U.S. slow in voicing Syria intelligence: lawmakers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has made a strong case that Syria built a nuclear reactor with North Korean help but should not have waited until months after Israel destroyed the suspected facility to share its intelligence with Congress, two U.S. lawmakers said on Sunday.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, said military and security officials presented "compelling information" to lawmakers last week about the suspected nuclear site in Syria, which was struck by Israeli warplanes on September 6.

But Hoekstra said the briefing left serious questions unanswered, including whether North Korea was supporting proliferation efforts elsewhere.

"If we would have gotten this information seven months ago to the full intelligence committee, we could have spent the last seven months going through and peeling back the onion," the Michigan lawmaker said on CNN's "Late Edition" show.

The administration's depiction of the Syrian facility, which officials said was "nearing operational capability" before Israel's airstrike, comes as Washington hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end to Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Yet Hoekstra suggested the administration's secrecy on the Syria affair could jeopardize support for any deal U.S. President George W. Bush may bring to Congress on North Korea.

"The administration has handled this very badly," he said.

The White House initially tried to keep the strike a secret in hopes of avoiding Syrian retaliation.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who sits on the Senate intelligence committee, also said the administration's intelligence was convincing.

But she said the timing of the revelation was "very suspect" and criticized the administration for failing to go immediately to the United Nations' nuclear agency.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, has promised to look into whether Syria secretly built an atomic reactor.

"By not sharing information immediately, what we do is destroy their verification potential as an independent, outside agency," Feinstein said.

"If this had been dealt with in an open way at the time ... the North Korean talks perhaps could have been more successful, and Syria might have been put in a place where an accommodation with Israel is more appropriate," she said. "Right now, it can well blow up the situation."

Israeli officials said on Sunday they would be open to a high-level meeting with Syria, brokered by Turkey, that might open the door to renewed peace negotiations.

(Editing by Bill Trott)