White House Debates Syrian Nuclear Evidence

Debate has continued within the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush over the credibility of Israeli intelligence indicating that Syria has received nuclear assistance from North Korea, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Oct. 2).

More conservative administration officials, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, have argued that the intelligence presented months ago to U.S. officials has justified the Sept. 6 Israeli air strikes inside Syria.  Those officials have also suggested the United States should not trust North Korea to follow through on a recent nuclear disarmament agreement (see related GSN story, today).

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have headed another contingent that has viewed Israeli allegations of a Syrian nuclear weapons program with more skepticism, White House officials said.

“Some people think that it means that the sky is falling,” said one high-level administration official. “Others say that they’re not convinced that the real intelligence poses a threat” (Mazzetti/Cooper, New York Times, Oct. 9).

Meanwhile, the speaker for the Iranian parliament said yesterday that the Israeli attack inside Syria was not intended to warn Iran about its own nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported.

“The violation of the airspace of Syria by Israeli planes was not meant to be a signal for Iran,” Hadad Alel told reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Interparliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva.

“Israel is not in a position to have the illusion of attacking Iran,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 9).

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