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ElBaradei, IAEA Share 2005 Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian Nobel Committee today announced that its 2005 Peace Prize would be awarded to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Oct. 6, 2004). The committee called ElBaradei “an unafraid advocate” for nuclear nonproliferation “at a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing.” It cited both ElBaradei and his agency “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.” In recent years the agency, which monitors nuclear materials around the world that could be diverted to illegal weapons manufacture, has been instrumental in investigating four major international crises: Iran, Iraq, North Korea and the nuclear black market created by former Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Post reported (Barbash/Linzer, Washington Post, Oct. 7). ElBaradei said he was surprised by the win and only learned of being chosen while watching today’s televised ceremony, Reuters reported. “The award sends a very strong message: ‘Keep doing what you are doing — be impartial, act with integrity,’ and that is what we intend to do,” he said. “The fact that there is overwhelming public support for our work definitely will help to resolve some of the major outstanding issues we are facing today, including North Korea, including Iran and nuclear disarmament,” he said (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Oct. 7). The Bush administration, which has clashed with the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Iraq and Iran and had opposed ElBaradei’s election to a third term, offered its congratulations. ElBaradei is worthy of the honor, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton ducked questions on whether the award could be seen as a comment on the U.S. stand on nuclear matters, according to the Associated Press. “I’ll stick with the secretary’s statement,” Bolton said (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 7). Some environmental activists today criticized the committee’s choice, saying the agency had in fact spurred proliferation by encourage the spread of nuclear energy programs, Agence France-Presse reported. “The IAEA is hoodwinking the public by claiming that its inspections are preventing access to nuclear weapons by countries that have signed the (Nuclear) Nonproliferation Treaty,” the French group Sortir du Nucleaire said in a press statement. “India, Pakistan and Israel have joined the five ‘great powers’ [the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China and France] in having an unjustifiable right to possessing nuclear weapons and in not meeting their pledges on nuclear disarmament,” the group said. “Recent developments (Iran, North Korea, etc.) have confirmed the IAEA’s patent failure,” it said. Greenpeace International praised ElBaradei as “a voice of sanity” for supporting a nuclear-free Middle East. However, spokesman Mike Townsley added that ElBaradei was trapped by the agency’s “contradictory role, as nuclear policeman and nuclear salesman” (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 7).
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