The CIA claims Syria is building a plutonium-based nuclear reactor.
Was Syria on the verge of going nuclear?
What happened
The CIA told the U.S. Congress that Syria was "within weeks of completion" of a covert nuclear reactor constructed with the help of North Korea, before Israel bombed it last September. The CIA showed a series of photographs of the Syrian site, including one with North Korean nuclear scientist Chon Chibu believed to be from 2005. U.S. and Israeli intelligence suggests that the physical plant was near completion, but included no proof that Syria was close to obtaining the plutonium to feed it. Syria's U.S. ambassador, Imad Moustapha, dismissed the charges as a "fantasy," adding that the Bush administration has a "history about fabricating stories about other countries' WMDs." (Financial Times, free registration)
What the commentators said
The CIA's presentation is winning over some who have been "voicing doubts" about the mysterious Israeli airstrike, said Mike Nizza in The New York Times' The Lede blog. But others still have their doubts that the Syrian site was a nuclear facitilty, especially given the "climate of deep distrust" about the source: the Bush administration. And given that the administration has had the evidence for months, there is also this "central question: Why now?"
Well, some are speculating that "Vice President Cheney is trying to scuttle the six-party disarmament talks" with North Korea, said Gordon G. Chang in Commentary's Contentions blog. Others say the Bush team is actually trying to "rescue" the talks by letting the Koreans "off the hook" for lying about their nuclear activities in the Middle East. If the latter theory is true, it has some "fundamental flaws." North Koreans need to "make a complete declaration of their proliferation activities." We need to know if they have also been sharing their "dangerous technologies" with Iran.
There's also the question of why Syria would even try for nukes, said Steve Clemons in The Washington Note. It is too "underdeveloped" to sustain a "serious nuclear research and development effort," and it would certainly have been busted trying to buy plutonium. But if the CIA's evidence is a "slam dunk," it should "scare us all." That would mean the "bar for acquisition" of nuclear technology is "far lower than most had believed credible." And that would be "a huge problem, not easily solved."
