U.S. 'Lobbying Allies to Oust UN Nuclear Chief'

[cal04]

The United States is lobbying allies in a bid to oust the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, perhaps as early as the end of the month, diplomats and officials say.

Officials from Western governments also told The Associated Press that, anticipating present European diplomatic efforts will fail, Washington planned to step up the pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme when the International Atomic Energy Agency met on February 28.

Washington, which accuses Tehran of making nuclear weapons and wants Iran brought before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, considers IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei too soft on Iran.No US comment was available for Washington’s strategies for the upcoming IAEA board of governors meeting.

But several diplomats and government officials from IAEA member countries, based in Vienna and other capitals, dismissed recent reports that the United States had given up attempts to unseat ElBaradei because of lack of support from other countries.“They’ve been lobbying, and close friends have given them a good reception,” said one of the sources familiar with the issue.
It remains unclear whether Washington could muster the 12 votes needed among the 35-nation IAEA board for a vote of non-confidence in ElBaradei.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4113782

[struggle4progress]

1. Washington steps up campaign to remove UN's nuclear chief

America is stepping up its efforts to remove Mohammed El Baradei, the Egyptian head of the United Nations atomic energy agency, as Washington prepares for a showdown over Iran's secret nuclear programme, a senior Bush adminstration official has revealed.

"It cannot be good for an organisation when the biggest contributor and its director general are at odds with each other," said the official, who is at the heart of policy-making in Washington. <snip>

"There are gracious ways to leave the stage," the official said. "El Baradei has not chosen the gracious way, but that has not changed our view that we need a new IAEA head." US officials are trying to gain support for a no-confidence vote, possibly at the next IAEA meeting on February 28. <snip>

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/13/wnuke13.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/02/13/ixworld.html

[Kimber Scott]

2. Why does he want to get everybody fired, but he promoted Rice and

kept Rumsfeld?

[98geoduck]

3. Rove/Bush quotient; failure = success