PREMATURE EMASCULATION?

Analysts find Israel struck a nuclear project inside Syria (David E. Sanger and Mark Mazzetti, October 13, 2007, NY Times)

Israel's air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports.

The description of the target addresses one of the central mysteries surrounding the Sept. 6 attack, and suggests that Israel carried out the raid to demonstrate its determination to snuff out even a nascent nuclear project in a neighboring state. The Bush administration was divided at the time about the wisdom of Israel's strike, American officials said, and some senior policymakers still regard the attack as premature.

It's never too early to neuter a dictator.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 13, 2007 3:07 PM