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Abrams: Israel Bombed Syrian Nuclear Facility Despite U.S. Diplomacy

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Former prime minister Ehud Olmert decided in September 2007 to bomb the al-Kabir nuclear facility in Syria after then-president George W. Bush told him the U.S. had opted for the diplomatic route and was trying to get the International Atomic Energy Agency to close the site, Elliott Abrams, who at the time was deputy national security advisor in the White House, told the Jerusalem Post on Thursday. Abrams said Bush was provided with impeccable options, policy papers and intelligence. "We took it all to the president - covert options, military options, diplomatic options - and he chose the wrong option," said Abrams. He said that his preferred option was for Israel to take out the facility in order for Jerusalem to rebuild its deterrence following the Second Lebanon War a year earlier. He added that then-vice president Dick Cheney argued for the U.S. to bomb the facility itself to rebuild America's deterrence and demonstrate America's seriousness concerning nonproliferation. When Bush informed Olmert of the U.S. decision in July 2007, Abrams recalled, Olmert said the strategy was unacceptable to Israel. It was clear that from this point on there would be no sharing of plans and that "Israel would let us know afterward," he said.
2012-06-15 00:00:00
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