA Vet]

photos taken from the air reveal that that the site had the characteristics of a small but significant nuclear reactor, similar to those found in North Korea.

[Dog]

Hmmmmmmmm.

[Carolina_Thor]

“I wonder why the Israelis decided to blow it apart now.”

I would speculate that since much ado has been made on here how their air defense systems were pretty much useless, maybe Israel considered this the best time to conduct an operation... before they upgrade to a system that makes the mission more of a challenge. I noticed that Israel has tried to convince Putin to not help syria upgrade http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1913807/posts This is something they have been watching for a while. I’m thinking Israel determined Syria was a vulnerable as they would ever be. I’m also thinking Iran is just as vulnerable... why don’t we just have the natural continuation of this?? I’m also wondering if our public face of saying we wanted them to wait, and convincing Israel to show restraint is just a a charade, and behind the scenes we are actually urging Israel to do the work the idiot democrats won’t let us do?