The Mystery Continues

His Lebanon reporting aside, I have a lot of respect for Seymour Hersh. He's undeniably skilled at getting the story surrounding complex national security issues. He has shown the ability to do it, even when entire governments are seemingly united in their determination to prevent him from getting the story. So when such a skilled investigative reporter blatantly strikes out on uncovering what happened in northern Syria on the night of September 6, 2007, you know that some secret is being well-kept.

What we know is that four Israeli planes bombed some Syrian military installation on that date. After what was essentially an act of war, all the major parties -- Syria included -- played down the attack and refused to say exactly what was targeted. Strange stuff. And after interviewing high-ranking figures in Damascus and Tel Aviv, Hersh doesn't really uncover any information that wouldn't already have been available to him by a Google search. His working theory is that Israel might have hit a North Korean-built building that would have dealt with chemical weapons.

"In Syria, I was able to get some confirmation that North Koreans were at the target. A senior officer in Damascus with firsthand knowledge of the incident agreed to see me alone, at his home; my other interviews in Damascus took place in government offices. According to his account, North Koreans were present at the site, but only as paid construction workers. The senior officer said that the targeted building, when completed, would most likely have been used as a chemical-warfare facility. (Syria is not a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention and has been believed, for decades, to have a substantial chemical-weapons arsenal.)"

I suppose it is as likely an explanation as the dozens of others out there. But the real news is Hersh's inability to come up with anything concrete. This might be a story that nobody ever reaches the bottom of.