El-Baredei: Uranium Traces At Syrian Site Not Conclusive

By Cernig

Remember those traces of uranium found by the IAEA's investigators at the "Box on the Euphrates" and so conveniently leaked by unofficial officials? The box the Israelis aggressively bombed last year? The one the Bush administration made a very pretty presentation on for the media claiming it was a reactor for weapons development?

The IAEA is still not convinced there was a reactor there or that the uranium traces mean much of anything at all.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed El-Baradei confirmed that the radioactive material was found at the site but said the source was inconclusive.

"It's not highly enriched uranium. It could have come from so many different ways," he told reporters in Dubai. "That's why we're looking at so many different scenarios."

... El-Baradei called specifically for more cooperation from Damascus, saying it needs "a lot of transparency on the part of Syria." He said he was hopeful that Syria would allow inspectors back into the country to carry out further tests.

But he also said Israel needs to provide more information to address Syrian allegations that the uranium may have come from Israeli bombs dropped on the site during the September 2007 raid.

Al-Moallem last week said it was unclear what type of bombs targeted the site, adding that the United States has used bombs containing depleted uranium in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no comment on the matter when asked last week.

The US State Department's Sean McCormack issued a statement saying the traces found "would indicate that there was some basis for this investigation". But isn't it odd that El-Baraedei is mentioning depleted uranium if the uranium was even enriched to the low level required to power a reactor? The conventional narrative stinks, if you ask me. It's perfectly possible, to my mind, that some neocons and their Likudnik allies cooked up a plan to use DU weapons, knowing full well that uranium traces would be found, then to use those traces as the spark-plug for a new round of pressuring Syria on Iran, Palestine, Iraq and a whole load else. The IAEA's head, though, is counselling everyone not to jump on the neocon's demonization bandwagon, saying no-one should "jump the gun" and that the IAEA will continue seeking "absolutely credible information". Unfortunately, his advice comes too late for Murdoch's Jerusalem post and half the rightwing blogosphere. How many times do you think someone can yell "wolf" "WMD" before they catch on?

Comments

[anderson]

Cernig,

I'm not so sure they thought so far ahead, but maybe. The WMD fiasco in Iraq pretty much demonstrated that the White House didn't give a shit whether anyone found evidence or not. DU weapons are now almost standard ordinance, certainly would have been for a bombing run like the one that hit the Box. Furthermore, DU is not going to be confused with reactor fuel, it won't fool anyone.

The IDF and US military use DU weapons with impunity. They have turned Iraq into a toxic wasteland, something no one really talks about.

[rmd]

… isn't it odd that El-Baraedei is mentioning depleted uranium…

He isn't, Al-Moallem is.

[Steve Hynd]

They both did.