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Monday, May 30, 2011

Syrian nuclear transparancy: attempting damage control

After the report by the IAEA a few days ago, in which it was determined that the Syrian nuclear facility which was destroyed in 2007 was indeed nuclear, Syria has decided to head off any attempt by the US to have them referred to the UN Security Council for action by opening it's doors to inspection. 

Sounds good on paper, but the smart money will be on them acting like Iraq during Saddam, or Iran and their nuclear program today.  Expect lots of talking and obfuscating with little tangible results.

The MSM will be all over this as proof that Syria is a friend.  After all, if they are willing to open their secrets to us, why would we not believe them and their intentions?


From AP/Yahoo May 29 by George Jahn

AP Exclusive: Syria to end nuclear secrecy 

NEW YORK – In a major turnaround, Syria is pledging full cooperation with U.N. attempts to probe strong evidence that it secretly built a reactor that could have been used to make nuclear arms, according to a confidential document shared with The Associated Press on Sunday.

If Syria fulfills its promise, the move would end three years of stonewalling by Damascus of the International Atomic Energy. Since 2008, the agency has tried in vain to follow up on strong evidence that a target bombed in 2007 by Israeli warplanes was a nearly built nuclear reactor that would have produced plutonium once active.

Syria's sudden readiness to cooperate seems to be an attempt at derailing U.S.-led attempts to have Damascus referred to the U.N. Security Council amid already strong international pressure on the Syrian leadership to end its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

An IAEA report last week said the Vienna-based agency "assesses that the building destroyed ... was a nuclear reactor" — the finding sought by Washington and its allies to push to have Syria reported to the council by a 35-nation IAEA board meeting next month.

That, in turn, apparently triggered Syria's decision to compromise.

In confidential note sent Friday to board members, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano cites top Syrian nuclear agency officials as saying "we are ready to fully cooperate with the agency" on its probe of the suspect site. Amano said the pledge was contained in a letter dated Thursday — two days after his agency delivered its assessment.

But Washington is continuing its push. It has put forward a restricted draft of a resolution to be voted on at the 35-nation IAEA board meeting beginning June 6 that — if passed — would report Syria to the U.N. Security Council for violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The draft, which also was made available to the AP on Sunday, notes "with serious concern" Syria's refusal to allow IAEA inspectors follow-up visits to the bombed site after the one they made in 2008. As a consequence, the board "decides to report ... Syria's noncompliance" with its NPT commitments," says the document.

Syria's maneuvering will complicate Western attempts to bring its nuclear secrecy to the attention of the Security Council. Still, Washington said it remained committed to trying.

"We are aware that the Syrian government has sent a letter to the IAEA regarding the agency's long-standing requests for full Syrian cooperation," says a letter dated Friday from the U.S. mission that was sent to board members with a copy of the draft resolution.

"Such cooperation would indeed be welcome but would not have any bearing on the finding of noncompliance" by Syria of its NPT obligations, says the letter, which urges "board action" on the draft.

Read it all 

1 comment:

Jay Knott said...

Good point. Only Jews can be trusted to have nuclear weapons in the Middle East, not those shifty Arabs. /sarc