Is Syria next for Bush’s WMD treatment?

The following item is circulating care of something called Middle East Newsline. This excerpt from an undated dispatch was forwarded by Middle East Web.

Given the U.S. Department of Defense's recent history of “piping” and “cherry-picking” intelligence to support outcomes the Bush administration desires, perhaps it deserves to be treated with skepticism — a case of the boy who cried “Wolfowitz.”

SYRIA DEVELOPS BIO-WEAPONS

WASHINGTON [MENL] — Syria has advanced in efforts to produce biological missile warheads.

The U.S. intelligence community has determined that the regime of President Bashar Assad was developing an infrastructure for biological weapons production. Officials said Assad has advanced the BW program through help from China and North Korea.

“Syria’s biotechnical infrastructure is capable of supporting limited biological agent development,” Defense Intelligence Agency director Michael Maples said. “DIA assesses Syria has a program to develop select biological agents.”

Maples said Syria has sought to install biological and chemical warheads on its missile arsenal. He said the programs were meant to deter Israel’s conventional force superiority.

— Barnett Axelrad