Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog agency he heads, won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee called ElBaradei “an unafraid advocate” for nuclear nonproliferation “at a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing.”
ElBaradei, whose ouster was sought by the Bush administration led by controversial United Nations appointee John Bolton, is a long-standing critic of the president’s decision to go to war in Iraq.
So was former President Jimmy Carter when he won the prize in 2002, an award widely interpreted as a shot at the Bush administration.
Nonetheless, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement congratulating El Baradei and the IAEA on receiving the peace prize.
“In conferring this well- deserved honor on the IAEA,” Rice said, “the Nobel Committee noted, ‘At a time when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA’s work is of incalculable importance.’ The United States is committed to working with the IAEA to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited ElBaradei and the IAEA “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.”
The Vienna-based IAEA, established under U.N. auspices in 1957, coordinates nuclear safety around the world and monitors materials that could be diverted for weapons use.
It has played pivotal investigative roles in four crises in recent years: Iran, Iraq, North Korea and the nuclear black market run by one of Pakistan’s top scientists.
“The award sends a very strong message,” the new laureate said at a news conference in Vienna. “‘Keep doing what you are doing – be impartial, act with integrity,’ and that is what we intend to do.
“The advantage of having this recognition today,” ElBaradei said, “is that it will strengthen my resolve. The fact that there is overwhelming public support for our work definitely will help to resolve some of the major outstanding issues we are facing today, including North Korea, including Iran and nuclear disarmament.
“It is a responsibility, but it is also a shot in the arm,” he said.
Despite the fact that the United States helped install El Baradei in his job eight years ago, his refusal in 2003 to confirm White House allegations that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had rebuilt his nuclear weapons program lost ElBaradei the U.S. support he had enjoyed.
In an interview with The Washington Post last fall, El Baradei said the day the United States invaded Iraq “was the saddest in my life.” It was not because he was a fan of Hussein but because he was so sure Washington’s assertions about weapons stockpiles and a secret program would be proved wrong.
Washington responded to ElBaradei’s findings on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction by trying to prevent him from taking a third term, despite requests from other board members that he stay on.
The Bush administration launched a vigorous but solitary campaign – including a complete halt of intelligence sharing, recruitment of potential replacements for ElBaradei and eavesdropping on him in search of ammunition against him. But as his popularity diminished in Washington, it soared elsewhere.
Privately, Bush administration officials acknowledge that the IAEA’s Iran investigation has been thorough and that the agency has uncovered far more than U.S. intelligence could have learned without it.
