ElBaradei Springs Into Action, Declares Syria ‘Innocent Until Proven Guilty’

The UN’s blind watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei is pushing hard to continue helping the Syrians build a nuclear reactor, despite new evidence that they were conducting a clandestine nuclear project. ElBaradei says that just like individuals, countries should be considered innocent until proven guilty: ‘Don’t prejudge Syrian nuclear program.’

“There are claims against Iraq, which proved to be bonkers, but only after a terrible war,” ElBaradei said after the US and its allies questioned Syria’s right to his agency’s help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor.

“There is one thing called investigation, another called clear-cut proof of innocence or guilt … and all of you, even if you are not lawyers, know that people and countries are innocent until proven guilty,” he said. …

Syria denies hiding nuclear activities. But the report strengthened both concerns that it might have something to conceal and arguments from the US and its allies that Damascus should not be offered agency help in planning its civilian reactor. Beyond helping the Syrians develop expertise, the $350,000 aid project would send the wrong signal about a country under investigation by the IAEA, critics like the Americans argued.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was “totally inappropriate, we believe, given the fact that Syria is under investigation by the IAEA for building a nuclear reactor outside the bounds of its international legal commitments.” …

But ElBaradei disagreed, saying there was no legal basis to cancel or postpone the program.

Commenting on ElBaradei’s scrappy stance, a senior diplomat with good connections to IAEA staff said the agency chief personally sent text messages to key aides telling them to stand tough on the Syria issue. He demanded anonymity because his information was privileged.

(Hat Tip:The LGF Cult Leader)

My Comments:

This just shows the the UN is in the tank for the Islamo-Fascists. Why are we still in the UN?

ElBaradei: Idiot

oday’s jaw-dropping example of United Nations idiocy comes from the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, who declared that his agency is powerless to do anything about nuclear proliferators who don’t tell the truth.

He actually seems surprised to discover that nations like Iran and Saddam-era Iraq would try to hide their nuclear programs. Say it ain’t so, Mohamed!

Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the crux of the problem was that some countries under investigation, the latest being Syria, had failed to ratify an agency protocol permitting short-notice IAEA visits to sites not declared to be nuclear to ensure no bomb-related work was going on at secret locations.

“Our legal authority is very limited. With Iraq, we have discovered that unless we have the Additional Protocol in place, we will not really be able to discover undeclared activities,” he said on the sidelines of the agency’s annual 145-nation General Conference in Vienna.

“Our experience is that any proliferator will not really go for declared diverted activities (that would quickly reveal them as violators of the Non-Proliferation Treaty), they will go for completely clandestine undeclared activities,” he said.

(Hat tip:Chas)