ElBaradei has politicized his position and therefore undermined his credibility.  We need an alternative to the UN and people like ElBaradei.

Saluting the head of the UN Nuclear Watchdog Agency for saying that 30 countries may posess nuclear weaponds is like saluting a chief of police for sayig there will soon be 30 murders in his city. It is his fault for not dong more. Why should we congratulate him for that?

Thank you for so eloquently proving my point Buckshot.  Instructive, typical and sad.  (And with typically incorrect spelling.) 

Further, it is almost meaningless.  What precisely do you mean by the position he holds?  What implicit indictment does this confer?  And why?  What point do you wish to make with regard to socialism?  That it is bad?  I always think that rational debate is best conducted rationally, not the opposite. 

By choosing to focus on personalities rather than issues you have probably missed the most recent US polls asking whether the US people thought the president was doing a good job.  The highest poll, perhaps unsurprisingly showed that 42% of Fox News viewers approved, whereas only 34% of CBS viewers approved.  The US people from republican to democrat are clearly concerned with the way one man’s personality is dealing with strategic issues.  Wake Up?  I couldn’t agree more.  You should try it.

The position that Baradei holds is endictment enough for his statements. The UN is socialist to the core. Wake UP!

The position that Beradei holds is endictment enough for his statements. The UN is socialist to the core. Wake UP!

Is it not instructive, sad and typical in equal measure that an article about a man who delivers honest, apolitical, genuine and accurate assessments has degenerated into rather petty and juvenile name calling?  El-Baredei has quite simply articulated facts as discovered by his team, and commented on the inaccuracy of a US report on Iran.  And I do not see any indications that anyone - other than the usual suspects - the US political hawks - disagrees with his assessment. 

However, turning to genuinely inaccurate assessments: it seems to me that there are flaws in president Bush’s foreign policy logic - or the logic of his speechwriters.  In the narrow context of the source article, why does he / they think the US is always the target of those who wish to possess the weapons that the US possesses?  What proof of a threat exists?  A threat consists of two components - capability and intent.  Having one does not imply the other.  The recent one-on-one TV interview with the president contained the memorable, and utterly inaccurate analysis that somehow war in Iraq made the US safer.  I am at a loss to understand this.  When did Iraq ever actually threaten CONUS?  How did this threat manifest itself?  By the WMD it did not have?  By the international terrorists it did not sponsor?  How is North Korea actually threatening the US?  It may be a `rogue state’, but it is a sovereign `rogue state’; further: it is not suicidal.  And the same is true for Iran.  Does Bush really believe that Iran would launch an attack knowing the likely result of such an action? 

Finally, it is all very well for Bush to lash out at those he perceives as being inimical to his strange outlook on the world - he lives in fortress USA - behind the atlantic drawbridge. 

Others closer to the results of his actions have to live with enhanced threats.  Threats that have been created by his foreign policy - if it can be called that. 

The world is not polarised into black and white, with us or against us people, black hats and white hats, red teams and blue teams.  It is a world where an understanding of the finer shades of grey is important. 

He would do well to hire some real analysts, and stop relying on his coterie of yes-men.  But he won’t do that, because he knows he is right and God is on his side.  How tragic that such a great nation is led by such a weak man.

to:  #31867 by Paul                                                 In this world that is, as you have so usefully pointed out, run by gangster rules,  G.W. Bush is just the wannabe capo di tutti capi.  You seem to suggest the U.S. and its huge arsenal of WMD keeps the other petty mob bosses “honest.”  One supposes you’d deputize the U.K. and Israel, as well.  Woe to a world where there are only bad cops and worse cops, and absolute ‘police’ corruption is the order of the day.  It could be playing right now in a neighborhood near you.                                                          Careful, Paul, in recommending that a few of the tinhorns be made into radio-active “messages” to their brethren.  “That god that you’ve been prayin’ to’s gonna give you what you’ve been wishin’ on someone else.”  (Bob Dylan)  Maybe ElBaradei got the prize ‘cause he tried, at least, to keep the peace.

I am not Anglo-saxon, nor racist, nor twisted or living in the Dark Ages, and The title of Sir is one I have earned with my Faith,Love,and Chairity, and bestowed upon me by The Knights of columbus years ago, and one I humbly accepted, far from being the falsely accused “arrogant prick”, to be sure. So,Fadel, keep your powder dry and don’t get your blood pressure up! You over state your “case” and at no point did I grorify Democracy, as I am a Republican, registered and practicing in my own way and hardly a crony of W. Bush, convicted drunken driver, recovering alcoholic and cocaine abuser, or “hijacker” as you call him. “Hijacker” is a term reserved for Islamists mostly, of PLO affiliation, Hamas, Jihad, Hezbollah etc.You, the paragon and self-proclaimed expert of natural psychology that seems to believe the world owes you a living, are also wrong to say I have not posted enlightened and fruitful posts as they haven’t been restricted to this site’s forum. you have failed to do your research, and America is still a beloved country regardless of the “trolls” who inhabit it,Frank, and Abdalah, InShaAllah you Al Qaeda sympathisers and anti-semites!

The real problem in the world affairs is that most nations are nothing but gangster states.  They really are not nations.  However; there is a very real understanding among the gangsters that the US Nuclear Arsenal checks their power.  This is in part why they want nuclear weapons.
Nuclear weapons are technically obsolete.  They serve little or no value except as terror weapons because as of today there is an entire class of weapons which make them look like firecrackers.  The problem with this new class of weapons is that it is cheap, incredibly effective, easy to build and instantaneous in effect.  (EM Weapons) These weapons do not cause heads of state to bend their will because they don’t exist in their minds until instantly they are dead. Of course the dead don’t know anything.  It is most technically feasable to destroy these gangster state nuts.  They don’t feel threatened.  You have to kill some with the new weapons to have any effect. Once they learn of these weapons they will want them too.  Cheap and easy the level of terror in the world increases.

George Cheney should not be telling other countries how to run their nukes.

For sure, what is good for the goose is good for the ganda—-propaganda, that is.  More “christian right” sheep will run to the slaughter come election season (now)—oh yeah, George Cheney just got busted for manipulating the christians.  Sheesh, will the christians ever learn to stay away from the lions?

How can anyone argue against Elbaradei’s advice?  Don’t care where he’s from—it’s true.

All these nations want is to be left alone and respected.

But, they are afraid of us. They really have no choice but to turn to terrorist actiivity and seek to secure or develop nuclear weapons.

Let’s all sing kum by yah, dump all our weapons into some enviromentally safe repository, give all our money to the poor, and apologize for being such a cancer on the world.

Then, everybody will love us!

Yeah, Right!

Sir Tobin, I have saved lives for the sake of saving peoples lives. O fight for justice for the sake of justice. I need no “prize”, for that is not the purpose of doing good, you arrogant prick!

Peace on yer path…....Eric Olmstead

It should be remembered that other countries are sovereign also. So the question is do we want to threaten and intimidate and bully other countries into thinking that they must have equally dangerous and destructive weapons like the ones we use on other countries that have not been a threat to the U.S.?
Bush is always stating that it is his duty to keep us safe, and I’m sure the other leaders that he so arogantly insults feel the same way toward the people of their countries.
He should use his mouth for uttering words of diplomacy instead of trying to build barriers with walls of verbal attacks.
Boggs

The USA created the UN so in effect, Americans voted for him. Now following your summation, if you didn’t vote for El Baradei and so don’t expect him to criticize the US in his capacity, could you tell me when the countries of the world voted to give the US “power and role of leader of the free world?”

Well, Sir Daniel, most people on this planet didn’t vote for the USA to have the “power and role of leader of the free world” either… you guys just took it!

But now that every Tom, Dick and Jung Il will be “packin’” the big equalizer, perhaps the USA might think twice before waltzing in to other SOVEREIGN NATIONS with all guns blazing to take whatever they happen to want. The USA wouldn’t even be in Iraq if Saddam had had a nuclear weapon at his disposal.

As an “American National” you, of all people, should fully accept the utter nonsense that “when everyone’s armed, everyone’s safer.” It’s almost an American motto, isn’t it?

But on second thought, I wouldn’t be very surprised to discover that America has decided to have a nuclear pissing match to see whose got the biggest “weapon.” PRIDE GOETH BEFORE THE FALL… especially when it’s UNWARRENTED PRIDE.

You are missing the point! We don’t sell our Nuclear weapons to rogue nations.  We have declared that it is our desire to have another country eradicated from the globe. Get real people, wake up!

To: Comment # 30958 by Sir Daniel M.J. Tobin

You say, “What in the world ever gave Mohmed the “moral high ground” to lecture me, or any other American on our power and role of leader of the free world?”
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Using your own twisted logic,Sir, I can equally say, “I did not vote to give the U.S. the legitimacy of being the leader of the free world.” In fact, the U.S. is now the self-appointed police of the world, and the worst bully the world has ever known. Worst yet, it is not a democracy anymore! It’s is only a shadow of a democratic system, with fraud voting as its only relationship to democracy. But remember that even Hitler was a product of the so-called democracy.

I always post on the Truthdig, and I never remember seeing you participating in any of the thoughtful and critical exchanges on this enlightened blog. Where were you Mr. during these six years of evil Bush and gang policies, hijacking our country and giving it the worst reputation to the point that the U.S. is the most hated country in the world today?!
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“... but have received no Nobel Peace Prize-could it be that it is because I am an American National?”
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Certainly, you are a crude chauvinist American nationalist who is a disgrace for America and for humanity at large. Your arrogant, racist mentality, displayed in your comment, is an indication of what is wrong with America to have judges of your type. In fact, it’s your jealousy that is in shameful display by attacking a person with the name of “Mohamed” who got international recognition, while you, the ugly Anglo-Saxon pure white, is hardly known despite all the credentials you claim for yourself. I know also that you’re an irrational Muslim hater, who reacted mostly to the name “Mohamed” when writing your comment. I am sure if the featured person had a Western name, you would not even have bothered to comment. You are so blinded by your hatred and racism to the point you could not correctly spell the name “Mohamed” as it appeared in the article. I know your types, for I am an expert in natural psychology, and if you really have the title “Sir” as you claim for yourself, then I would like to tell you that this is another disgrace for this title and for the ones who granted it!

Wake up old man! We don’t live any more in the Dark Ages!

“Sir Daniel M.J.Tobin” is an obvious troll.

What in the world ever gave Mohmed the “moral high ground” to lecture me, or any other American on our power and role of leader of the free world? I never voted for him, and The United States is now, and has always been, a sovereign Republic. I have been a human rights activist with the Catholic Church and Amnesty International since I was a boy, and a teenager, and have saved countless lives with my blood donations over my 36 years, and helped prosecute the indicted suspects in the Bombing of Pan Am Flight #103, lobbied the US Senate for sanctions against the Terrorist Sponsoring countries of Iran-Libya and Syria and prosecution of War Criminals, but have received no Nobel Peace Prize-could it be that it is because I am an American National?

Kudos.  The implicit message the US sends to countries like Iran is “develop nuclear weapons and we won’t attack you.”  North Korea has been a good student….our foreign policy sucks.

Mr. ElBaradei has not been shy about criticizing the ridiculous bellicosity of the Bush regime. His statement that it is nonsensical for us to tell others not to have nukes while we still possess ours is exactly right…the audaciousness and arrogance of such a stand is beyond reason, and good that ElBaradei has called us and other nations out on this.