Gooks help towelheads build nukes for WMD

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr...d/fg-ussyria25

U.S. Shows Evidence of Syria-N. Korea Nuke Collaboration

Thursday, April 24, 2008

WASHINGTON -- A top U.S. official says the Syrian nuclear reactor
allegedly
built with North Korean design help and destroyed last year by Israeli
jets
was within weeks or months of being functional.

The official says the facility was mostly completed but still needed
significant testing before it could be declared operational. The
official
spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the matter.

No uranium - the fuel for a reactor - was evident at the site.

A top member of the House intelligence committee said classified
information
being shared with members of Congress Thursday shows that an alleged
Syrian
nuclear reactor built with North Korean help and destroyed last year
by
Israeli jets threatened to spread nuclear weapons technology.

"This is a serious proliferation issue, both for the Middle East and
the
countries that may be involved in Asia," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-
Mich.

The Syrian reactor was similar in design to a North Korean reactor
that has
in the past produced small amounts of plutonium, a U.S. official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of
the
information. The reactor was not yet complete but was far enough along
to
demonstrate a resemblance to the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon.

The official said no uranium - the fuel for a reactor - was evident on
site.

CIA Director Michael Hayden and other intelligence officials went to
Capitol
Hill to brief Congress on the evidence related to the bombed Syrian
facility, scheduling appearances before the House and Senate armed
services,
intelligence and foreign affairs committees.

Hoekstra and Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas,
told
reporters after the closed meeting that they were angry that the Bush
administration had delayed briefing the full committee for eight
months.

"There's not a clear and compelling case as to why this information is
being
made available to the committee today. There has been no change in
circumstances as to the reasons why we were not told eight months
ago,"
Hoekstra said.

Bush's failure to keep Congress informed has created friction that may
imperil congressional support for Bush's policies toward North Korea
and
Syria.

That makes it "very difficult for them to move forward any policy
initiatives in the Middle East or Asia any time soon," Hoekstra added.

The reactor site has been veiled in secrecy until this week, with U.S.
intelligence and government officials refusing to confirm until now
suspicions that the site was to be a nuclear reactor.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the Bush administration
would
issue a public statement later in the day.

The administration has thus far refused to reveal why it chose to
release
the information now, but the briefings come at a critical time in the
diplomatic effort to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.

As part of that process, the North is required to submit a
"declaration"
detailing its programs and proliferation activity, but the talks are
stalled
over Pyongyang's refusal to publicly admit the Syria connection.
However,
officials say the North Koreans are willing to accept international
"concern" about unspecified proliferation.

By disclosing North Korean-Syrian cooperation to Congress, the U.N.'s
nuclear watchdog and the public, the administration may have overcome
that
impasse by giving North Korea a "concern" that it can acknowledge in
the
declaration.

North Korea was aware that the administration would be releasing the
information and its Foreign Ministry said Thursday that a visit to
Pyongyang
this week by a U.S. delegation to discuss the declaration made
progress. It
did not elaborate.

At the same time, the administration's release of the intelligence
shines
light on alleged malfeasance by Syria, which has signed an
international
treaty requiring it to disclose nuclear interests and activity, and
vindicates Israel's decision to destroy the suspect site.

Syria has not declared the alleged reactor to the International Atomic
Energy Agency nor was it under international safeguards, possibly
putting
Syria in breech of an international nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

In the Syrian capital of Damascus, legislator Suleiman Haddad, who
heads the
parliament's foreign relations committee, told The Associated Press
that the
videotape does not deserve a response.

"America is looking for any problem in order to accuse Syria," Haddad
said
by telephone. "Do we need Korean workers to work in Syria?"

"It is regretful to say that America is putting us among its enemies
and
therefore this talk (at Congress) does not deserve a response. America
is
trying to create an atmosphere of war in the region," Haddad said. He
did
not elaborate.

Israeli warplanes bombed the site in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007. Private
analysts said at the time it appeared to have been the site of a
reactor,
based on commercial satellite imagery taken after the raid. Syria
later
razed the site. A new, larger building has been constructed in its
place.

House Foreign Affairs Middle East Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Gary
Ackerman,
D-N.Y., sharply criticized the administration for the delay in the
release
of the information and the press leaks surrounding it.

"This is the selective control of information that led us to war in
Iraq,"
he said.

U.S. officials were also briefing members of the U.N. nuclear
watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, at its Vienna headquarters.

John Rood, the under secretary of state for arms control, called IAEA
chief
Mohamed elBaradei on Thursday morning to detail the presentation and
an
interagency intelligence team was in Vienna to brief IAEA
representatives
either Thursday or Friday, a senior U.S. official said.

The revelation of alleged North Korean cooperation with Syria comes at
a
sensitive time for Pyongyang.