Another war on a peacemaker

[Timbuk3]

UK secretly backs removal of nuclear chief
19 December 2004

The British government, while publicly supporting the efforts of Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, is secretly backing US plans to remove him.

The US State Department and the CIA were last week reported to have tapped phone conversations with Iranian officials by Dr ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in an attempt to gather information that could discredit him.

The Bush administration believes that Dr ElBaradei is taking too soft a line on Iran. In public Britain is closer to the IAEA position than Washington's: with Germany and France, it has led an EU initiative to persuade Iran to freeze its nuclear development. While the US refuses to rule out the use of force, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has described bombing Iran's facilities as "inconceivable".

It had been assumed that Britain was also well-disposed towards Dr ElBaradei, who has said he plans to seek a third term next year as IAEA chief, but a well-placed Whitehall source revealed that officials had secretly backed US moves to replace him. The Foreign Office gave its support to the plan weeks ago, and the Department of Trade and Industry, in charge of Britain's nuclear regulation, was also behind the move, according to the source.

Dr ElBaradei has angered Britain and the US by contradicting their claims that Iraq was seeking to reconstitute its nuclear programme. The Foreign Office refused to comment, but behind the scenes it is justifying its decision to back the Americans on a technicality known as the "Geneva rule". This says senior UN officials should serve no more than two terms, which would bring Dr ElBaradei's tenure to an end next summer.

Some of the IAEA's 35 board members are understood to want the 62-year-old Egyptian to stay on for a third term. To prevent his re-election, the US, backed by Britain, need to obtain 12 votes against him. The Washington Post reported last week that the US campaign is being driven by John Bolton, the hardline under-secretary of state for arms control, adding that the Americans would like to see Alexander Downer, the Australian Foreign Minister, as the new IAEA chief.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=594476

Subject line refers to this little known story from before the invasion of Iraq:

A War Against the Peacemaker

16/4/2002

The US wants to depose the diplomat who could take away its pretext for war with Iraq

By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 16th April 2002

On Sunday, the US government will launch an international coup. It has been planned for a month. It will be executed quietly, and most of us won't know what is happening until it's too late. It is seeking to overthrow 60 years of multilateralism, in favour of a global regime built on force.

The coup begins with its attempt, in five days' time, to unseat the man in charge of ridding the world of chemical weapons. If it succeeds, this will be the first time that the head of a multilateral agency will have been deposed in this manner. Every other international body will then become vulnerable to attack. The coup will also shut down the peaceful options for dealing with the chemical weapons Iraq may possess, helping to ensure that war then becomes the only means of destroying them.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) enforces the Chemical Weapons Convention. It inspects labs and factories and arsenals and oversees the destruction of the weapons they contain. Its director-general is a workaholic Brazilian diplomat called Jose Bustani. He has, arguably, done more in the past five years to promote world peace than anyone else on earth. His inspectors have overseen the destruction of two million chemical weapons and two-thirds of the world's chemical weapon facilities. He has so successfully cajoled reluctant nations that the number of signatories has risen from 87 to 145 in the past five years: the fastest growth rate of any multilateral body in recent times.

In May 2000, as a tribute to his extraordinary record, Bustani was re-elected unanimously by the member states for a second five-year term, even though he had yet to complete his first one. Last year Colin Powell wrote to him to thank him for his "very impressive" work. But now everything has changed. The man celebrated for his remarkable achievements has been denounced as an enemy of the people.

In January, with no prior warning or explanation, the US State Department asked the Brazilian government to recall him, on the grounds that it did not like his "management style". This request directly contravenes the Chemical Weapons Convention, which states "the Director-General ... shall not seek or receive instructions from any government." Brazil refused. In March, the US government accused Bustani of "financial mismanagement", "demoralization" of his staff, "bias" and "ill-considered initiatives". It warned that if he wanted to avoid damage to his reputation, he must resign.

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2002/04/16/a-war-against-the-peacemaker/

(More of each story at the links.)

Bustani was successfully removed and (just in case you've been hiding in a cave for the past 3 years) Iraq was invaded. The PNAC boys stayed hidden for the elections. I don't expect them to be able to constrain their glee at 4 more years of bloodshed and misery in the name of peace much longer.