Will the Real Mohammed El Baradei Please Stand Up?

Year-after-year for a decade, ElBaradei used his position at the IAEA to stall
for time on behalf of Iran. In September 2005 ElBaradei helped push the issue
off the Security Council table and bragged: “I am encouraged that the issue has
not been referred to the Security Council, precisely to give time for diplomacy
and negotiation.” Typical of his foot-dragging was his February 2006 report:
“Although the Agency has not seen any diversion of nuclear material to nuclear
weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, the Agency is not at this point in
time in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or
activities in Iran. The process of drawing such a conclusion… is a time
consuming process.”

In January 2007, in the midst of growing calls for sanctions against Iran,
ElBaradei suggested a “time-out.” In September 2007, with stiffer sanctions on
the horizon, ElBaradei again called for a “time-out.” In January 2008 the IAEA
reported: “ElBaradei has repeatedly noted that… the IAEA has not seen any
diversion of material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.”

As soon as ElBaradei was finally replaced as IAEA head early last year, his
successor Yukiya Amano attempted to distance himself from the obvious cover-up.
He issued a report in which the IAEA, for the first time, said things like – on
the basis of “extensive” and “credible” information the IAEA now has “concerns
about the possible existence in Iran of… current undisclosed activities
related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile,” and “concerns
about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.”

If El Baradei were ever to become President of Egypt, not only would he have
helped Iran acquire nuclear weapons, he would undoubtedly turn around and lead
the charge for an Egyptian nuclear weapon. Nobel Prize notwithstanding, his
calling card is to cast nuclear proliferation as some kind of equal rights game
between developed and developing countries.

Here is the frightening interview he gave to the Financial Times on February 19,
2007 that indicates the kind of Iranian look-alike which is in the making: “Iran
sees enrichment… as a strategic goal because they feel that this will bring
them power, prestige and influence…[A] lot of that is true. A nuclear
capability is a nuclear deterrent in many ways…When you see here in the UK the
programme for modernising Trident, which basically gets the UK far into the 21st
century with a nuclear deterrent, it is difficult then for us to turn around and
tell everybody else that nuclear deterrents are really no good for you…”

Reports out of Egypt directly connecting ElBaradei’s political ambitions with
Tehran surfaced last September via a political rival, Abdul Mabboud. A story
translated from Egyptian Newspaper Al Youm Al Sabeh last September said: “in a
communication to the Attorney General of Egypt, Dr. Yasser Najib Abdel Mabboud,
has accused Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei…of receiving funds exceeding $7 million (US)
from Iran’s leadership as support for ‘political reform in Egypt’.” The story
claimed that “the check in the amount of $ 7 million is said to be meant to
cover the financial costs of the election campaign and the activities of the
Front for Change.”

The shoe sure seems to fit. ElBaradei told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria Sunday that:
“The Muslim Brotherhood…has nothing to do with extremism…[T]hey have a lot
of credibility…And I have been reaching out to them.” Actually, ElBaradei’s
comrade-in-arms is a viciously antisemitic and anti-Western organization that
would send Egyptian women back to the stone ages and rupture peace agreements
with Israel as a warm-up act.

If the Obama administration throws Mubarek overboard in the immediate future
with nothing but an ElBaradei-Muslim Brotherhood front man in the wings,
Egyptians will be farther away from democracy than they ever were and the rest
of the world will be a far more dangerous place.