US U-turn on ElBaradei renomination?
American support would end Bolton-led attempt to dump IAEA head.
In what could be a signal that the Bush administration realizes it won't be able to stop the renomination of Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation's nuclear watchdog agency, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that the US may support Mr. ElBaradei.
CNN reports that Ms. Rice, who will meet with ElBaradei Thursday, said the US support may hinge on "
where we come out with Iran." Iran's nuclear program is
one of several issues that the Bush administration and the IAEA head have clashed over in the past few years.
The New York Times reports that until Wednesday's comment by Rice, the US
had been leading a charge to defeat Mr. ElBaradei's renomination, largely because he had often disagreed with the White House positions on issues like the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and Iran's nuclear plans. US officials had been saying officially that their reason for opposing a third six-year term for ElBaradei was the unofficial agreement that most top UN posts should only be for two terms.
But all of the previous heads of the IAEA served in the role for three terms, or even longer. And administration officials had been quietly saying for months that they "had been unable to convince any of their major allies" that ElBaradei needed to be removed.
The Times also reports that the decision to end the attempt to influence allies against ElBaradei was seen by many of those involved in the effort as "a defeat for John R. Bolton, until recently the under secretary of state for arms control and international security and now the nominee to be United Nations ambassador."
A senior administration official said that Mr. Bolton's efforts 'never got enough altitude' and that more recently he had been involved in getting himself confirmed for the United Nations job, with no one else in the administration ready to step in and push what he started.
And with all 34 other members of the IAEA board supporting ElBaradei,
Agence France-Presse reports that "it would have been difficult for the US to continue pressing the point" at next Monday's board meeting in Vienna.
"He is going to win either way, and if we went in opposing him, it would be ugly for us and for him," one official said. "So it's in everyone's interest to use the opportunity to work better together." The United States would like ElBaradei to take a tougher public stance on Iran, but the
Associated Press reports that aides to the IAEA head say that while he is "willing to listen" to US suggestions during his Thursday meeting with Rice, he
won't change his position "just to secure US support for his campaign for another term."
A senior IAEA official, who asked not to be named, suggested ElBaradei would not give into pressure from Washington in exchange for US support.
"One of the reasons he's been successful," the official said, "is because he has not pandered to any one country's agenda or any group of countries' agenda and always strives to maintain his impartiality."
But
AP also reports that in exchange for the US dropping opposition to his reelection, ElBaradei might be willing to agree to make the third term his last one, or endorse a US plan to create special IAEA committee policing possible nonproliferation violations.
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