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U.S. Cannot Ignore Secret Syrian Nuclear Facility

[Jewish Policy Center] Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Joshua D. Goodman - Israel's Sep. 6, 2007, attack on Syria's al-Kibar nuclear facility was reminiscent of its 1981 attack on Iraq's Osirak reactor. While few were aware of the extent of Syria's nuclear program, a 2004 report by the U.S. Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis stated that A.Q. Khan - the Pakistani nuclear scientist who ran a clandestine black market network - offered "nuclear technology and hardware to Syria" and expressed concern "that expertise or technology could have been transferred." Syria's response in the wake of Israel's bombing was curious. The regime did not ask the UN Security Council to condemn the incident. Rather, satellite photos show Syria's efforts to scrub the site of any traces of the nuclear reactor that Syria denied having. Former UN weapons inspector David Albright told the New York Times, "It looks like Syria is trying to hide something and destroy the evidence of some activity. But it won't work. Syria has got to answer questions about what it was doing." If Washington does attempt to engage Syria, it cannot simply ignore al-Kibar. Syria's apparent nuclear development and subsequent deception reinforce pre-existing concerns about the country's interest in regional peace and stability. Pretending that the al-Kibar incident did not occur would send the wrong signal to Syria and other potentially dangerous proliferators in the Middle East. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is director and Joshua D. Goodman is deputy director of the Center for Terrorism Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2009-03-11 06:00:00
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