 IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei yesterday warned the United States against spying on the UN atomic agency saying it would be a blow to "multilateralism and the United Nations system as we know it."
| Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please ... |
US President George W Bush's administration has listened in on phone calls between ElBaradei and Iranian diplomats, seeking ammunition to oust him as head of the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), The Washington Post had reported in December. The US wants ElBaradei replaced at the crucial Vienna-based agency believing he is a candy-ass not being tough enough on Iran accused by Washington of hiding a covert nuclear weapons programme, diplomats said. ElBaradei said he had only read the Press reports and knew no more about the reported eavesdroping but "if it were true of course it would bother me a lot. If it were true obviously it's something which is a major violation of our right to independence," he said, adding "our independence is the key to our success, to our credibility."
| And since he has neither ... |
"If you tamper with our independence, you really tamper with the whole fabric of multilaterialism and the UN system as we know it," ElBaradei said. The White House has refused to comment on the report that the US had spied on ElBaradei. But US government spokesman Scott McClellan reiterated in December the US opposition to awarding 62-year-old ElBaradei, a third term as IAEA chief, when his current term expires in November. ElBaradei is the only candidate for the next IAEA director general's term.
| Again, big mistake. Find a friendly Canadian physicist. |
| I'd rather see us just veto the selection. Let the UN find somebody to please us. That's the way the Arabs do it, isn't it? |
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