Friday, April 11, 2008
A Mystery in the Middle East
The bombing of Syria symbolizes our confusion. Why would Syria want a nuclear reactor and why put it on the border of Turkey, a country the Syrians aren't particularly friendly with? If the Syrians had a nuclear reactor, why would the Israelis be coy about it? Why would the Americans? Having said nothing for months apart from careful leaks, why are the Israelis going to speak publicly now? And if what they are going to say is simply that the North Koreans provided the equipment, what's the big deal? That was leaked months ago.
The events of September 2007 make no sense and have never made any sense. The events we have seen since February make no sense either. That is noteworthy, and we bring it to your attention. We are not saying that the events are meaningless. We are saying that we do not know their meaning. But we can't help but regard them as ominous.
The Israeli bombing of an alleged nuclear facility in Syria last September is a really intriguing because of the fact that Israel has managed to keep a lid on the what and why of it. For a second imagine the howls of derision coming from the left if it turns out that it was connected to Saddam's WMDs. A pipe dream at this point but worth a smile at the thought of all the conspiracy theories that would be spun out of Israel being involved in uncovering WMDs.