UN watchdog probe of Syria inconclusive
Financial Times
September 22, 2008
Original Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1d777e5e-88a9-11dd-a179-0000779fd18c.html http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1d777e5e-88a9-11dd-a179-0000779fd18c.html
VIENNA, Sept 22 - A UN watchdog has found nothing so far to substantiate U.S. intelligence suggesting Syria had almost built a covert nuclear reactor before Israel bombed the site last year, the agency’s chief said on Monday. 
Syria has denied hiding nuclear activity from the International Atomic Energy Agency and said the targeted site was a disused military building. It granted IAEA investigators access to the remote desert site at al-Kibar in June. 
”Samples taken from the site are still being analysed and evaluated by the agency but so far we have found no indications of any nuclear material,” IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei told a meeting of the agency’s 35-nation board of governors. 
He said the IAEA had asked Syria for access to documentation and other locations to verify the intelligence. 
”Syria has not yet responded to this request but has indicated that any further developments would depend on the results of the samples taken during the first visit.” 
Partial results of environmental swipe samples showed no traces of carbon or maraging steel, an especially strong alloy of the metal, that would have indicated a graphite nuclear reactor, diplomats familiar with the inquiry told Reuters. 
They said more comprehensive results from laboratories in several countries would not be available for another few weeks. 
The United States said its intelligence indicates the alleged reactor was built with North Korean expertise and was designed to make plutonium for nuclear weapons. 
Satellite pictures indicated Syria swiftly bulldozed the area, removed debris and erected a new building in a possible cover-up, US nuclear analysts say. 
Some diplomats versed in the issue said inspectors believe Syria might have buried rubble -- possibly key evidence -- from the bombed target under a slab of concrete, while others said it appeared debris was removed to an unknown location. 
Diplomats said ahead of the IAEA meeting that Syria had not dealt with IAEA requests to revisit al-Kibar and examine three military sites seen as interlinked, arguing such exposure would endanger its national security. 
U.S. intelligence indicated the reactor had not begun to process material before Israel’s attack, so there would have been no radioactive material to detect.