Dolts or Liars

Either most members of the media elite have a reading comprehension problem – which would necessarily result in low scores for them on standard IQ tests – or they deliberately misrepresent to you what they have read.

Now, that’s not too serious when you can determine for yourself whether they are dolts or liars. But in the case of the most recent report Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei has made to the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, since it is still confidential, there is no site where that report is posted.

Hence, secure in the knowledge that you’ll have to take their word for it, there are more than a few inflammatory accounts extant of what the report said.

According to George Jahn, an Associated Press neo-crazy media sycophant:

"The International Atomic Energy Agency made it official Friday: Iran continues to defy the UN Security Council over its suspect nuclear program.

"The IAEA’s report said Iran defied the council’s call to freeze uranium enrichment by Friday and was stonewalling efforts to determine if it is developing nuclear arms.

"The eight-page report, drawn up by IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei for the Security Council and obtained by the Associated Press, contained few new revelations."

And, according to Molly Moore, a member of the Washington Post‘s foreign service:

"The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran is conducting an enrichment program in defiance of UN Security Council demands to halt it."

Apparently, then, someone on the IAEA Board has allowed Jahn and Moore at least to read – if not “obtain” – ElBaradei’s confidential report. So, if it doesn’t actually say what Jahn and Moore say it says, then they are revealed to be either dolts or liars.

In particular, if ElBaradei’s report does not imply – much less charge – that Iran is “defying” the Security Council, then both Jahn and Moore are revealed to be telling the same inflammatory warmongering lie.

So, does it?

Well, it’s best you go read “Excerpts from a report by the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, issued to the UN Security Council on Friday 28 April” provided by BBC News.

These lengthy verbatim excerpts are provided without editorial comment.

First of all, nowhere in the BBC News excerpts is the Security Council even mentioned. There is no mention of the UNSC Presidential Statement nor of the “call” contained therein for Iran to comply with the IAEA Board’s outrageous, illegal “requirements” to:

  • “reestablish full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, to be verified by the Agency;"
  • “reconsider the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water;"
  • “ratify promptly and implement in full the Additional Protocol;"
  • “pending ratification, continue to act in accordance with the provisions of the Additional Protocol which Iran signed on 18 December 2003;"
  • “implement transparency measures, as requested by the Director General, including in GOV/2005/67, which extend beyond the formal requirements of the Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol, and include such access to individuals, documentation relating to procurement, dual use equipment, certain military-owned workshops, and research and development as the Agency may request in support of its ongoing investigations.”

Now, recall that ElBaradei’s sole responsibility under the Safeguards Agreement required of Iran by the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons is to determine – as best he can – that all “source and special nuclear materials” in Iran have been “declared” and to verify to the IAEA Board that – as best he can determine – no such materials have been used in furtherance of any military purpose!

Quoth ElBaradei:

"Iran continues to facilitate the implementation of the Safeguards Agreement and had – until February 2006 – acted on a voluntary basis as if the Additional Protocol were in force.

"Until February 2006, Iran had also agreed to some transparency measures requested by the Agency, including access to certain military sites.

"All the nuclear material declared by Iran to the Agency is accounted for. Apart from the small quantities previously reported to the Board, the Agency has found no other undeclared nuclear material in Iran."

Hence, ElBaradei has made yet another report to the IAEA Board – and forwarded a copy to the UNSC – that he can find no undeclared proscribed materials in Iran and no indication that any such materials have ever been used in furtherance of any military purpose.

ElBaradei concluded by noting that “the Agency cannot make a judgment about – or reach a conclusion on – future compliance or intentions.”

Author: Gordon Prather

Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for national security-related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr. Prather also served as legislative assistant for national security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico.