US Wary of Syria-North Korea Ties (AP)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

US Wary of Syria-North Korea Ties

Sunday, September 16, 2007

(09-16) 08:34 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

The U.S. is keeping close watch on Syria and North Korea,
the Pentagon chief said Sunday, amid suspicions the Koreans
are possibly cooperating with Syria on a nuclear facility.

"I think it would be a real problem," Defense Secretary
Robert Gates said when asked how the Bush administration
would view such an effort.

A senior U.S. nuclear official said Friday that North Koreans
were in Syria and that Syria may have had contacts with
"secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment.

Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary of state
for nuclear nonproliferation policy, did not identify the
suppliers, but said North Koreans were in Syria and that
he could not exclude that the network run by the disgraced
Pakistan nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan may have been involved.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/09/16/national/w083428D25.DTL

[leftchick]

1. oh please...

some thing more nefarious is afoot

Was Israeli raid a dry run for attack on Iran?

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2170188,00.html



<snip>

Amid the confusion there were troubling details that chimed uncomfortably with the known facts. Two detachable tanks from an Israeli fighter were found just over the Turkish border. According to Turkish military sources, they belonged to a Raam F15I - the newest generation of Israeli long-range bomber, which has a combat range of over 2,000km when equipped with the drop tanks. This would enable them to reach targets in Iran, leading to speculation that it was an 'operation rehearsal' for a raid on Tehran's nuclear facilities.

Finally, however, at the week's end, the first few tangible details were beginning to emerge about Operation Orchard from a source involved in the Israeli operation.

They were sketchy, but one thing was absolutely clear. Far from being a minor incursion, the Israeli overflight of Syrian airspace through its ally, Turkey, was a far more major affair involving as many as eight aircraft, including Israel's most ultra-modern F-15s and F-16s equipped with Maverick missiles and 500lb bombs. Flying among the Israeli fighters at great height, The Observer can reveal, was an ELINT - an electronic intelligence gathering aircraft.

What was becoming clear by this weekend amid much scepticism, largely from sources connected with the administration of President George Bush, was the nature of the allegation, if not the facts.

In a series of piecemeal leaks from US officials that gave the impression of being co-ordinated, a narrative was laid out that combined nuclear skulduggery and the surviving members of the 'axis of evil': Iran, North Korea and Syria.