IAEA Still Giving Syria Benefit of Doubt Over Nuclear Facility

Despite photographic evidence suggesting that Syria was building a clandestine nuclear facility, the IAEA still clings to the notion that Syria was innocent until proven guilty of violating nuclear proliferation guidelines. We shouldn't prejudge the Syrians and their intentions. Right.

Let's get this straight. The IAEA waited 9 months before deciding to actually check and see what the Syrians were doing at Al Kibar, the site of the Sept. 6 airstrike, and they found that it had been scrubbed. The Syrians wasted no time trying to scrub the site of any traces of what had been built and burying what couldn't be removed.

Even at that late date, the IAEA inspectors still managed to detect uranium in the area, but claimed that there was no way to tell if it was part of the weapons systems used to destroy it or part of a Syrian nuclear facility. The Syrians didn't exactly cooperate either, limiting access to the site and related areas and facilities. The Syrians also spun the presence of the uranium detected as leftovers from Israeli weapons, although the weapons used by the Israelis would be depleted uranium, a material chosen because of its density and ability to penetrate deeply into reinforced structures. Uranium used in nuclear reactors, let alone that which is used in nuclear weapons is an enriched form of uranium, so the differences can be easily measured.

Let's also ignore that the Syrians wasted no time trying to scrub the site clear of any and all rubble associated with the attack. They also didn't exactly raise a stink about what would ordinarily be an act of war because they would be giving attention to the fact that the Israelis indeed hit a major Syrian facility. You don't try to scrub the site clean of all rubble unless it held strategic significance - or was highly radioactive and the need to bury it was paramount lest anyone pick up the fact that the Syrians were busy dabbling in nuclear tech.

This situation stinks to hell and back, and while the IAEA continues to cover for Syria (just as it does for Iran and even the Iraqis and North Koreans before them), Israel had no such luxury.