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TechnoratiIAEA Chief Warns Against Striking Iran
VIENNA - Invoking the war in Iraq, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector criticized talk of attacking Iran as "hype" on Monday, saying the use of force should only be considered as a last resort and only if authorized by the U.N. Security Council.
"I would not talk about any use of force," said Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in an indirect response to French warnings that the world had to be prepared for the possibility of war in the event that Iran obtains atomic weapons.
Saying only the U.N. Security Council could authorize the use of force, ElBaradei urged the world to remember Iraq before considering any similar action against Iran.
"There are rules on how to use force, and 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 told reporters.
He was alluding to a key U.S. argument for invading Iraq in 2003 without Security Council approval_ that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms. Four years later, no such arsenals have been found.
ElBaradei, speaking outside a 144-nation meeting of his agency, urged both sides to back away from confrontation, in comments addressed both to Iran and the U.S.-led group of nations pressing for new U.N. sanctions for Iran's refusal to end uranium enrichment.
"We need to be cool," he said, adding: "We need not to hype the issue".
On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned that the world should prepare for war if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and said European leaders were considering their own economic sanctions against the Islamic country.
Negotiations and two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear power plants as well as material used in atomic weapons.
Iran insists its atomic activities are aimed only at producing energy, but the U.S., its European allies and other world powers suspect Iranian authorities of seeking nuclear weapons.
Kouchner, speaking on RTL radio, said that if "such a bomb is made... We must prepare ourselves for the worst," he said, specifying that could mean a war.
The United States, too has refused to rule out the possibility of force against Iran if it continues to defy Security Council demands on enrichment. Still, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday the U.S. administration is committed, for now, to using diplomatic and economic means to counter the potential nuclear threat from Iran.
"I think that the administration believes at this point that continuing to try and deal with the Iranian threat, the Iranian challenge, through diplomatic and economic means is by far the preferable approach. That's the one we are using," the Pentagon chief said.
Iran does not directly figure on the agenda of the IAEA general conference, which opened a five-day meeting Monday. Still comments, both inside and outside the plenary hall reflected the world's concerns over the country's nuclear aims.
In comments alluding to the U.S. and its Western allies, Iranian Vice President Reza Aghazadeh accused unnamed countries of forcing the international community onto the "unjustified, illegal, deceptive and misleading path ... by imposing restrictions and sanctions."
And he again ruled out scrapping Iran's uranium enrichment program, telling delegates Iran would "never give up its inalienable and legal right in benefiting from peaceful nuclear technology."
ElBaradei, architect of a recent pact committing Iran to stop stonewalling his experts and lift the shroud of secrecy on past suspicious nuclear work, defended the agreement against criticism it could be used by Tehran as a smoke screen to draw attention from its defiance of the Security Council.
"What we need to do is encourage Iran to work with the agency to clarify the outstanding issues," he said.
"I do not believe at this stage that we are facing a clear and present danger that require we go beyond diplomacy," ElBaradei said, adding that his agency had no information that "the Iran program is being weaponized."
Alluding to Western criticism that he was being too soft on Iran, ElBaradei said: If "in time of hype telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act ... I will continue to be a revolutionary."
© 2007 Associated Press
46 Comments so far
Show AllVenezuela, Iraq, Iran...it's all about the dollar. All three of those states are members of OPEC. All three have said OPEC should switch to the EURO as it's standard transaction currency. All three have paid a price for that idea. If the US dollar loses it's hold on the world currency market, the US economic house of cards will collapse. Nothing...NOTHING is more important than defending the dollar that makes our cushy American life possible. In the end it is a losing battle, but we must fight it to the bitter end or we will experience a dramatic reduction in our quality of life, much sooner than later.
WmC,
Good point. I constantly have to point out that (the Iranians offered to resolve issues with the US in 2003) to everyone I argue with about Iran. Since this is so important and is so rarely mentioned in the corporate media, the lack of mention by the media and the ignorance of it by the US public must be intentional.
The American public should be constantly reminded that the Bush misadministration had an opportunity to get EVERYTHING it wanted from Iran in the spring of 2003: cooperation on Iraq, nuclear arms limitations and inspections, recognition of Israel and a cessation to funding of Palestinian terrorists. But the Bush/Cheney neocon collaborative was not willing to forego their dream of regime change in Iran, and criticized the Swiss embassy for even forwarding the offer from Iran.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/17/AR2006061700727_pf.html
Roundabout, You have provided the info to sign a petition, thank you and I signed it last week. You other readers here please do take the time to check it out. It's a petition to the UN asking for sanctions on the US, it states the reasons why and it is very well written. I was most pleased to hear from my daughter that she heard about it on the radio.
See Roundabout at 12:50 am for the site connect.
A few reflections:
1) Mr ElBaradei will be removed or forced to resign by the U.S. and some other members of the Iraq coalition of the killing, but this time plus the French poodle who is acting like the notorious British criminal, Tony the lapdog. Already neocons and ziocons are attacking Mr ElBaradei, right, left, and center. The U.S. intends to remove this obstacle to its war plans.
2) The new U.S. shills, Sarkozy and his foreign minister must be Hallucinating under U.S. pressure to align with the U.S-Israeli war policies.
3. The U.S. wants to dominate the Middle East, rob other nations of their oil/gas resources, and make Israel the dominant power in that region. The rest, as Mr ElBaradei put it, is hype.
JUNGLEBOY
i know lots of things. what are you referring to.?
The plan to nuke Iran is brilliant is it not? It opens up a third front when the other two wars are failing miserably. It will lead inexorably to a catastrophic explosion of violence and general conflagration in the Middle East. It will probably lead to a compete freeze on oil exports and a depression in the US.
It will legitimise the use of Nuclear weapons against the US by its enemies. It will confirm all the worst opinions other Nations have of the US.
It will lead to a complete breakdown of the NPT and trigger off a worsening global arms race and cold war. Currently the US is in breach of the NPT see 'People Against the Bomb' on Google Video, and the report on weapons of mass destruction: http://www.wmdcommission.org/
It will be the third time the US has dropped WMD making it the only nation to commit this horrific crime thrice.
Iran has declared it want peace.
These threats only make their need to manufacture nuclear weapons more likely/ The antiwar movement must unite, see www.peacesource.net
Is this administration totally brainless?
US voters 66% of whom do not want WMD should demand that their Presidential candidates demand 'No First use' and make the NPT a major issue. Nuclear Winter is not the answer to global warming.
coco - you know!
Of course this is all hype. What would a war be with out it? I think its better to dump hundred dollar bills in the highway in front of the "grey house" during lunch. One might have more luck than in a battle of words with the stupid americans. Most can't even read past the fourth grade!
A few reflections:
1) Mr ElBaradei will be removed or forced to resign by the U.S. and some other members of the Iraq coalition of the killing, but this time plus the French poodle who is acting like the notorious British criminal, Tony the lapdog. Already neocons and ziocons are attacking Mr ElBaradei, right, left, and center. The U.S. intends to remove this obstacle to its war plans.
2) The new U.S. shills, Sarkozy and his foreign minister must be Hallucinating under U.S. pressure to align with the U.S-Israeli war policies.
3. The U.S. wants to dominate the Middle East, rob other nations of their oil/gas resources, and make Israel the dominant power in that region. The rest, as Mr ElBaradei put it,is hype.
ROUNDABOUT
and just a little light relief: you know what you get when you play country and western backwards? you get your house back, you get your car back, you get your dog back, ...............ha ha ha...............
ROUNDABOUT
i just tried to sign but it came up 'network error' timed out. i will try again later. but just as a suggestion: why don't you put it on www.care2.com they have over a million subscribers. it's an environmental site so you would probably get lots of signatures there if they allow you to post it. good luck.
i think what you are dealing with here by lack of signatures is the fear instilled in everyone of the possible repurcussions from the thugs in the grey house if they get caught. you know: take your house, take your car, take your dog, take your bank account etc. etc. everything else doesn't seem to work, so why not try this?
AND JUST IN ON YAHOO WEBSITE
Retired general john abizaid has said we can live with a nuclear armed iran and cautions aggression. at last, someone with a modicum of sense and understanding............
Basically, with few exceptions, all I see up here is we're doomed, nothing can be done, oh this is all so horrible or, git yer guns and head for DC.
For the first group, since you've got nothing left to lose, PLEASE follow the link.
For the second group, before you get yourself killed, PLEASE follow the link.
Shit! You'd think I was asking you to cut off your fucking arm! It won't kill you to sign it! It MIGHT, just MAYBE, start a little snowball rolling down the hill. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/unsanam2
xi_people September 17th, 2007 11:56 am
"Does God exist? Can anyone stop this genocidal madness?"
God or no God, it we just keep talking, then no, nothing will stop this genocidal madness.
Take 30 seconds. Sign this petition. It's better than nothing.http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/unsanam2
MaxheMust September 17th, 2007 11:33 am
"The USA is a menace to all of mankind. It is like a big horrific bully on steroids and crack killing that goes around killing or crippling innocent people of all ages who get in it's greedy, lawless way. It must be stopped."
And who will stop it Max? Only a united international effort will have any chance.
And how can this happen? I only know of one possibility. However slim it may be, it's the only chance left.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/unsanam2
Clearlake..have seen the movie.
Have you read the book...It Can't Happen Here...Sinclair Lewis 1935.
Also excellent.
STARTING NOW
THERE IS IN EFFECT
THE WORLD-WIDE
*** BOYCOTT-TO-BANKRUPTCY ***
OF
EXXON/MOBILE CORPORATION
THE BOYCOTT WILL END WHEN THE U.N. CERTIFIES THAT IRAQ IS A SOVEREIGN NATION AND THAT HOSTILITIES HAVE CEASED.
WHY EXXON? BECAUSE AT THE CORE OF THIS MESS ARE THE CORPORATION AND OIL. THERE ARE OTHERS AS WELL, BUT WE MUST FOCUS ON JUST ONE. BECAUSE IT IS SOMETHING WE CAN DO. BECAUSE IT IS LEGAL, NON-VIOLENT AND WILL SEND A MESSAGE FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD THAT WE WILL HAVE OUR PLANET BACK!!
BUY NO PRODUCT.
SELL THE STOCK IF YOU HAVE IT.
DEAL WITH COMPANIES WHICH DO NOT USE THEIR PRODUCTS.
PETITION YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO USE OTHER BRANDS.
BE COURTEOUS TO THE EMPLOYEES AND HELP DISPLACED WORKERS FIND EMPLOYMENT ELSEWHERE.
NOW AND FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES.
THE PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD ARE ONE!
IF WE ACT AS ONE—WE ARE AS ONE!!
TELL 11 TO TELL 11 TO TELL 11.
PEACE
"The war is over, and nobody won. The radio active cloud circling the earth is slowly killing everything in its path."
Have any of you here read the book, or even watched the movie, "On The Beach", by Nevile Shute? Written in 1949, but so chilling to read now. The last message of the film: "It is not too late". I wonder.
There are several funny comments in here. This is good! Keep them coming.
It looks like France is determined to replace England as Uncle Sam's prison punk.
this is not 1945. a nuclear attack on iran's nuclear facilities and other chemical war sites would be an enviornmental nightmare. a fallout soup of radioctivity and biologicals spilling into other countries and iraq. is a country liable for using weapons of mass destruction?
What comes around, goes around.
Has the USA not created enough mayhem in this world?
It should be concentrating on its declining economy, world standing and influence rather than contempleting an attack on Iran.
The world is not concerned about Iran's nuclear aims, per se.
The world is mostly concerned about US imperial aggression against the Middle East and against the wider world.
The world recognizes that arms escalation in the Middle East is largely driven by US imperialist aggression.
The world recognizes that Islamic radicalism is largely fueled by the history of aggression in the Middle East by competing imperialists, most prominently the US/UK/Israeli axis.
The world recognizes that world peace is maximized by eliminating the largest menace first - US imperial aggression.
To this end, the world is steadily shifting exchange/association away from the US.
No disrespect to El Baradei, but his words ring hollow to me. What's he gonna do when the US attacks Iran? What is the UN gonna do? Not a damn thing. They will pay lip service; but at the same time they will collude and collaborate in the upcoming war of genocide in Iran. What did Kofi Anan do when the US invade Iraq? Not a damn thing! I want sanctions against the US. The world should tell the US if there gonna play, they are gonna make'em pay!!Stop pretending to be against it unless you are gonna do something about it!
"Notice the new right-wing Bush Buddy in France sending his Foreign Minister out with omens of war too"
The election of Sarkozy was every bit as sickening an evening as the stolen election of 2004 here in the US. The same sort of neocon BS has been building for at least a decade there, and finally it had its effect after the nationwide car & property burnings a couple years ago.
But French citizens aren't quite as supine as we are, and don't have the illusion of possessing some sort of divine inspiration for their government . . .
yeah! french fries back in the capital.
The USA is out of control...
Cmon everyone. Are we really this gullible? For 7 years the administration hasn't listened nor adhered to international law and treaties, what makes you think they're going to start listenting to it now?
The US motives are pure. The US position is that it should be able to control the region and any nation that attempts to defend itself against US control must be attacked and its means to defend itself destroyed, regardless of how many innocent civilians will die in the process. The US motives are pure hegemony and control without any consideration of the lives or rights of people who live in the region.
We have seen such pure motives before.
The world should prepare for war if France gets nuclear weapons. Is it too late to say that?
Benihaha is quite right: "Iran signed the non-proliferation treaty. Under that treaty they are well within their rights to pursue nuclear power and are entitled to nuclear power technology and assistance."
It would be quite a different scene today, had Washington said, Yes, Iran, you have a right to develop nuclear power and we have an obligation to help you.
Iran would not have to pursue this program in "secret" (code word for "without the interference of Washington").
it bears repeating that the iranians are acting within the spirit and letter of the law.
like the palestinians, who voted the wrong way, the iranians are now to be punished for not breaking the law.
let us also remember that the only country who has ever used nukes in the real world is the gnarly little rogue state, terrorist sponsoring country called the united states.
Iran signed the non-proliferation treaty. Under that treaty they are well within their rights to pursue nuclear power and are entitled to nuclear power technology and assistance.
The United States is in violation of the non-proliferation treaty and SALT by attempting to develop nuclear "bunker buster" weapons. The United States has also threatened to attack Iran with nuclear weapons, further violating the non-proliferation treaty.
The United States attacked the country of Afghanistan after falsely accusing them of harboring Bin Laden.
(A whole country attacked and occupied to get just one man)
The United States has attacked the country of Iraq after falsely accusing them of hoarding dangerous chemical weapons and falsely accusing them of developing nuclear weapons.
The United States is now accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons. Based on it's previous record, I would have to say they are falsely accusing Iran.
So there you have it. The USA is on a warpath. Any country can be blamed and attacked. It is a rampaging monster and the only true threat to worldwide peace and security.
If Israel and the US start yet another pre-emptive war against another Muslim nation we should drop all the pretense about who is defending whom. These two countries are the aggressive warmongerers of the 21st Century, not the victims, and their governments ought to be tried for war crimes. It is unconscionable that Bush and Olmert now have three wars to their disgrace, in a 5-year period. It is unconscionable that thousands of innocents have died because of these thugs. They have sabotaged international law and have brought disgrace on themselves and their nations. The only other player in these disasters who has enabled and cheered on these inhuman actions is the US Congress--a pathetic bunch of immoral rich folk who hide behind religion, patriotism, and "the troops" to evade doing what's right for this country.
Let's see if I have got this right. Israel has violated numerous U.N. Resolutions, invaded other countries, carried out targeted assassinations, house demolitions, developed weapons of mass destruction. The U.S and other Western countries have imposed sanctions on Israel that have killed half a million Israeli children. The American Secretary of state says on 60 Minutes that it was "worth it". Israel was later asked to disarm by a U.S President, and to show that it no longer possessed weapons of mass destruction. It complied, but that was not enough to stop an American lead invasion to eliminate a brutal dictator (Ariel Sharon) and to bring democracy to Israel. Israel has large reserves of oil coveted by Americans. This invasion/occupation killed over one million Israelis and forced another 2-3 million into exile. Holocaust #2 or am I an anti-semite for painting this scenario?
Kouchner is a Zionist war monger who supported the war against Iraq and is jokingly called a "leftist." He is as dangerous as Bush, Blair, Howard, Harper and company.
Just Google the "Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program" and see what THEY said (exact words) when many nations objected to their nukes: "They are only for peaceful purposes." The point of fomenting an Iran war is nothing more than the naked attempt to crush anybody in the region of "our oil" who might object to The West's sucking it out of them. Notice the new right-wing Bush Buddy in France sending his Foreign Minister out with omens of war too---to the NeoCons this is called creating legitimacy....The West's ENTIRE ECONOMY is hooked to the oil-pipe and its wealthy are not going to allow any resource to escape before they go down in post-colonial flames....When "our men and women in uniform" wake up to what they're doing---CHOOSING TO BE BLIND and carrying out this obscenity with their own bodies---perhaps they'll choose to do something else instead. Such as helping to arrest the PSYCHOPATHS currently in power
COMarc: I was charging ofcourse, but if you distinguish between the IAEA secretariat (inspections) and the IAEA Board of Governors, the latter have been behaving absolutely shamefully in this matter even though they were under extreme pressure from the US government.
But the core of the matter is that just as with the desired war against Iraq, ultimately it doesn't matter what the IAEA says, what the truth is, the US wants a war and it will walk over the IAEA, the UN and whatever obstacle might lay in their path, hell they would kill God (to answer your question xi_people) if such a thing existed to get their war.
Haven't we seen this script before? A prominent, knowledgeable individual who is intimately involved in the process of investigating a US claim against another country comes out with dire warnings against the current course of action.... Think, Hans Blix before the Iraq invasion. And just as Blix was marginalized and shunted aside, so is ElBaradei.
Sorry to say, it appears that the same horrific scenario is going to play out once again.... and again. Once Iran is "taken care of," then it will be on to Saudi Arabia. Just take a look at the new "blockbuster" movie being pushed down our throats called "The Kingdom."
Does God exist? Can anyone stop this genocidal madness?
Actually, the IAEA has been rather independent of the US Gov. Before Iraq, they were the ones with the inspectors on the ground and filing reports stating there was no evidence of an active nuclear program. If you look back, you can find back in 2002 both Bush attacking the inspectors in general and some rather viscious attacks by 'staffers' on ElBaradei personally.
Its not his fault that the US President and Congress went off on their own an attacked Iraq.
My only criticism is that he's off by an order of magnitude as to the scope of the crime that's been committed. Its not the horrible number of 70,000 innocent civilians that have died because of the war started by the US President and Congress, but its the incredibly obscene number of 700,000.
The USA is a menace to all of mankind. It is like a big horrific bully on steroids and crack killing that goes around killing or crippling innocent people of all ages who get in it's greedy, lawless way. It must be stopped.
Before the internet, American imperialistic greed and viciousness was more subtle and much harder for Americans to see.
Dennis Kucinich has the only viable plan to turn it around.
I truly admire this man and his lack of pretense.
It's too bad we are already ignoring any truth the IAEA has to offer.
The hypocrisy reeks - go after Iran who is practicing what is their right under treaty and give nuclear assistance to India and its maverick outlaw program.
Wise words again from mr ElBaradei. If only the world be different and the task of the IAEA were anything else then providing excuses for the US to start the wars it wants, his revolutionary truthtelling actually might make a slight difference. But I've yet to see any proof of that.
Remember the B-52 bomber that, had six nuclear weapons loaded onto it "by accident". The following may or may not be a rouse, but it sites news stories of the deaths of several of the airmen involved already:-
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/bbs/message.php?messageid=438111&mpage=1&showdate=9/16/07&forum=1
Let's see, now...isn't Iran a trading partner with Russia and China? Anyone ever heard of the 'Sunburn' anti-shipping cruise missile? Well. This should really put the kettle on.