U.S. Officials Reveal Intelligence on Syria's Destroyed Nuclear Reactor

5/16/2008

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In a stunning disclosure, the Bush administration has revealed that Syria was in the final stages of building a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium before the Israeli Air Force destroyed it last September. The Israeli government has remained silent over the matter.

Syrian Reactor Could Have Produced Fuel for Nuclear Bombs

After briefing members of Congress, top administration and intelligence officials released a video presentation with photographs of the Syrian nuclear facility, noting its many similarities to North Korea’s reactor in Pyongyang. One photo showed the manager of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear plant with the director of Syria’s nuclear agency.

“The reactor would have been capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons,” the video narrator said. “It was not configured to produce electricity and was ill-suited for research.”
After the Israeli airstrike, Syria tried to remove all evidence of the reactor’s existence, according to the video. “These actions probably were intended to forestall identification of reactor debris by international inspectors and are inconsistent with peaceful nuclear intentions,” the video concluded.

CIA Director Michael Hayden later added that the secret Syrian reactor would have been able to produce enough plutonium for making one or two atomic bombs within one year of becoming operational.

United States Sympathizes With Israel’s Decision to Attack Reactor

In a display of the close relationship between the United States and Israel, the two allies discussed policy options for how to deal with the Syrian site. Israel decided on its own that it needed to eliminate the nuclear threat before it was too late.

“We understand the Israeli action,” a senior administration official said. “We believe this clandestine reactor was a threat to regional peace and security, and we have stated before that we cannot allow the world’s most dangerous regimes to acquire the world’s most dangerous weapons.”

When asked if the United States would have considered taking action if the Israelis had not, the official answered that Washington had examined all options, but “Israel felt that this reactor posed such an existential threat that a different approach was required. And as a sovereign country, Israel had to make its own evaluation of the threat and the immediacy of the threat, and what actions it should take. And it did so.”

The fact that Israel decided to destroy the almost-complete Syrian nuclear facility—just as it did with the Iraqi Osirak reactor in 1981—indicates the seriousness with which the Jewish state viewed the possible emergence of a nuclear-armed enemy.

White House Worries About Iran

The United States has long worried about the prospect of a terror-sponsoring state becoming a nuclear power. “The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities,” said a White House statement. “The Syrian regime supports terrorism, takes action that destabilizes Lebanon, allows the transit of some foreign fighters into Iraq and represses its own people.”

The White House noted that the advanced and undetected stage of Syria’s covert nuclear program “underscores that the international community is right to be very concerned about the nuclear activities of Iran and the risks those activities pose to the stability of the Middle East.”

At a time when Iran is accelerating its illicit nuclear program, President Bush said that “we have an interest in sending a message to Iran, and the world for that matter, about just how destabilizing nuclear proliferation would be in the Middle East.” In September of last year, Israel unambiguously reinforced that message.

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