Britain secretly backs the United States in its plans to oust IAEA chief
12/20/2004 7:16:00 AM GMT
While publicly backing Mohamed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA, in his effort to convince Iran to halt its nuclear program, the British government is secretly supporting U.S plans to remove him.
Trying to discredit him, the U.S. State Department and the CIA were reported last week to have tapped phone conversations between the Iranian officials and ElBaradei.
A spokeswoman for the Vienna-based IAEA said it was not a surprise to her that Dr ElBaradei's phone had been tapped, however she refused to comment further, adding that the tapes had nothing to be used against him.
Publicly Britain, in line with Germany and France; who are closer to the IAEA position, supports an EU initiative to convince Iran to completely halt all its activities related to nuclear enrichment.
However, a well-placed Whitehall source revealed that officials had secretly backed U.S. moves to replace the IAEA chief. Two weeks ago the plan was supported by the foreign office and the Department of Trade and Industry which is responsible for Britain's nuclear regulation.
The U.S. and Britain were angered by ElBaradei’s assessments which denied their allegations that Iraq was seeking to reconstitute its nuclear program.
Britain claims to support the ”Geneva rule” which states that senior UN officials should serve no more than two terms, which would bring Dr ElBaradei's tenure to an end next summer.
The Washington Post reported that the U.S. would like to see Alexander Downer, the Australian Foreign Minister, as the IAEA new chief, the U.S. campaign is led by John Bolton, the hardline under-secretary of state for arms control.
However, in an interview with The Associated Press this week, Powell said "a number of people had expressed interest" in succeeding ElBaradei in the UN post, but he did not identify them.
Once everyone accepts the two-term rule, Powell said, "then I think you will generate candidates. People will say, 'Look, OK, the job is a possibility, it's open so I will offer myself as a candidate.'"
But Mr. Downer refused to challenge Dr ElBaradei who had been working for the IAEA for 20 years. Downer said he would not stand against ElBaradei and throw his country's weight behind his back.
ElBaradei, 62, is elected by IAEA's 35 board members for a third term. And U.S. backed by Britain, needs to obtain 12 votes against Dr ElBaradei in order to get him out.
In an extraordinary admission, Colin Powel U.S. Secretary of States said that he had earlier asked El Baradei to step aside at the end of his second term. Not only for being soft on Iran which the U.S. seeks to involve in its conflicts, but also for his assessments about the claimed Iraqi nuclear program.
Powell's admission is astonishing, particularly in light of his own horrifically flawed, erroneous, and partly fraudulent assessment of Iraq's weapons program which he delivered to the UN in the weeks leading up to the invasion. Powell's assessment, which was also credited with convincing the American public of the necessity of war, was later proved to be false in almost every respect.
The targeting of ElBaradei, almost simultaneously with calls by some U.S. lawmakers for the toppling of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, demonstrates a willingness by the administration to punish those who opposed its intervention in Iraq, notwithstanding that those who opposed the invasion have been totally vindicated, and the administration's case for war totally discredited.
However, in the interview with The Associated Press this weekPowell was quick to disconnect calls for ElBaradei's removal from the Iraq issue. He said it should not have come as a surprise when the State Department went public with its plan to remove ElBaradei.
Powell and his deputy Richard Boucher on Monday said the sole U.S. reason for trying to remove ElBaradei was an informal agreement among some 14 countries that leaders at the UN and other international bodies should not serve more than two terms.
"We see no reason why this shouldn't be the case with the IAEA," Powell told The Associated Press. "And this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Dr. ElBaradei and I talked about this over the summer."
Meanwhile, China has joined a growing chorus of countries to support ElBaradei in his quest for a third term.
"ElBaradei has done a lot of valuable work in leading the IAEA and safeguarded the function and credibility of the organization’s anti-proliferation efforts", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters in Beijing.
He added "We are appreciative of his work and we support his seeking of a new term as Director-General of the IAEA.”
There is little question that ElBaradei has done a thorough job, largely reporting and assessing facts which have turned out to be far more accurate than it would appear some would have liked.
At a time of heightened uncertainty in the world it is somewhat unsettling that a person of the capability and integrity of the Egyptian diplomat should be discarded as a measure of pay-back.
Source: Independent.co.uk
