Israelis, with U.S. blessing, seize North Korean nuclear material in Syria (!)

Can someone explain to me why this isn't making bigger headlines?

Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.

The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.

They confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

(Hat tip: InstaPundit, who wins the understatement-of-the-year award for saying, "This seems like news.")

Comments

[Joe Mama]

Krauthammer was writing about this yesterday.

This story would seem to connect some dots between two members of the "Axis of Evil." If I were more cynical, I might think that is a reason why this isn't a bigger story in some media circles.

[Brendan Loy]

Syria wasn't an original member of the "Axis of Evil." Have they officially replaced Iraq now? Was there some kind of ceremony?

[Joe Mama]

Heh, quite right. I must have had Iran on the brain after reading all the Ahmadinejad coming-to-Columbia stories :-)

[Keith Soltys]

There was an article about this in Toronto's Globe and Mail last night. They didn't mention recovering any nuclear material though.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070921.wisraelstrike0922/BNStory/International/home

[anon]

and we all know how credible the isreali military is regarding stuff going on in the middle east. i think hamas might actually have as much credibility as those guys.

you are a moron.

[Joe Loy]

Excerpt from official transcript, Presidential press conference Sept. 20 ~ I think the questioner is David Gregory (the President calls him "David"):

Q Sir, Israeli opposition leader Netanyahu has now spoken openly about Israel's bombing raid on a target in Syria earlier in the month. I wonder if you could tell us what the target was, whether you supported this bombing raid, and what do you think it does to change the dynamic in an already hot region in terms of Syria and Iran and the dispute with Israel and whether the U.S. could be drawn into any of this?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to comment on the matter. Would you like another question?

Q Did you support it?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to comment on the matter.

Q Can you comment about your concerns that come out of it at all, about for the region?

THE PRESIDENT: No. Saying I'm not going to comment on the matter means I'm not going to comment on the matter. You're welcome to ask another question, if you'd like to, on a different subject.

The questioner then asks one (actually two) about Iraq, which the President does answer.

[tbrosz]

One possible reason this isn't getting more coverage is that the unnamed sources are a bit iffy. On the other hand, when the news fits the agenda, anonymous news sources seem to become quite reliable.