ElBaradei Blathering

It's no wonder this man got the Nobel Peace Prize. It's also no wonder that his organization is so completely powerless.

The world should stop treating the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea as isolated cases and instead deal with them in a common effort to eliminate poverty, organized crime and armed conflict, the director general of the United Nations' nuclear monitoring agency said Saturday in accepting the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. The director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, said a "good start" would be for the United States and other nuclear powers to cut nuclear weapon stockpiles sharply and redirect spending toward international development.

Ah, the Dream, disarm the Evil Americans so they can give the money to the poor.

Feelings of insecurity and humiliation, exaggerated by today's nuclear imbalance, are behind the spread of bomb-development programs at the national level, said Dr. ElBaradei, who has led the International Atomic Energy Agency since 1997. No less dangerous, he added, are the presumed efforts of extremist groups to acquire nuclear materials. With goods, ideas and people moving more freely than ever, the containment of nuclear technology must be part of a broad global effort, he said.

My god, is this man in his right mind? Should we seek psychotherapy and a big hug for those feeling insecurity and humiliation? Oh no, ElBaradei would rather those with power disarm to bring themselves down to the same level as the insecure. Does that make any sense at all?

Extremist groups are seeking these weapons, not to feel secure, but to ultimately use against those that they disagree with. Their intention isn't to feel better, but to gain power. The effectiveness of the IAEA has been shown clearly with the activities related to Iran and North Korea. They have shown that they can pester those states and still ensure that they develop nuclear weapons.

"We cannot respond to these threats by building more walls, developing bigger weapons or dispatching more troops," he said. "These threats require primarily multinational cooperation." Dr. ElBaradei said the manufacture and sale of nuclear fuel for power generation, which can also be enriched to make bombs, should be placed under multinational control, with his agency operating as a "reserve fuel bank" for accredited nations.

There is a brilliant idea. Put nuclear fuel control under whom? The UN? That will ensure that no one with sites on nuclear power will get nuclear fuel. Just like Saddam didn't get vast quantities of cash out of the food for oil program. Or maybe the IAEA thinks it should have control. But then, who would have oversite of that group? Should the major powers that already produce their own Uranium voluntarily give control of the materials to the IAEA?

Then there is Iran stating that the US could bid on building a nuclear power plant in Iran.

"America can take part in international bidding for the construction of Iran's nuclear power plant if they observe the basic standards and quality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said. The head of Iran's atomic organization said Saturday that a light-water nuclear power plant would be built in the southwest.

The article wishes you to believe this could ease fears that Iran would use the nuclear plant for making material for nuclear bombs. I don't see how that follows. You have a plant and claim it's run at a certain rate, which would burn out the fuel early. You then take the fuel for the plants refueling and divert it to be processed and/or placed into a breeder reactor, and you get more bomb material instead.

For countries like Iran, I see no viable means to assist them with civilian nuclear power, when they have more than proven themselves beyond trust with any form of nuclear program.

UPDATE:
Oddly enough Professor Bainbridge has an entry on Iran getting the bomb. He links to a US Army War College's Strategic Studies Institutes book Getting Ready for a Nuclear Iran. It's pretty big, but looks like it could be an interesting read.