K
Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
Guest
After Israel bombed a Syrian military facility last September, the
United States and Israel both claimed the target had been a Syrian
nuclear facility under construction.
RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna was alone at the time in reporting
that the actual target was a cache of North Korean No-Dong missiles,
dating back to the 1990's, which Syria was converting for use as
chemical warheads.
In a follow-up report, Alexandrovna added that Vice President Dick
Cheney was suspected of being behind leaks to the press of misleading
claims of a nuclear basis for the incident.
A third story in Alexandrovna's series reported that the US and Israel
were refusing to cooperate with an attempted investigation by the
International Atomic Energy Agency, but that the IAEA had concluded on
the basis of satellite imagery that the target was unlikely to have
been nuclear.
However, the US/Israeli version continued to dominate most accounts of
the incident. As recently as December, the Sunday Times was still
insisting that "Israel's top-secret air raid on Syria in September
destroyed a bomb factory assembling warheads fuelled by North Korean
plutonium."
Now veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has weighed in on
the matter. Hersh appeared on CNN's Late Edition on Sunday to discuss
his upcoming article, "A Strike in the Dark," which will appear in the
Feb. 11 issue of the New Yorker.
Hersh writes in that article, "Whatever was under construction, with
North Korean help, it apparently had little to do with agriculture --
or with nuclear reactors -- but much to do with Syria's defense
posture, and its military relationship with North Korea. And that,
perhaps, was enough to silence the Syrian government after the
September 6th bombing."
"This is a wonderful sort of a complicated story," Hersh told CNN's
Wolf Blitzer. "Here Israel bombs another country, basically an act of
war. ... They don't say anything publicly about it. The Israeli great
ally, the United States, says nothing. Syria doesn't say much about
it. They complain, but they're very muted too. ... Nobody talks about
it."
Hersh went on to say that even though nobody was talking publicly,
"there was tremendous sotto voce stuff. In other words, the Israeli
government, the American government were leaking, telling newspaper
people, particularly in America, but also in Europe, all sorts of
wonderful, grandiose details about what happened."
Hersh finally concluded as a result of his investigation that the
claims that "when you began to look at each part... they sort of fall
apart." He is not even convinced the plant was a chemical warfare
facility but believes it may have been a missile plant. "Israel may
indeed have some evidence that's overwhelming," Hersh stated. "But
without that sort of evidence, what they've done is, they've simply
bombed another country."
Hersh's best guess as to the motivation of the bombing is that it was
partly Israeli politics and partly "a message for the Iranians that
we're coming."
United States and Israel both claimed the target had been a Syrian
nuclear facility under construction.
RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna was alone at the time in reporting
that the actual target was a cache of North Korean No-Dong missiles,
dating back to the 1990's, which Syria was converting for use as
chemical warheads.
In a follow-up report, Alexandrovna added that Vice President Dick
Cheney was suspected of being behind leaks to the press of misleading
claims of a nuclear basis for the incident.
A third story in Alexandrovna's series reported that the US and Israel
were refusing to cooperate with an attempted investigation by the
International Atomic Energy Agency, but that the IAEA had concluded on
the basis of satellite imagery that the target was unlikely to have
been nuclear.
However, the US/Israeli version continued to dominate most accounts of
the incident. As recently as December, the Sunday Times was still
insisting that "Israel's top-secret air raid on Syria in September
destroyed a bomb factory assembling warheads fuelled by North Korean
plutonium."
Now veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has weighed in on
the matter. Hersh appeared on CNN's Late Edition on Sunday to discuss
his upcoming article, "A Strike in the Dark," which will appear in the
Feb. 11 issue of the New Yorker.
Hersh writes in that article, "Whatever was under construction, with
North Korean help, it apparently had little to do with agriculture --
or with nuclear reactors -- but much to do with Syria's defense
posture, and its military relationship with North Korea. And that,
perhaps, was enough to silence the Syrian government after the
September 6th bombing."
"This is a wonderful sort of a complicated story," Hersh told CNN's
Wolf Blitzer. "Here Israel bombs another country, basically an act of
war. ... They don't say anything publicly about it. The Israeli great
ally, the United States, says nothing. Syria doesn't say much about
it. They complain, but they're very muted too. ... Nobody talks about
it."
Hersh went on to say that even though nobody was talking publicly,
"there was tremendous sotto voce stuff. In other words, the Israeli
government, the American government were leaking, telling newspaper
people, particularly in America, but also in Europe, all sorts of
wonderful, grandiose details about what happened."
Hersh finally concluded as a result of his investigation that the
claims that "when you began to look at each part... they sort of fall
apart." He is not even convinced the plant was a chemical warfare
facility but believes it may have been a missile plant. "Israel may
indeed have some evidence that's overwhelming," Hersh stated. "But
without that sort of evidence, what they've done is, they've simply
bombed another country."
Hersh's best guess as to the motivation of the bombing is that it was
partly Israeli politics and partly "a message for the Iranians that
we're coming."
