great moments in israel’s diplomacy

‘ElBaradei’s Iran comments irrelevant’
Herb Keinon, JPost, Dec 6 2008

Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem dismissed as “irrelevant” Saturday night comments made by Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, who said efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear march have been a failure. “We haven’t really moved one inch toward addressing the issues,” ElBaradei told the LA Times in an interview published Friday. “I think so far the policy has been a failure.” ElBaradei’s words were flatly disregarded in Jerusalem. “His record as head of the IAEA is one of resounding failures,” one diplomatic official said. “His opinion is interesting, but it is the opinion of someone who has announced he will retire and, as he said in the interview, has bought a home in the south of France. His opinion now is no more significant than that of the man on the street.” The official said that ElBaradei would be judged by the fact that during his tenure Syria, Libya, North Korea and Iran all had nuclear programs. “The IAEA failed in all four cases,” the official said. “The problems in Libya and North Korea were solved by a process led by the Americans, and in Syria, someone else needed to do the work,” he said, alluding to the IAF attack on an alleged nuclear installation there in 2007. In light of those failures, the official said, and since ElBaradei has admitted in the past that his organization failed in Iran, “questions must be raised abut his job and the role of the IAEA.”