IAEA unaware of 'undeclared nuclear facility' in Syria

[rodeodance]

Source: afp



IAEA unaware of 'undeclared nuclear facility' in Syria

58 minutes ago

VIENNA (AFP) - The UN nuclear watchdog said Monday it had no information about any "undeclared nuclear facility in Syria" and it was investigating media reports that such a site had been the target of a recent Israeli air strike.
........

"We would obviously investigate any relevant information coming our way. The IAEA Secretariat expects any country having information about nuclear-related activities in another country to provide that information to the IAEA."

The IAEA was "in contact with the Syrian authorities to verify the authenticity of these reports," Fleming added.

According to The New York Times, Israel bombed a site in Syria last month that Israeli and US intelligence believe was a partly built nuclear reactor possibly modeled after one in North Korea.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071015/pl_afp/mideastusisraelsyriamilitarynucleariaea_071015123307;_ylt=AqzE0pcyziL3dNkzlKL.bsCs0NUE

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oh ho-----

[babylonsister]

1. Whoa. So was the 'nuclear facility' just an excuse or is the IAEA that lame? nt

[Jim__]

2. I'm not sure the IAEA would qualify as lame.

From the article:

According to The New York Times, Israel bombed a site in Syria last month that Israeli and US intelligence believe was a partly built nuclear reactor possibly modeled after one in North Korea.

Citing unnamed US and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports, the report said it appeared Israel carried out the September 6 raid to demonstrate its determination to snuff out even a nascent nuclear project in a neighboring state.

Israeli and US intelligence believe was a partly built nuclear reactor.

It seems if US and Israeli intelligence believed this was a partly build nuclear reactor - years away from any potential to manufacture weapons grade material, the proper action would have been to inform the IAEA.

Bomb first, ask questions later does not seem to be the most reasonable policy. There is rather convincing evidence that US intelligence sometimes gets it wrong.

[liberal N proud]

4. The nuclear facility in Syria is just like WMD's in Iraq prior to the US occupation

[bananas]

7. They didn't know about South Korea

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/rok/2004/rok-040913-25f18f7c.htm

DATE=9/13/2004

<snip>

IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters Monday he is concerned that South Korea had only recently informed the agency about experiments involving uranium enrichment that took place four years ago.

Mr. ElBaradei told the IAEA board of governors that inspectors visited three previously undeclared facilities in South Korea. He says they discovered that South Korea had produced about 150 kilograms of natural uranium metal in the 1980s, which was used in experiments nearly twenty years later.

A diplomat familiar with the IAEA, who did not want to be named, said this link raises many questions on the depth and history of a project that possibly spanned two decades.

The head of the South Korean delegation, Cho Chang-bom, told reporters this was an "unfortunate" experiment carried out by ambitious scientists.

<snip>

[DRoseDARs]

3. Unaware of undeclared nuclear facility? Der, what? Is this one of those unknown unknowns?

Did the AFP hire Rumsfeld while I was sleeping? :shrug:

[pampango]

5. I wish Syria would call in UN inspectors to verify the truth of what

was bombed. Do it quickly before anyone can accuse them of cleaning the site up or trying to hide anything.

[leftchick]

6. The IAEA is also unaware of Israel's undeclared nukes

but that is okay, move along to Iran and Syria who don"t have any