EFL: VIENNA (Reuters) - The Bush administration is prepared to drop its solitary campaign against Mohamed ElBaradei, who is flying to Washington to try to win support for a third term as head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, U.S. and European officials said. U.S. and European officials told Reuters that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will offer support for ElBaradei's candidacy as director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "The U.S. will support ElBaradei but it wants some things in return," a European diplomat told Reuters, adding these issues involved Iran and the general fight against nuclear arms proliferation. The diplomat did not elaborate. No immediate comment was available from the State Department.
ElBaradei has headed the IAEA since 1997. He fell out with the Americans over what they saw as soft-pedalling on the atomic programs of Iraq and Iran. ElBaradei was due to arrive in Washington late on Wednesday. He was scheduled to meet Rice and Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Robert Joseph on Thursday, diplomats said. Joseph is the successor to John Bolton, the U.S. administration's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations and ElBaradei's most vocal U.S. critic.
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors begins its quarterly meeting Monday. One of the main items on the agenda is the issue of a third term for ElBaradei, which Washington opposed, arguing that heads of U.N. agencies should not serve more than two terms. U.N. diplomats say the real reasons were ElBaradei's refusal to accept U.S. allegations that prewar Iraq had revived its nuclear weapons program and his opposition to U.S. demands that the IAEA board report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for hiding sensitive nuclear activities from the agency.
In April, the board's Canadian chairwoman, Ingrid Hall, told board members the United States was the only country opposing ElBaradei. Since the agency tries to reach all decisions by consensus, the vote was delayed.
| Better a known incompetant than a unknown one, I guess |