What happened in Syria?
Stanley Kurtz gives a close reading to the Wall Street Journal column by Reps. Pete Hoekstra and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Israel's Syrian raid. Kurtz concludes:
First, there is significant evidence of ongoing and recent North Korean involvement. Especially given the informed criticisms of Hoekstra and Ros-Lehtinen, apparent efforts by select administration sources to downplay North Korean involvement appear unconvincing. Second, especially in light of the informed concerns expressed by Hoekstra and Ros-Lehtinen, but also in light of press accounts, there is reason to fear significant Iranian involvement in Syria’s nuclear program, either as a facilitator, as a destination for North Korean nuclear material transiting Syria, or both. Third, there is at least some significant evidence for direct North Korean transfer of fissile material — perhaps even a nuclear warhead — to Syria and/or Iran. That, of course, would constitute the most serious possible violation of the six-party agreement, and would be a grave threat to the security of the United States and the world.Kurtz's column itself deserves a close reading; I think it suggests that this is an area in which the Bush administration may fairly be accused of Clinton-style stagecraft rather than statecraft, perhaps the kind of which Dennis Ross would call statecraft and approve.
Bill Katz comments:
One of the key people goading the Kennedy administration into stiffer action on Cuba was Senator Kenneth Keating of New York. I was in the CIA at the
time, and it was widely believed that Keating had a conduit feeding him leaks about Soviet missile shipments to Cuba. That conduit may have been the CIA's director, John McCone, who was the only Administration official who'd correctly predicted that the USSR would place offensive missiles on the island.It appears that Pete Hoekstra and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen are playing the Kenneth Keating role. It's almost a remake, for they're doing the same things Keating did. I wonder if they, too, have a special source of information. The question becomes more pressing as we realize there's a
split in the Government between the Bush 41/Gates-Rice mindset and the Bush 43/Dick Cheney mindset.The Cuban Missile Crisis erupted because Khruschev believed Kennedy could be rolled. I fear that our enemies may start to think that PresidentBush, under bad influence, or a new president, can also be rolled. Then we're in trouble.
