UN document confirms Israel hit Syrian nuclear reactor? Update: UN caught redacting document; Update: It was a translation error, claims UN
posted at 5:41 pm on October 17, 2007 by Allahpundit
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Via Dan Riehl, Fox News has picked up the scent of that bizarre story I linked in the Bush post this morning about the Syrian ambassador to the UN allegedly admitting during a UN committee meeting that Israel’s air raid on September 6 hit some sort of nuclear facility. And they’ve got a piece of paper to show for it:
A high-ranking Syrian official confirmed that Israel’s airstrike last month in northern Syria hit a nuclear facility, according to a document obtained Wednesday by FOX News.
“Israel was the fourth-largest exporter of weapons of mass destruction and a violator of other nations’ airspace, and it had taken action against nuclear facilities, including the 6 July attack in Syria,” Syrian representative Bassam Darwish is quoted in the document as saying.
Diplomats familiar with the document cannot explain why July 6 was invoked, instead of Sept. 6, the date both countries say an incident occurred. A State Department source tells FOX News the best explanation is that Darwish misspoke…
One U.S. delegate told colleagues he could not believe his ears when the Syrian diplomat made his statement and that the resulting document was close to verbatim, and another source told FOX News the document reinforces what people heard [the Syrian representative] say in the actual debate.
Note once again that quotation in the second paragraph of the blockquote. Now here’s the problem. The Fox article links to what it claims is the document in question at the UN website. Except … that quotation doesn’t appear in the UN document. Here’s what does; it’s a paraphrase of the Syrian ambassador’s remarks:
Moreover, the entity that was the fourth largest exporter of lethal weapons in the world, that which violated the airspace of sovereign States and carried out military aggression against them, as had happened on 6 September against Syria, such an entity, with all those characteristics and more, had no right to go on lying without shame.
No mention of July and certainly no mention of anything nuclear. Unless you believe the Foxies are just making things up wholesale — and at the risk of offending our three lefty readers, I don’t — then the UN document has obviously been redacted since Fox’s story went live. The question is, assuming the ambassador did say July instead of September, are we sure he misspoke? Remember, there was a notorious “accident” in Syria in July allegedly involving the installation of chemical warheads on Syrian missiles. The “accident” supposedly killed dozens of Iranian engineers and multiple Syrian soldiers; it was significant enough that a respected intel think tank reported on it at the time. Raw Story tried to connect that incident to the September 6 air raid a few weeks ago, albeit denying all the while that there was any nuclear facility involved in the latter attack. So now I’m wondering: was there more than meets the eye to the July incident, such that the ambassador might reference that month in the context of talking about an Israeli attack? No way to tell at the moment but worth flagging in the likely event that there’s more to come on this story.
Update: As suspected, the google cache proves that the UN document was indeed redacted. Follow the link and you’ll find the paragraph quoted by Fox verbatim. Thanks to the various people who tipped us on this.
Update: Another day, another Middle Eastern fascist helped out of a tough spot by a claim of translation error.
The United Nations on Wednesday backtracked on a report that had quoted a Syrian official as saying an Israeli airstrike hit a nuclear facility in Syria, blaming an interpreter’s error for the purported comment that made headlines across the Middle East…
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry official as saying the representative was misquoted.
After more than seven hours of investigation Wednesday, U.N. officials agreed that was the case.
“There was an interpretation error made yesterday when the First Committee was in session,” U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said. “There was no use of the word nuclear.”
Do a word search in the UN document and see for yourself how many times the word “nuclear” was used during the meeting, including by Arabic-speaking diplomats from Kuwait and Lebanon. The interpreter got it right everywhere else in the document — but just happened to make a mistake at a fantastically sensitive part of the Syrian ambassador’s statement? The guy obviously let the genie out of the bottle inadvertently and now the UN is trying to put it back in before it sets people in the region even further on edge. Beyond pathetic.
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The UN covering for an Arab dicatorship? Say it ain’t so!
Dudley Smith on October 17, 2007 at 5:44 PM
I think the UN doc has been edited because I read that section this morning and I’m pretty sure it said “nuclear facilities”.
CP on October 17, 2007 at 5:52 PM
Nice pickup by the Fox News Network confirming this
and the condemnation of the Israelis followed by a resolution granting the Syrians the right to develop nuclear weapons will be ready on friday
Defector01 on October 17, 2007 at 6:04 PM
If users in Firefox right click on the page at the UN, then click “Page Info”, it shows the page as having been modified at 5:07 PM EST. Not sure what time Fox got it, but thought I’d pass this along.
amerpundit on October 17, 2007 at 6:11 PM
What will Fox say/do now that (or, if) the document has been redacted? Because that would be a pretty big deal - the UN caught covering for Syria by redacting their minutes…
nailinmyeye on October 17, 2007 at 6:13 PM
I am just curious to know if anyone made a copy of the original version of the UN Document (a) to prove it existed and (b) to ask some questions of the UN about what the hell they are doing re-writing the minutes.
Blaise on October 17, 2007 at 6:13 PM
The nice folks at google did.
rw on October 17, 2007 at 6:17 PM
RW, from Google’s cache:
amerpundit on October 17, 2007 at 6:27 PM
I’ll just link the article, you decide what you want to believe.
abinitioadinfinitum on October 17, 2007 at 6:28 PM
I think it was really a secret program to grown a chin for Assad, Jr.
Damned Israelis!
profitsbeard on October 17, 2007 at 6:29 PM
So - what are the implications of the UN being caught redacting a document in such a way that the obvious conclusion is that they are covering for a Syrian admission of nuclear activity?
nailinmyeye on October 17, 2007 at 6:39 PM
Maybe, but I wouldn’t rule out a community-based reality (or intentional) attempt to remove the dark stain of Syrian incompetence by blaming a collosal internal mishap on the all powerful, can-do-anything, evil Israelis.
Dusty on October 17, 2007 at 6:39 PM
Now both the Jerusalem Post and Fox News reported him saying it. The JP didn’t cite this document, but said:
So did the UN alter the document (changing history) to protect Syria?
amerpundit on October 17, 2007 at 6:41 PM
why does the date change from 6 July to 6 September?
clghitis on October 17, 2007 at 6:41 PM
Thanks for the link
abinitioadinfinitum on October 17, 2007 at 6:50 PM
Curiouser and curiouser.
The UN caught with its pants down. But I think the July date is just a mix-up. The explosion occurred on July 26, not July 6, though that, too, could be a “misspeak.”
Meryl Yourish on October 17, 2007 at 6:50 PM
I’ve seen three different dates for the explosion: the 26th, the 23rd, and the 20th.
Allahpundit on October 17, 2007 at 6:52 PM
Does this mean the UN document is now the UN un-document? This story started out plusgood but is now downright doubleplusgood!
Blacklake on October 17, 2007 at 7:00 PM
I think he clearly just messed up the month..
I was wondering why you gave much credibility to that raw story article at the time, when I read it the first thing that struck me was this is very left wing oriented & clearly an attempt to downplay the nuclear aspect which was in all fairness indeed speculation at the time, but yet this article stunk of spin from the get go - the type of stuff you guys call ‘damage control’, as these events make Syrian engagement proposed by Baker, commissions, Dems etc seem absurd frankly - at least for me. ‘legacy’ no-dong missiles, intricate cover stories, give me a break!.. A No-Dong can bring a building down, armed with chemicals can kill hundreds if not thousands.
What might connect these events imho is the fact that Israel’s military intel certainly had knowledge of the July chemical incident, and combined with knowledge of further wmd activities with a nuclear aspect that would be more than enough impetus for us to strike the target, exponentially so if there was a North Korean nuclear material shipment destined for the site struck.
When combined these incidents reinforce themselves as a concerted effort to offensively arm weapons aimed at Israel - That’s a green light in Israel regardless of who is in power as our military has a very deep weave in the govt, meaning military intel & military opinion presented to our security cabinet is almost always acted upon irrespective of circumtances & even the PM’s opinions. This concept is not as evident in American policy, as an exmple our foreign ministry (your State Dept) has nearly zero say in matters / decisions of security.
For us, the foreign ministry’s job is to explain events, not form any policy, its much weaker. The Security Cabinet in Israel forms policy, the PM will not often act without some consensus there.
saus on October 17, 2007 at 7:05 PM
Another aspect of this story is that Syria was just voted co-chairman of the IAEA. UN…you have some splainin to do.
Weight of Glory on October 17, 2007 at 7:13 PM
The UN is now saying that it was a “Mistranslation” The syrians are fuming
William Amos on October 17, 2007 at 7:15 PM
O/T: Saus: Incredible website.
mimi1220 on October 17, 2007 at 7:57 PM
O/T: Saus: Incredible website.
mimi1220 on October 17, 2007 at 7:57 PM
No kidding. Nice read, especially the bit about CNN being dropped. Bwahahahaha.
FireFly on October 17, 2007 at 8:23 PM
thx a lot! Meanwhile H&C is leading off with the dog story, Bush made an interesting speech as AP posted.. I hope FNC picks up on UN games tom, neither of these fun topics made the cutoff I guess today. I`d check cnn but I don`t get it ;)
saus on October 17, 2007 at 9:26 PM
Catching the UN with its pants UP is much more challenging.
petefrt on October 17, 2007 at 9:31 PM
Nothing will ever come of the UNs dishonesty because John Bolton was forced out by the leftists and the republicans refused to stand up for him.
In ten years all the middle eastern countries will have nuclear weapons and there is nothing that will stop it from happening.
peacenprosperity on October 17, 2007 at 9:57 PM
It’s time for the UN headquarters relocate to where ever. I realize it may be tough for NYC and it’s reputation as an international kinda place.
Zorro on October 17, 2007 at 10:03 PM
…it had taken action against nuclear facilities….uh, I mean unclear facilities…….Allah forgive me!
PatrickS on October 17, 2007 at 10:13 PM
A comedy of terrors.
Shy Guy on October 17, 2007 at 10:57 PM
The nuclear game has always been a game of “when” not “if”. The Muslim nations having nukes will not be as big of a deal as them using them. When they do it’ll be time to glass the place.
You want nukes… ya got ‘em… boom!
Mojave Mark on October 17, 2007 at 11:59 PM
Amazing catch.
However, it’ll be interesting and none too surprising to see how many let the Syrians bluff their way out of this.
Yakko77 on October 18, 2007 at 1:59 AM
When they do it will be to damn late. When the Muzzie use their nuclear weapons it really and truly will be Game Over Man…For everyone. You need to understand this, Israel’s Samson option does not mean retaliating against those who attack her.
Israel’s Samson option is this, if Israel ceases to be, so does the entire rest of the world. If they have to go back into the ovens they are taking the entire world with them. Make no mistake about it, that is their plan. If they die, so does everyone else on the face of the earth.
And yes, they do have the capability to do this, it is not a empty threat.
doriangrey on October 18, 2007 at 2:34 AM
Great site. Very good work. A pity more “progressives” don’t read it.
Texas Nick 77 on October 18, 2007 at 6:04 AM
Remember, you can’t spell “UNethical” without “UN.”
(Thanks, imao.us)
Texas Nick 77 on October 18, 2007 at 6:07 AM
The UN promotes tyranny and corruption, is itself corrupt and repugnant.
It is time that pile of trash departed this country.
dogsoldier on October 18, 2007 at 6:39 AM
We could use the office space. And NYC wouldn’t have to eat so many parking tickets. Let france take duties of hosting this bunch of overpaid clowns.
Texas Nick 77 on October 18, 2007 at 7:30 AM
Does the UN have a transcript or recording of the session, in the original languages. It shouldn’t be too hard for them to turn that over to independent translators to see what they have to say. MEMRI, maybe?
nailinmyeye on October 18, 2007 at 8:18 AM
Ummm… I think you overestimate the power and delivery systems for Israeli nuclear weapons.
Unless they’ve upgraded to Hydrogen weapons, the last I heard was they had about 100 nukes. 100 nukes, while catastophic, would NOT end the world… just not enough firepower.
They also do not have the delivery systems to hit North or South America…
Now, they could do a pretty good job on the middle east… and if they hit Pakistan it would complicate matters… but unless they hit China/Russia/USA it would not start a general Nuclear war. For it to be a world ending event, they would have to draw in the Superpowers.
Romeo13 on October 18, 2007 at 10:09 AM
I was just thinking the same thing. Surely, the meeting was recorded.
CP on October 18, 2007 at 10:11 AM
The person transcribing the meeting will obviously have had to have used a recording of the meeting.
Equally obviously, the recording will, by now, have been misplaced, lost or mysteriously erased.
Blaise on October 18, 2007 at 11:45 AM
More like 300 and yes they have always been Hydrogen weapons, you can thank the French for that. Furthermore Israel’s “Jericho 3″ Shavit ICBMs have a 7800 Km range (Israel uses these to launch their Ofeq satellites, which they launch westward against the earth rotation) Israel has a minimum of 50 of these. Add to that the 5 Dolphin class submarines Israel has with their Popeye Turbo cruise missiles which have a 1500Km range, yes the Popeye cruise missiles are nuclear armed. Throw in the Popeye Turbo II F-15 launched nuclear cruise missiles with their 200 Km range. There is no question that Israel is fully capable of bringing about the end of all life on this planet.
doriangrey on October 18, 2007 at 12:08 PM
They will use them. The iranians have promised to use them as soon as they are functional. We need to get a president who will drill everywhere we have oil, start building nuclear powerplants and new refineries and spur the energy companies to find new alternative, realistic energy sources and cleaner uses for coal. Then when they start lobbing nuclear bombs around we solve the main problem the world faces today, being at the mercy of middle east oil.
peacenprosperity on October 18, 2007 at 1:22 PM
The Raw Story has a new piece out, and my suspicions above are only raised. The whole article is one big downplay of nuclear aspects regarding Israel’s strikes & blames Cheney for the whole thing
saus on October 19, 2007 at 12:57 PM
Url got cut..
US intelligence does not show Syrian nuclear weapons program, officials say
saus on October 19, 2007 at 12:58 PM