On September 6, 2007, Israeli warplanes bombed a romantically isolated building in the eastern deserts of Syria. There was an unusually muted public reaction by all parties involved, and much speculation fed by a cornucopia of conspiracy theories. Some eight months later, the US hands over information to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) which "proves" that Israel had bombed a nearly-completed atomic plant, constructed with the help of the North Koreans. This had been one of the original conspiracy theories in September 2006, with some (but not all) US officials forwarding this nuclear cooperation theory. Both US Congressmen (including Republican Pete Hoekstra) and the IAEA expressed great anger that this intelligence had been withheld from them for so long.
This whole incident clearly shows the complete and dangerous lack of foreign policy consensus within the Bush Administration, within the US government, and between the US and Israel. And let's be clear: this incident has much more to do with ongoing diplomatic negotiations than it does with the issue of non-proliferation. US intelligence officials have been quoted as saying they have "low confidence" that the Syrian facility was intended to produce material for nuclear weapons.
The Six-Party talks (US, China, North Korea, Russia, Japan, and South Korea) are aimed at buying off the North Koreans to dismantle their nuclear program. Some believe that the public presentation of these allegations are an attempt by some in the Bush Administration (and perhaps their Israeli allies) to damage the Six Party talks, and perhaps focus US [military?] attention on Syria -- and by proxy its ally Iran. Setting backs the talks would also give the Bush Administration's neo-con hawks (Cheney and Stephen "Where's Tibet?" Hadley) a big victory over their enemies at the State Department (Rice and Six-Party lead negotiator and Assistant Secretary of State Christopher "Asian People Love Me" Hill. However the White House has made no statements to the effect that the Six Party talks would be negatively affected by these allegations. Only Japan, a long-time opponent of concessions to North Korea, has signaled any kind of change coming.
Danger alert: It seems very possible that the public presentation of these allegations were instigated by Cheney, Hadley, and their underlings in the Pentagon -- with a clear intention to bypass not only Congressional oversight but Executive oversight as well. The idea that evidence of this importance was not given to the House Intelligence Committee is incredible. Republican Pete "Don't Stop Believin" Hoekstra, the ranking member on the committee and long-time WMD hunter went as far as to say that "...they [the administration] have really damaged the relationship between Congress and the administration." But this is not the first time the neo-cons have lied to Congress or the American people (see: US History, 2001-present). However this time it seems they have made the end-run around the Executive Branch itself. Let's take a closer look:
-According to the administration, Syria (state sponsor of terrorism) has been secretly constructing a nuclear facility for non-peaceful purposes with the help of North Korea (also a state sponsor of terrorism). I mean, at least one of them is gonna get invaded, right?! Lace up your boots and strap on those laser-guided missiles! Here's the White House Press Secretary:
"If Syria wants better relations with the international community, it should put an end to these activities...We have long been seriously concerned about North Korea's nuclear weapons program and its proliferation activities...through this process [the Six Part talks] we are working with our partners to achieve the verifiable de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Now wait just one second! What happened to "You're either with us, or against us"? The White House is sounding like...I never thought I would say this...like diplomats.
The CIA, relying as usual on foreign (in this case Israeli) human intelligence, is a pawn in this political game. This is not a new role for them -- read Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner.
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