US President George W. Bush told reporters at a White House news conference Tuesday that information was not released about the Syrian nuclear facility prior to this month in order to avoid the possibility of attacks against Israel or other parties in retaliation for its destruction last September.
Release of information about its existence and its destruction, he said, was meant to send a strong message to North Korea and to Iran that they could not hide their nuclear development activities, regardless of where or how they choose the carry them out.