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Bush Says Syria Nuclear Disclosure Intended to Prod North Korea and Iran
 President Bush after a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House on Tuesday. |
WASHINGTON — President Bush said Tuesday that last week’s disclosure of what senior American officials called evidence of a nearly completed nuclear reactor in Syria was intended to warn North Korea and Iran about the dangers of spreading nuclear weapons.
Mr. Bush also defended his administration’s decision to keep that evidence secret for more than seven months after Israeli bombers destroyed the Syrian building on Sept. 6.
The International Atomic Energy Agency last week criticized the United States for withholding information about the site and Israel for destroying it, saying both actions undermined efforts to verify whether it was a nuclear reactor being built with the assistance of North Korea.
Making the first remarks in public about the Israeli attack by any American official, Mr. Bush said that his administration maintained a cloak of secrecy to avoid the risk of further military conflict in the region, including possible Syrian retaliation against Israel. He said that risk of conflict “was reduced” now.
Mr. Bush did not explain why exactly the administration disclosed the information at this point, but the timing coincided with renewed efforts to persuade North Korea to abide by last year’s agreement Read more »
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The
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