"We have close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)...We are not afraid of this cooperation, on the contrary," he told reporters. "Syria has nothing to hide."
"IAEA inspectors should go into Israel (instead)... The real danger is the Israeli nuclear arsenal," he added.
Oh I smell bullshit. They've deflected twice now about their nuclear aspirations. First it was about Iraq, and now it's about Israel.
Let's take a quick summation of what's going on.
Syria was building a building of some type.
Israel attacks this building saying it was for an ill mannered idea (weapons, etc.)
No one involved; Syria, Israel, the US, or even the Arab world, said much of anything about it after it happened.
The best question is: Why?
Why didn't the Syrians raise holy hell about the attack? Why didn't the Arab world have riots? Why wasn't any of this brought up at the UN? Why, why why?
None of it makes any sense.
If Syrians are attacked in any way, they raise a racket about it. This time they didn't.
I think I know why:
This is some of the evidence that is being shown to the general public. It shows, in alarming detail, what appears to be a nuclear reactor. It's very difficult to deny the validity of these pictures. There's also rumors of a video being made.
If it was indeed an "abandoned military warehouse", like the Syrians said it was, why do a quick clean up of the site? Why get trucks in there as quickly as possible to remove all traces of what was there? If it WAS an abandoned military warehouse like the Syrians said it was, why not just leave the damaged building there as is to rub Israel's nose in a major fuck up?
They didn't because they were doing some nefarious shit there.
Of course, the IAEA is getting all pissy:
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency criticized the United States on Friday for not sharing intelligence sooner about a facility in Syria that Israel bombed last September.
The White House said Thursday that Israel destroyed a covert nuclear reactor in Syria that would have been capable of producing plutonium and likely was "not intended for peaceful purposes."
In briefings to Congress and reporters Thursday, Bush administration officials said North Korea may have assisted Syria in nuclear activities as early as 1997.
Israeli officials have not commented publicly on the possible target of the strike.
In a written statement, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the United States informed him Thursday that it believes the Syrian facility was a nuclear reactor.
"The director general deplores the fact that this information was not provided to the agency in a timely manner, in accordance with the agency's responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to enable it to verify its veracity and establish the facts," ElBaradei wrote, noting the IAEA was responsible for verifying allegations of a country's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
"The director general views the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime."
Really? And what would you possibly have done ElBaradei? Would you have written a terse letter asking permission of the Syrians to come and check the site out? What would you have done if they said no? We'd all be sitting around with our thumb up our asses, chasing down nuclear equipment and materials.
And let's face it, you haven't done a whole hell of a lot of stuff when it comes to the Iranians, so why should we leave it up to you to find and fix what's going on with the Syrians? The simple fact is that the IAEA is a toothless organization that has absolutely no real interest in getting rid of nuclear proliferation. They don't want to rock the boat, so to speak, and they will do whatever it takes to appease anyone involved, except the United States. With us, he doesn't mind giving us a big "fuck you" about our rightful concerns.
Of course, with the bitching from the IAEA, I'd expect a polite apology. I'd be wrong:
The State Department had a pointed response Friday for the U.N.'s criticism that the U.S. did not come forward with information about Syria's clandestine nuclear reactor program: Get over it and start investigating.
"We would expect and hope that the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) would investigate this matter," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. "The fact of the matter now is this is an issue that is worthy of investigation putting aside these questions of timing."
Additionally, "the director general views the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the nonproliferation regime," it said.
Well it goes back to my earlier point of you guys doing nothing about it.
But the best part comes from my good buddy John Bolton (No relation to Michael)
John Bolton, who has served as U.S. ambassador and before that held Rood's job at a time the U.S. was considering trying to push ElBaradei out from his position, said the IAEA's chief criticism is "entirely unwarranted."
"The IAEA was and remains unable to deal with regimes like Syria," he said in an e-mail to the AP. "Israel did what was necessary to defend itself, and the U.S. had no obligation to brief the IAEA in such a matter."
There's a nice stick to the eye of ElBaradei.
I knew there was a reason I liked Mr. Bolton.
Travis
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