Reuters, the British newswire notorious for refusing to call terrorist organizations anything more incendiary than "militant," is now worrying that a Bush administration decision to declassify intelligence that makes Syria look bad may harm "diplomacy."
In their April 24 article, "U.S. lays out Syria intelligence, may harm diplomacy," reporters Arshad Mohammed and Paul Eckert seek to lay blame at the feet of the Bush administration should "diplomacy" fail and/or Syria grow belligerent towards Israel:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States laid out intelligence on Thursday it believes shows North Korea helped Syria build a suspected nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel last year, a step that may complicate its diplomacy both on the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East.
In breaking its official silence on the mysterious September 6 Israeli air strike, the Bush administration is taking the risk that Syria could be angered by the public disclosures and could seek to retaliate against Israel.
The closed-door briefings to U.S. lawmakers could also make it harder for the United States to carry out a multilateral agreement under which North Korea promised to disclose all of its nuclear programs and, ultimately, to abandon them and any nuclear weapons it may have.
While the disclosure may make some diplomatic initiatives more difficult for the Bush administration, that this is the angle of the story is rather telling. After all, doesn't the nuclear proliferation, if true, pose greater problems for North Korea and Syria, which already have their share of problems with the international community? After all, North Korea has persistently violated UN resolutions on nukes and Syria is a state sponsor of terror, particularly against Israel.
No, when you're Reuters, what's important is how this development might force heads out of the sand and ruin "diplomacy" from being accomplished, even if Syria and North Korea haven't been and likely never will act in good faith at the negotiating table.
