New York Times is Reporting that Israeli Air Strike Was On Nuclear Reactor

OK, this has gone back and forth about half a dozen times now, but this is the current flavor of the day.

According to "U.S. and foreign officials who had access to the analysts' intelligence reports", the reactor was very similar to the DPRK's graphite moderated reactor at Yongbyon.

Here are the two most significant quotes from the article:

Information on the raid has been under under tight wraps in both Washington and Israel, the newspaper said, restricted to a handful of officials, and Israeli media have been barred from publishing information about it.

But a senior Israeli official said the attack was meant to "re-establish the credibility of our deterrent power," the Times said. Several U.S. officials told the paper the strike may also have been intended for the attention of Iran and its nuclear program.

I read this as saying that it was primarily intended to be a warning to Iran, but there is an unspoken subtext, that the Olmert government might have been motivated to make the strike, at least to a degree, for political considerations.

The proof will be in whether or not Olmert calls for snap elections soon.

The newspaper also reported that Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration contended that the same intelligence that prompted Israel's attack on the reactor strengthened the case for U.S. reconsideration of negotiations with North Korea over ending its nuclear program, as well as Washington's diplomatic posture with Syria.

This means that the usual suspects among the Neocons are using this as an excuse to agitate for war with Syria (and possibly Iran) and to overturn the current deals with the DRPK.

One should recall that vb before building the reactor at Yongbyon, the DPRK had already located Uranium mines, begun mining, and had manufactured fuel, both unenriched and enriched. The presence of a reactor in Syria does not constitute a competent and self-sufficient nuclear program on its own.