And that’s how they knew it was a nuke plant.

Israeli officials believed that a target their forces bombed inside Syria last month was a nuclear facility, because they had detailed photographs taken by a possible spy inside the complex, ABC News has learned…

The official said the suspected nuclear facility was approximately 100 miles from the Iraqi border, deep in the desert along the Euphrates River. It was a place, the official said, “where no one would ever go unless you had a reason to go there.”

But the hardest evidence of all was the photographs.

The official described the pictures as showing a big cylindrical structure, with very thick walls all well-reinforced. The photos show rebar hanging out of the cement used to reinforce the structure, which was still under construction.

There was also a secondary structure and a pump station, with trucks around it. But there was no fissionable material found because the facility was not yet operating.

The official said there was a larger structure just north of a small pump station; a nuclear reactor would need a constant source of water to keep it cool.

The official said the facility was a North Korean design in its construction, the technology present and the ability to put it all together.

It was North Korean “expertise,” said the official, meaning the Syrians must have had “human” help from North Korea.

That’s the positive side; read the article to learn the roles that Secretary of State Rice and Secretary of Defense Gates are reported to have played. I say “reported to have played” because there could be and probably is a great deal more to this than “Israel wanted to attack but the Bushies wanted them not to.” I’m not saying that it’s hard to imagine our government taking such a weak stand, because it’s not. Just…I don’t know. I don’t quite buy things as reported.