About that raid
The Sunday Times (London) reports that the Israeli Air Force destroyed a cache of nuclear material in its September 6 raid on Syria. The story combines unnamed "Israeli sources" with a statement by "an expert on the Middle East, who has spoken to Israeli participants in the raid," quoted in yesterday's Washington Post. It's the most comprehensive report on the raid to date, but it's still not clear what happened.
The Times report concludes suggestively:
Christopher Hill, the State Department official representing America in the talks, said on Friday he could not confirm “intelligence-type things”, but the reports underscored the need “to make sure the North Koreans get out of the nuclear business”.Bill Katz notes the absence of major interest in the raid by the American media and wonders why. "Could it be that they choke over any notion that the Bush administration's concern over WMD might be justified?"By its actions, Israel showed it is not interested in waiting for diplomacy to work where nuclear weapons are at stake.
As a bonus, the Israelis proved they could penetrate the Syrian air defence system, which is stronger than the one protecting Iranian nuclear sites.
This weekend President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran sent Ali Akbar Mehrabian, his nephew, to Syria to assess the damage. The new “axis of evil” may have lost one of its spokes.
UPDATE: The New York Sun comments on the raid in its September 12 editorial. The Sun concludes: "Things are now in motion in a war that is larger than the one about which the Democrats are caviling." And Carl in Jerusalem comments here.
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