US bid to oust ElBaradei backfires over phone taps

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13624370.htm

VIENNA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Allegations that the United States had access to wiretaps on the telephone of the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog have damaged Washington's campaign to block his re-election, diplomats and analysts say.

The Washington Post reported on Sunday that U.S. officials had been combing through intercepted phone conversations between International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei and Iranian officials for evidence of mistakes that could be used to force his ouster.

ElBaradei, speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai, declined to comment on the report. "I won't talk," he said on Monday when asked about it.

"If they wanted to undermine him, they would have had to do it differently," a European diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "It only reinforces ElBaradei."

more

[xultar]

1. Tee hee hee n/t

[Pirate Smile]

2. BUSH FOREIGN POLICY MANEUVERS NOT WORK OUT WELL!

I'm shocked, shocked, I say!

[acmavm]

3. Why, oh why, do these dumb asses think that their sneaky criminal

ways impress and intimidate the rest of the world? That is really a sign of insanity, you know.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. The phrase "Ham-fisted Clods"...

Comes readily to mind. These guys have no idea. Devoid of clue.

4 years of paybacks are coming. To them. With love, from the world.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

10. and sealed with a kiss!

[makhno]

5. Heh, serves these dipshits well

Imagine the outcry and whiny idiotorials if:

France suspected of tapping IAEA phone lines
State Department decries Russian involvement in El-Baradei phone tap
Iranian intelligence taps IAEA phones - US to exercise nuclear option

[Gloria]

6. Didn't they eavesdrop on Hans Blitz, too???

I hate these people..

[Stockholm]

8. Yes they did, but he was quite placid about it.

I attended a lecture when the news broke about the US bugging him. When a reporter asked for his feelings about the whole mess, he simply said:

"I just wished they would have listened better to what I was saying."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1064565

[maddezmom]

9. not only can't * read, but I guess he can't hear either

:shrug:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. great reply Hnas!.......

"I just wished they would have listened better to what I was saying."

i like this man...would rather have him as my president instead of It*...

[DeepModem Mom]

7. kick

[ivolsky]

12. All those that dare question US policy, pay a price.

Apparently Bush is confusing the IAEA with his cabinet; trying to staff the organization with personal loyalists who would not question his (future) hyped foreign policy assertions. Perhaps this is some sort of preparation for North Korea. (See North Korea post below).

We may also see a personal smear campaign coordinated by the Bush Administration and echoed by the the right wing. Be on the lookout for similar talking points from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and um, John Bolton. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton, is eager to see ElBaradei go. "Bolton is known by members of the State Department as a ''guided missile'' because, "like a missile, Bolton has force and direction and often achieves his objectives, even if there is collateral damage. In 1994, for example, he charged, "There's no such thing as the United Nations," saying that ''If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.'' For more Bolton bakcground go here.

This is yet another way for the administration to take out its vitriol; we're seeing the same thing happening to Kofi Annan. All those that dare question US policy, pay a price. Truth and history are irrelevant. The Post notes that "three weeks before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the Observer newspaper in Britain published a secret directive from the National Security Agency ordering increased eavesdropping on U.N. diplomats." If anyone should leave in the post-Iraq debacle it should be hawks Wolfowitz, Feith, all those who ran the Office of Special Plans.

Yet the bottom line is that this campaign could further alienate the rest of the world. Gareth Evans, a former Australian foreign minister said that ElBaradei has been excellent in his job: "If they think they can get anyone who could have better handled the complex and difficult issues surrounding North Korea, Iran and other controversies, they are not understanding the world right now."

more: www.politicalthought.net

[Englander]

13. "Three US government officials" blew the whistle.....

Wonder who they were?