Satellite Images of Syrian Reactor / Warehouse

Satellite images may or may not have shown that whatever the Israeli armed forces hit last month was a reactor. At any rate, there was a big building there that was within a few yards of being the same size as a reactor in North Korea, with another building on a nearby river that could be a pumping station.

Syria has refined its 'unused military building' to "largely empty military warehouse." The list of Syrian identities for what the Israeli air force blew up, updated, is now:

• An unused military building largely empty military warehouse
• An agricultural research station
• Nothing but sand
• Nothing at all: There was no raid

Meanwhile, in France, International Atomic Energy Agency director, and Nobel Peace laureate, Mohamed ElBaradei, is angry at the

• Syrians
• Israelis
• foreign intelligence agencies

... because none of them told him about the Syrian nuclear program. That Syria says doesn't exist. "Frankly, I venture to hope that before people decide to bombard and use force, they will come and see us to convey their concerns." (Emphasis is mine.)

Besides, ElBaradei said, an airstrike puts efforts to contain nuclear proliferation in peril. Here's his argument: "When the Israelis destroyed Saddam Hussein's research nuclear reactor in 1981, the consequence was that Saddam Hussein pursued his program secretly. He began to establish a huge military nuclear program underground," he said. "The use of force can set things back, but it does not deal with the roots of the problem." (MSNBC, from Le Monde.)

True, to a point. But not using force doesn't seem the best idea, either.

Although you have to admit that it would be easier to:

• Let the Bashar al-Asads and Osama bin Ladens of the world do what they want.
• Give the Mohamed ElBaradeis clerical staffs, paper, and plenty of toner and ink cartridges.
• Encourage panels and groups of experts to discuss why terrorism isn't the fault of the terrorists and their leaders.
• Wait and see what gets blown up or burned away next.