Intelligence serves as propaganda (UK Independent via Seattle PI)

[struggle4progress]

... U.S. security officials last week presented members of Congress with evidence supposedly showing that Syria, with North Korean assistance, was building a nuclear reactor on the target site and that this facility was "not intended for peaceful activities" ...

There is no independent way to verify any of this, especially since the installation has been destroyed. We must rely on the integrity of the Israeli and U.S. intelligence services. That is where we hit a problem. The former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented similar evidence to the United Nations Security Council in February 2003 showing what we were told was strong evidence of Iraqi storage of weapons of mass destruction. As we all know, that intelligence turned out to be bogus ...

... If the U.S. and Israel were so convinced of Syria's malign intentions, why the secrecy? ...

As for the Israeli bombing raid itself, apparently sanctioned by the U.S., it is hard to see in this anything other than a dangerous contempt for the autonomy of the IAEA and an enduring disregard for international law.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/360944_syria29.html