“The Syrian facility bombed last year by Israel had features similar to a nuclear reactor and chemically processed uranium particles were found at the site, but a full assessment cannot be done until Syria provides ‘the necessary transparency,’ a new U.N. International Atomic Agency report said Wednesday. A second IAEA report said that Iran has persisted in blocking the agency’s probe of its nuclear program and continues to defy U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that produces fuel for nuclear weapons. The confidential reports by the nuclear watchdog’s director general, Mohammad ElBaradei, were sent to the agency’s 35-nation board of governors. Copies were posted on an Internet blog, armscontrolwonk.com.” (11/19/08)