US President Bush: Disclosure of IAF Sept. strike message to Syria, N. Korea, Iran

  United States President George W. Bush on Tuesday said the recent U.S. disclosure of details on Israel's strike last September on a suspected nuclear facility in Syria was intended to send a tough message to Damascus and Pyongyang as well as Tehran over their nuclear ambitions. "We... wanted to advance certain policy objectives through the disclosure, one would be to the North Koreans to make it abundantly clear that we may know more about you than you think," Bush told a White House news conference. The CIA said a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed by the Israel Air Force was within weeks or a month of completion . Syria said the site was not part of a nuclear weapons program. The site was allegedly built with help from North Korea. Bush said the information had been withheld at first because of concerns about the risk of "confrontation" or "retaliation," an apparent reference to Syria's possible military response to Israel's strike on its territory. Since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, there have been heightened tensions between Israel and Syria. Only a week ago, Syrian President Bashar was reported as saying that Syria is preparing for war with Israel as a real possibility. (19,27)