This may or may not be related to why the Wall Street Journal's top editor, Marcus Brauchli, quit yesterday, but it sure looks to be connected. The "this" that I am referring to is the propaganda piece published in the WSJ - now owned by propaganda magnate, R. Murdoch - today on what went down in Syria last year:
"North Korea was helping Syria build a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor before Israel bombed the site last September, the Bush administration is set to tell Congress.
The new information could increase the position of hard-liners in Congress and the administration who have argued against a deal being negotiated to dismantle North Korea's nuclear-weapons program. The hard-liners say Pyongyang hasn't provided enough assurances it will dismantle its atomic arsenal in return for economic and diplomatic incentives.
Neither Israel nor the U.S. has made public information about the strike in Syria, though speculation has been widespread that the targeted site was a nascent nuclear reactor. Some Republicans have charged that the U.S. is playing down the matter to avoid hurting talks with North Korea.
<snip>
This week, the Central Intelligence Agency is expected to begin briefing members of the Senate and House intelligence committees on the Israeli strike, according to congressional and administration officials. The briefings will be based in part on intelligence provided by the Israeli government, they said.
The CIA is expected to say it believes North Korea was helping Syria develop a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor similar to the Yongbyon facility North Korea built north of Pyongyang, said an official familiar with the deliberations. It also is likely to say North Korean workers were active at the Syrian site at the time of the Israeli attack.
It isn't clear what specific evidence the U.S. officials will present to support their allegations. They are likely to acknowledge uncertainty about whether the alleged Syrian reactor was designed solely to produce nuclear power for peaceful purposes or also to make fissile material for a nuclear weapon, according to the U.S. official.
Syrian officials have denied that they have sought to develop a nuclear capability of any kind and say the Bush administration is hyping the issue as a means to pursue an aggressive policy against both Iran and Syria.
"We have seen in the past that this administration doesn't require evidence, but will use false pretexts" to pursue its agenda, said Ahmed Salkini, a spokesman at the Syrian Embassy in Washington. "We hope the administration doesn't take a miscalculated step that could cause even more chaos in our region."'
The claims regarding a Syrian nuclear facility are patently false. How do I know? Because I was on the story for months. It is not true that North Korea is helping Syria build a nuclear reactor. What is true, however, is that Syria has a chemical weapons program - that for some reason no one seems much interested in. But I suppose for the Cheney mechanism to move forward, introducing a whole new type of WMD to the mix might confuse the propaganda.
Furthermore, anyone from the CIA who testifies to Congress that Israel bombed a nuclear facility in Syria last year will be all-out lying. Let's go back to my first article on the bombing of Syria by the Israeli military:
"Israel did not strike a nuclear weapons facility in Syria on Sept. 6, instead striking a cache of North Korean missiles, current and former intelligence officials say.
American intelligence sources familiar with key events leading up to the Israeli air raid tell RAW STORY that what the Syrians actually had were North Korean No-Dong missiles, possibly located at a site in either the city of Musalmiya in the northern part of Syria or further south around the city of Hama.
While reports have alleged the US provided intelligence to Israel or that Israel shared their intelligence with the US, sources interviewed for this article believe that neither is accurate.
By most accounts of intelligence officials, both former and current, Israel and the US both were well aware of the activities of North Korea and Syria and their attempts to chemically weapon-ize the No-Dong missile (above right). It therefore remains unclear why an intricate story involving evidence of a Syrian nuclear weapons program and/or enriched uranium was put out to press organizations.
The North Korean missiles -- described as "legacy" by one source and "older generation" by another -- were not nuclear arms."
You want on the record sourcing kids? Here you go, from my same article:
"Vincent Cannistraro, Director of Intelligence Programs for the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan and Chief of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center under President George H. W. Bush, said Sunday that what the Israelis hit was "absolutely not a nuclear weapons facility."
"Syria has a small nuclear research facility and has had it for several years," Cannistraro said. "It is not capable of enriching uranium to weapons capability levels. Some Israelis speculated that the Syrians had succeeded in doing just that, but according to the US intelligence experts that is simply not true."'
Let's go to another article I did on this:
"Allegations that a Syrian envoy admitted during a United Nations meeting Oct. 17 that an Israeli air strike hit a nuclear facility in September are inaccurate and have raised the ire of some in the US intelligence community, who see the Vice President's hand as allegedly being behind the disinformation.
A United Nations press release discussing the General Assembly's Disarmament Committee meeting mistranslated comments ascribed to an unnamed Syrian diplomat as saying that Israel had on various occasions "taken action against nuclear facilities, including the 6 July attack in Syria."
The UN has since gone through the tape recordings of the meeting and found that there was no mention of the word "nuclear" at all. According to the UN, the error was one of translation, involving several interpreters translating the same meeting.
Recent news articles, however, continue to make allegations and suggest that a nuclear weapons facility was hit -- something that the Syrian government has denied, the Israeli government has not officially confirmed and US intelligence does not show.
<snip>
According to current and former intelligence sources, the US intelligence community has seen no evidence of a nuclear facility being hit.
US intelligence "found no radiation signatures after the bombing, so there was no uranium or plutonium present," said one official, wishing to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject.
"We don't have any independent intelligence that it was a nuclear facility -- only the assertions by the Israelis and some ambiguous satellite photography from them that shows a building, which the Syrians admitted was a military facility."
Their statements come as officials claim Syria has begun to 'disassemble' the site. An article today quotes former Administration hawk and onetime Bush United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, who links Syria's alleged action with Iran.
Israel has not spoken publicly about the air raid, other than to confirm that it happened. The confirmation came nearly a month after the Sept. 6 bombing, and provided only that "Israeli officials said the strike took place deep inside Syria."
Want a nuclear arms expert? You got one, from my same article:
'Radiation signatures' are just the particular type of radiation that some activity would give off," Dr. Ivan Oelrich, a nuclear weapons expert at the Strategic Security Project at the Federation of American Scientists, told RAW STORY. "For example, a nuclear bomb would produce a lot of radioactivity and a nuclear reactor explosion would produce a lot of radioactivity but if you measure it carefully so you can tell, not just that it is radioactive, but exactly what particular isotopes are contributing, then it is easy to tell the difference.
"If a reactor explodes or is blown up then I can, with careful measurements of the particular types of radiation, tell what the fuel was for the reactor and how long the reactor had been running when it was hit," Oelrich added. "It gets complicated because you have to take into account how different species are transported in the air, how fast they decay, etc. but it can be done."
I don't have to remind everyone how the Bush administration had laundered pre-war intelligence on Iraq - or as we now know, pre-war propaganda on Iraq - through the media. So who is leaking this to the journal ahead of the testimony and why?
In addition to my concerns about the media-laundry of government propaganda, is the basic question of how an agency (CIA) currently running black propaganda ops against a country (Syria) can provide an honest analysis on the same country? See here
Why not have the State Department's INR do the Congressional briefing instead? How about military intelligence? Neither of these are actively engaged in running covert propaganda ops against the country they are asked to give their informed analysis of (although I may be mistaken on the DOD's activities since no Presidential Finding is needed to authorize DOD covert ops).
Finally, of the three countries appearing to be involved or target of the Israel-bombed-a-nuclear-facility-propaganda, that is to say, Israel, US, and Syria, only one country was cooperating with the IAEA in the organization's attempts to investigate. Now which country would that be? Again, from yet another article I wrote on this situation:
"The International Atomic Energy Agency - the United Nations nuclear watchdog - has not been able to conduct an investigation into the events surrounding the Sept. 6 Israeli bombing of a Syrian military installation because neither the Bush administration nor Israel are cooperating.
A diplomatic source close to the Vienna based IAEA told Raw Story that both the United States and Israel have been approached by the organization requesting supporting evidence of a nuclear reactor which media sources have cited, based on anonymous sources in both governments, as the reason for the Israeli strike.
The source also explained that the satellite footage, which the IAEA obtained through commercial channels for lack of any "credible evidence," does not show a nuclear reactor in the early construction phase.
Another source, close to the IAEA, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the topic, told RAW STORY last week that based on satellite imagery, evidence that "it was nuclear related is shaky" and pointed out that even basic security for such a facility - such as "security fences" - is missing.
Some IAEA experts have privately opined that the facility - located between the cities of Hama and Dayr az-Zawr in the Northeastern part of Syria - may have been "no more than a workshop for the pumice mining industry along the banks of the Euphrates."
Both individuals independently confirmed that the IAEA cannot conduct a formal investigation without the cooperation of either Israel or the United States, although both confirmed that the Syrian government is cooperating.
An IAEA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment."
But you need not rely on my reporting if you do not wish to. There is another reporter who closely worked this story. I give you Sy Hersh's excellent article on this situation. He can tell you in his own words:
And before Hersh published his report, I was up against the Murdoch-owned machine and their obedient media followers in the press all alone - as I appear to be again now. Where is the rest of the media? Why is this laundering being allowed to happen?
So is it going to be me and Hersh against WSJ and the Cheney machine? If so, I suggest you choose sides quickly because I am not about to sit around quietly while this administration fabricates another reason for yet another war. If this administration wants to talk about chemical weapons, then that would be honest. But for some reason, they just really want to play the "nukelar" propaganda over and over and over.
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Syria is the second choice when we get called "check" and "mate".
Educate yourself ...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GF04Ad07.html
Larisa,
You are always complaining about US propaganda, and now you're trying to alarm us again that there will be a new wave of neocon machinations coming out, obviously intended to force the presidential contenders into ever-deepening stances against anything that might stand in the way of Israeli destiny.
And yet you seem surprised that in this latest escapade, there doesn't seem to be anything of any substance to support the claim of the CIA or the NSA or the boogie-meisters in the administration.
Well, for your information, I have already read elsewhere of a very damning and damaging video that someone(MOSSAD-AIPAC?) has that is going to prove to all freedom-loving people in the world, once and for all, that the insides of that there thing that was blown up in Syria was "very convincingly" similar to the insides of one of those North korean plutonium-enrichment enhancers.
So, contrary to your statement, there will invariably be adequate proof that will be presented to "certain" leading political figures of both halves of the party in power, again, undoubtedly behind closed doors, so nobody can ask any "intelligents" questions about this news.
There will be no followup by anyone in the media. The two halves of the party have more or less split up the money and the media> Neither wants to open up this Pandora's Box so near to a national election for President.
"Dems soft on terrorism"!
And away we go !
Voting Nader.
There is a Republican Senator that sat in on the closed door
disclosure today, who says this is another example of maufactured
proof, and Bush/Chaney have other motives.
Well, maybe so.
I've now seen it for myself at antiwar.com.
It is very convincing.
It looks more likea Bedouin low-income housing project than a nuclea reactor complex.
It must be some powerful though, because it has two cooling systems - one that is gas-moderated, using carbon-dioxide because that is what the North Koreans used thirty-five years ago in their plutonium-enhancer; and the other is river water running in a blue pipe up the hill to an underground storage tank.
There's a lot of what they call super-imposition in the video, and in the end I did feel kind of super-imposed upon.
In truth, I find the effort laughable.
But I am only one person.
The NYT story presents every vacuous allegation as fact, and never challenges the real-world logic of the charade. It's like the Powell-UN-WMD slam dunk- in spades.
My only hope is that very soon the IAEA will step in and says, this is NOT a nuclear weapons progam.
If it were, Syria would get its ass properly booted up to the UNSC.
And, had Israel been an NPT party, its actions would have resulted in the same.
But, as Larisa says, don't let the fact of the meager merit of the claim lull us into thinking that it won't be used to foment the insecurity of the Mideast as solid proof of the fanatic clic wanting to nuke Israel off the map.
Cheney is drooling.
The more Murdoch, Tribune and the NYT sells out the truth, the quicker the death knell of print media. The television journalism standard has already been lowered to talk radio opinions, show promos and celebrity gossip. There just won't be the trust in the fourth estate at all as it now stands, but facts and truth will always have value. They will find there way to the surface and someone smart will understand the value of reliable sources for facts. This has been the least valued commodity in the search for profits. Hell, CBS may no lnger even have a news division. It may take a giant like Google to create a news wire service with impeccable credentials and therefore raise the value of their portal. If Rec, Sun Yung Moon can buy AP then Google can create something much better and brand it as the highest journalistic standard with traceable sources through Google. They don't have to always break a story but should always make sure it is accurate and limited in opinion.
I can only agree. The US media has killed itself.
You mean war with iran. Today they will lay the groundwork for the possibility that syria enriched uranium. However syria conclusively has no weapon plans or delivery systems. We are also drawing the link to iran having those designs and programs(IAEA) they will argue the missing material which we will admit is not in syria and syria could do nothing with was transferred to iran.
ERGO Iran has WMD capacity(Fissile material, weapon designs and missile delivery), ergo we bomb iran.
As North Korea already has material and a weapons program the evidence of past proliferation is not a new justification for war and China won't allow it.
Syria may even go along with the plan as now they need a closer alliance with SA and the need for defense from saddam has been removed. Remember Syria was iran's junior partner to prevent Iraq from attacking them over the conflict between whether baghdad or damascus has the claim to being the center of the arab world. With Iraq leaning iran's way and sharing the same dominant faith a sunni syria is somewhat out in the cold. Iran needs them much less and indeed seems likely to now support the concept of a shia baghdad as the center of the arab world. While the Houses of Saud and Assad will focus on damascus or riyadh as that center with no sunni baghdad. We changed the balance of sunni/shia power in the region removing saddam alliances will shift as a result.
Wow!!
Thanks so much, Larisa. This false story is spreading like wildfire.
And woe to Newsday, a pretty decent newspaper, if Murdoch buys it, too.
The more likely explanation for the U.S. invasion of Iraq is the neoconservative Bush regime's commitment to the defense of Israeli territorial expansion. There is no such thing as a neoconservative who is not allied with Israel. Israel hopes to steal all of the West Bank and southern Lebanon for its territorial expansion. An American colonial regime in Iraq not only buttresses Israel from attack, but also can pressure Syria and Iran not to support the Palestinians and Lebanese. The Iraqi war is a war for Israeli territorial expansion. Americans are dying and bleeding to death financially for Israel. Bush's "war on terror" is a hoax that serves to cover U.S. intervention in the Middle East on behalf of "greater Israel."
Bobo209, Israel did "steal" southern Lebanon in 1982. They pulled out, finally, in 2000. Lebanon, ironically, was the one democratic success in the region- the "Cedar Revolution' of 2004 was the one positive thing that happened in the ME on Bush's watch. Of course Bush had to ruin it in 2006, with Cheney inducing Israel to blitz Beirut while Condi blathered callously about the 'birth pangs of a new Middle East.' Now Lebanon is on the brink of Civil War again, and the Israeli blitzkrieg- one of the most misconceived operations in military history, next to, perhaps, only the invasion of iraq itself- only created sympathy for Hezbollah and their allies in the region.
Was that an Israeli stab at getting southern Lebanon back? If so, it proved that few things could be tried that are more misconceived.
Let me take that back. Dick Cheney still has some wars he'd like to start..
Gee Bobo that"s a new outlook on why we went into Iraq, but at least it is better than we want their oil. Your distain for Israel and support for terrorists is disturbing.Israel would love to live in peace but the terrorists won't allow it.
We come in Peace ... Now step aside while we bulldoze your homes.
That is just a crock, but I'm sure no one can convince you of that; Zionists don't hear so good....
"Israel would love to live in peace but the terrorists won't allow it."
So they became terrorists too. Makes sense. Fight fire with fire. War without end, amen.
Once again the left knows all without being there to witness it. I'm sure syria needs the help of N. Korea with regular munitions, they sure wouldn't just ask their buddies Iran for help.Syria and Iran are struggling with the nuke know-how. Just calm down people, no country is trying to make nuke weapons, or are they? If you clowns can't see any reason to be skeptical of N Korea and Syria engaging in secret military dealings than, wait I forgot your liberals, so it makes sense...
And once again the right wingnuts try their best to sell cobbled-together propaganda posing as intelligence. The moronic 28% will lap it up, but hopefully the rest of th public at large is skeptical enough of these proven liars to dismiss this ploy outright.
The thing congress must keep in mind is that even if you give credence to this dog & pony show, there's nothing to indicate that any imminent military action is required, and that after the election the new DEMOCRATIC president can reassess the so-called "intelligence" when and if he/she needs to.
Hey BLUE BALLS AMERICAN, wouldn't it be helpful for once to get the truth from our government instead of all these fabrications?? Oh i forgot, as a "conservative" you wouldn't care what your Big Brother government told you what to think or do. You just need your marching orders don't you.
Hey dumbkid, enlighten us all on how you KNOW what Syria and N. Korea were doing. Yea, I thought so.
Sorry, TBA. Your President and his hacks are lying to you again. The gullibility of the Right is a sad thing. Do you like being used as dupes, or do you just take pleasure in senseless destruction? In that case, you can rejoice in the fact that your President has decimated the Armed Forces so badly with his blundering wars that now CONVICTED FELONS can join the Services. You are free to enlist now.
Nuclear scares more people than biologic. Fear sells, reason loses elections.
Sounds like two terrorist states trying to out do one another in a lying contest. My one big fear is that gwb & company will fabricate some national security issue and try to cancel Nov elections!
Excellent work as always, Larisa, as it seems this administration cannot be debunked enough. I'm somewhat surprised ANY of the world, including OUR gullible CONgress, believe a single word out of their mouths anymore regarding THEIR supposed middle-east intelligence. Intelligence that's been proven fabricated at every turn, while the NIEs by OUR best agencies are pooh-poohed by these same idiot career politicians that are so sure they know the true story and what's what.
Many in OUR country are also waiting for the 'false flag' that justifies strikes on Iran, as the criminal behavior of this preznut'z administration seems to know no bounds. Thank you.
Keep up the great reporting. One day history will look back at the Seymour Hersh's, the Noam Chomsky's, and the Larisa Alexandrovna's and applaud their reporting just as we now applaud Upton Sinclair, George Seldes and Horace Greeley.
Ms. Alexandrovna, great article. Nice to see someone reporting on some real news as opposed to flag pins and whether 9.4 is a double digit number. Huffpo should give this more prominence as it unfortunately looks like Bush may try one to get us into one last needless war before he leaves.
This administration lies so much that reality is impossible to find. Senator Harry Reid suggested that whatever the administration says, just believe the opposite. I find that his advice is a good rule of thumb for ferreting out the truth. Keep up the good work.
The Israeli government doesn't produce intelligence - it produces propaganda.
Hillary and Murdoch have become BFFL. Guess who said that she wants to extend a nuclear umbrella over the middle east. Hillary the ultra conservative right wing republican just masquerading as a democrat out of convience. Once a Goldwater girl always a Goldwater girl.
Thank you, Larisa, for persisting in your very lonely pursuit of truth and your tireless service in revealing lies told by this administration. What more can one do than keep at it in hopes that someone, somewhere, will hear you and the evil these men do might be ended.
Great article! Of course, it was well known and widely publicized when Murdoch bought the WSJ it would go to the dogs, just like every other piece of media this megalomaniac owns.
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Posted April 24, 2008 | 12:54 PM (EST)