Speaking of terrorists trying to obtain nuclear weapons to destroy Israel, the USA, and most likely the Green zone in Iraq, I don’t know how to reconcile what CIA Director Michael Hayden said that the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

Hayden takes great pride in telling of how Syria’s nuclear reactor was identified and destroyed with the help of the CIA – yet he goes easy on Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Huh? What gives?

Or is this just a smart spook giving the enemy a head fake?

[Director Hayden]

“Thanks to some outstanding intelligence work, we were able last year to spoil a big secret, a project that could have provided Syria with plutonium for nuclear weapons. I’d like to cover it here because it’s an excellent example of how CIA and our Community colleagues attack the problem of nuclear proliferation.

“We knew that North Korea and Syria had been cooperating since the late 1990s in the nuclear field. The depth of that relationship was revealed in the spring of last year, when we identified a nuclear reactor at Al-Kibar in the eastern desert of Syria. It was similar to the one at Yongbyon in North Korea, but with its outer structure heavily disguised.

“The situation became critical late last summer, when we judged the facility could be nearing operation. The Al-Kibar reactor was destroyed the morning of 6 September 2007. The Syrians immediately cleared away the rubble and every trace of the building, stonewalling the IAEA when asked to explain. Their cover-up only underlined the intense secrecy of this project and the danger it had posed to a volatile region…”

[But]

“…We don’t have time to delve into the full scope of its findings, but here, very briefly, are the major judgments:

“Until the fall of 2003, elements of Iran’s military were working to develop nuclear weapons and a warhead capable of delivering such weapons.

“Tehran halted these efforts probably due to international scrutiny and exposure of previously undeclared nuclear work. We assessed that the nuclear weapons program had not resumed as of mid-2007, a conclusion that subsequent intelligence still supports.

“And finally, Tehran at a minimum is keeping open its option to develop nuclear weapons.

“What leads us to this last judgment? Again, it’s a matter of working back from actions.

“Why are they pushing forward with the uranium enrichment process at Natanz? They say it’s for civilian purposes, and yet they’ve rejected international offers of fissile material under proper controls. Iran’s behavior, coming as it does after years of nuclear activity they concealed and continue to deny, invites nothing but suspicion. Why are they slow-rolling the International Atomic Energy Agency by not being forthcoming? And why are they willing to defy the United Nations and pay such a heavy price in terms of international isolation?

“Those questions sound familiar. One could argue that Iraq under Saddam was just as confrontational and ultimately lacked the weapons we thought were there. But Iran’s leaders saw what happened to Saddam, and still they reject every opportunity to come clean with the world.”

See: Hayden’s prepared remarks open source

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/directors-remarks-at-lawac.html