Who said it…. Glenn Greenwald, Firedoglake or the Syran Government?

Beyond all of this, there are all sorts of motives for the administration to exaggerate or outright fabricate these accusations. There have long been, and still are, influential neoconservative factions eager for confrontation with Syria. Similar factions want to derail talks with North Korea. And the administration’s reflexive support for anything Israel does — particularly when it comes to acts of military aggression — along with its possible approval of or even active support for the air strike, provide obvious incentive to justify the destruction of this building.

Skepticism toward Bush claims about Syria and North Korea - Glenn Greenwald

There are multiple reasons why substantial skepticism is warranted concerning the Bush administration’s claims that the structure which Israeli jets destroyed inside Syria last September was a nuclear reactor Syria was developing with the aid of North Korea. Such skepticism, however, is difficult to find in most (though not all) American press accounts, which do little other than repeat Government claims without challenge.

Al Jazeera English - News - Syria Denies N Korea Nuclear Link

Syria’s ambassador to the US has dismissed the White House’s claim that North Korea had helped it build a nuclear reactor as a “ridiculous story”.

Imad Moustapha told Al Jazeera that his government maintained there was no evidence of any alleged secret nuclear activity.

Syran Embasador Sami al-Khiyami:

“This has nothing to do with North Korea and Syria. They just want to exert more pressure on North Korea. This is why they are coming up with this story,” Khiyami said.

“This is political manipulation ahead of the talks with North Korea to exert more pressure on them.”

U.S. experts: Suspected Syrian nuclear site far from operational - Haaretz - Israel News

“Unfortunately the scenario of taking and retaking pictures looks like what happened before the Iraq war, when the U.S. administration was trying to convince the world that Iraq had nuclear weapons,” Khiyami said.

“Instead of coming up with these ridiculous photos I think the U.S. administration should put all their effort into clearing the Middle East region of all weapons of mass destruction, starting with its closest ally Israel.”

Syria denies building reactor with North Korean help | Herald Sun

“This is fantasy,” Syrian Ambassador to the US Imad Moustapha told CNN yesterday.

“This will be a major embarrassment to the US Administration for a second time: they lied about Iraqi WMDs (weapons of mass destruction), and they think they can do it again.”

The Associated Press: Syria denies US claims of a secret nuclear program

Syria’s president scoffed at U.S. claims that his country was building a nuclear reactor at a site attacked by Israel seven months ago, according to excerpts of an interview published Friday.

Firedoglake » Strange Timing

The Bush Administration’s latest ham-handed shell-game, the North Korea-Syria connection seems not only flimsy and disjointed by even their standards. It was also, not surprisingly, gratuitous:

Thank you for playing who said it.

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