The UN’s former top nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday his cautious language in reports about Iran’s nuclear program was part of a deliberate policy to keep a lid on tensions and avert a rush to war.
Mohamed ElBaradei, who was director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 12 years before stepping down in November, pleaded with the international community to “learn the lessons” of the Iraq invasion and prevent further conflict in the Middle East.
In an interview, he said that despite its technical status, the IAEA’s work was deeply politicized.
“We are a technical organization totally embedded in a political setting,” ElBaradei said, “and we have to be aware of the background and political implications of our work.”
ElBaradei, who was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2005 along with the IAEA, has been criticized by some for allegedly toning down agency reports on the threat posed by Iran.
A report earlier this year — the first under the stewardship of ElBaradei’s successor, Yukiya Amano — was noted for its blunter language concerning Iran’s nuclear program, prompting some to accuse ElBaradei of concealing facts.
“It is now clear that ... ElBaradei was engaged in what may well prove to be the most lethal cover-up in human history,” a Forbes magazine columnist said following the report’s publication.
ElBaradei denied any cover-up had taken place, but acknowledged he believed he had a duty to frame agency reports in a way that could not be exploited by those seeking war. “When I was working at the agency we would literally go through 30 drafts or so of each report before it was ready, because I knew every word could be used politically and in a very subjective way,” he said. “Every word was weighed to make sure that it was immune from being abused and I always wanted to make sure that we were not overstating or understating, but rather just stating the facts.”
He rejected suggestions this amounted to undue political interference in the agency’s work.
“I think the tone was set by me, that’s true,” he said. “But all the facts were in every report, unvarnished.”
His cautious reports are in contrast to the title of his memoirs, Crawling Away From Armageddon, to be published later this year.
The book is expected to reveal details of ElBaradei’s private conversations with US officials, with whom he fought in vain to avoid a US-led invasion of Iraq.
“I would hope that the lessons of Iraq, both in London and in the US have started to sink in,” he said. “Sure there are dictators, but are you ready every time you want to get rid of a dictator to sacrifice a million innocent civilians?”
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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