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Is Muhamad Elbaradei A Practicing Muslim?

September 7th, 2009 |

The Baradei Effect | Gulf Stream

middleeastinthenews.wordpress.com7/11/11

As the grass root campaign to nominate El-Baradei in the 2011 Egyptian presidential elections grows, and along with it the speculation whether this could happen or not, it is important to recognize three significant …

The Rosett Report » Egypt: Please, Not ElBaradei

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Freedom, justice, and prosperity for Egypt are devoutly to be wished. As is abundantly clear by now, the big question for the genuine democrats among the demonstrators, and a big question for the U.S., Israel, and other …

Is Muhamad Elbaradei A Practicing Muslim?

If "Yes", Then It Would Explain His Attitude Towards Iran.

If Elbaradei is a pious Muslim who’s loyalty is to Islam and the dictates and mandates of the Koran, then it would perhaps explain the proliferation of nuclear weaponry and technology among Islamic states, and state sponsors of terror under his tenure as head of the IAEA – (International Atomic Energy Agency).

I was unable to find any verifiable information as to his religious affiliation, and every article that I read, scrupulously avoided the subject, so if any reader can point me to a reliable source I would much appreciate it.

There are a great many complaints and suspicions regarding Elbaradei and here are just a few,

1) A Wall Street Journal op-ed by Michael Rubin and Daniel Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute opined that ElBaradei’s first-term as director of the IAEA saw Iran’s construction of "covert enrichment facilities continue undetected", and they cited a 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate which accused Iran of engaging in covert-nuclear weapon design until 2003.

2) Caroline Glick is an American-Israeli Journalist and deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, and a Senior Fellow for Middle East Affairs of the Washington, DC-based Center for Security, and she boldly and openly accused Elbaradei of using his position at the IAEA "to facilitate proliferation of nuclear energy for military purposes".

3) In September 2007, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned of the potential dangers of a nuclear Iran saying, "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war".

4) Dr. Kaveh L Afrasiabi, the author of ‘After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran’s Foreign Policy’, said that "ElBaradei has been downplaying Iran’s cooperation for some time, and has given himself the license to speculate on the timeline when Iran could convert its peaceful nuclear work into weaponization, which is irresponsible and inconsistent with his statements on other states".

5) Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indirectly criticized ElBaradei saying that "ElBaradei is muddying the message to Iran", and that "the IAEA is not in the business of diplomacy, but is a technical agency that has a board of governors of which the United States is a member".

6) In August 2009 an article in the left wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which is normally very hostile to the present Israeli government, alleged that ElBaradei had "censored evidence obtained by IAEA inspectors over the preceding few months, which indicated that Iran was pursuing information about weaponization efforts and a military nuclear program".

The author of the article went on to say that, "senior officials from Israel, America, France, Britain and Germany have pressured ElBaradei to publish this information".

Innocent Until Proven Guilty?

In the September/October 2009 issue of the ‘Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists", ElBaradei said, "Probably because I’m a lawyer, I don’t see how you can accuse someone of something without showing them the evidence. We have to apply due process and not a Kafkaesque process".

The basic presumption of innocence is good for as long as no strong evidence is brought to light that can become the basis for an indictment, but in cases where the actions of states are in question, and where the evidence is worrying, the international community surely has the right to take preventive action, and Iran’s breaches of obligations have already been perceived as sufficiently worrying to warrant UN Security Council action on several occasions.

Iran Will Soon Have Nuclear Weapons – If Not Stopped

A nuclear weapons development project is fundamentally three pronged:

1) The production of the fissile material for the core of the nuclear explosive device, and Iran could have this ready within a year.

2) The design and manufacture of the device into which the core is inserted.

3) The weapons delivery system.

Iran is said to have received the designs for the explosive mechanism from Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani nuclear scientist and metallurgical engineer who is widely regarded as the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear program, and they are known to work.

Fitting the explosive mechanism unto a medium-range missile warhead is extremely difficult, but the Iranians are said to have already solved this problem, and they apparently have lots of missiles which could deliver the payload, although their efficacy is somewhat in doubt.

Whether he intended to help Iran or not, ElBaradei assisted Iran in advancing its endeavors to obtain nuclear weapons, and if rumors that the IAEA is withholding relevant evidence are true, then one can simply hope that the incoming IAEA head, Japanese diplomat Yakiya Amano, will take swift action, before Israel, France, the United States or others have to.