Posted on 10/01/2007 6:13:56 AM PDT by Schnucki
VIENNA, Austria - Criticized by the U.S. but backed by other world powers, chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei is walking a fine line in trying to cajole Iran into revealing past nuclear secrets.
Since wresting a promise from Tehran in July to clear up its nuclear record by year's end, ElBaradei -- head of the International Atomic Energy Agency -- has been vilified as pro-Tehran, and accused of overstepping his authority.
With two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for Iran's refusal to scrap uranium enrichment -- a possible pathway to nuclear arms -- Iranian leaders have seized on the agreement between the IAEA and their country to argue the council is acting out of turn. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told world leaders at the United Nations earlier in the week that Iran's nuclear case now was ''closed,'' with only the IAEA authorized to monitor the nation's activities.
Such comments underline Washington's fears: that Iran is using the cooperation agreement with the IAEA to draw attention from its defiance of the Security Council and further complicate attempts -- led by the U.S. -- to impose new sanctions.
Russia's stance suggests such concerns are well-founded. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared Thursday that ''sanctions would undermine the International Atomic Energy Agency's efforts'' to clear up Iran's nuclear past.
Beyond pushing his cooperation plan, recent ElBaradei comments on Iran indirectly aimed at the United States have added to Washington's discomfort.
''I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 700,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons,'' he said recently, alluding to a key U.S. argument for invading Iraq in 2003 -- that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms. Four years later, no such
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I say appoint Sarkozy to head up the IAEA.
This guy is one of the moHAMadan chumps. He never saw a terrorist that he didn’t like.
The head of IKEA has more sway with me than the head of IAEA.
LOL.
“’’I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 700,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons,’’
I’m glad the Times repeated that line.
ElBaradei has earned his CodePink T-Shirt
Mohamed ElBaradei
The name says it all. He’s one of THEM.
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