More Encouraging News from the Administration
February 9, 2005I wrote earlier about Condi Rice’s excellent speech yesterday to the French and Europeans, encouraging them to get with the program and join us in the War on Terror. This is a very positive sign that President Bush intends to march forward, undeterred by European fecklessness and corruption, or by Democrat obstructionism. Now, I see another encouraging signal that President Bush is pressing forward aggressively with no apologies to other nations lagging behind in the battle against evil. The AP is reporting that the U.S. may seek the ouster of Mohammed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
From the article:
The United States is seeking backing from allies in a possible bid to oust the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency at a meeting later this month, diplomats and Western government officials said Wednesday.
During the same Feb. 28 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Washington also will increase the pressure on Iran for allegedly trying to make nuclear weapons, the officials told The Associated Press.
Washington considers IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei too soft on Iran and its alleged plans to make nuclear arms and the international community ineffective in dealing with the same perceived threat.
While Democrats are resistant to the idea, the United States is the world’s sole superpower. It must be lead the world in the War on Terror. And while it is always important to work with allies, it is even more important to lead and take the initiative when it needs to be taken. If we legitimately perceive ElBaradei to be an obstacle to preventing Iran from going nuclear, we must seek to remove him, diplomatic considerations aside. The Dems will doubtlessly portray this as another hostile action on the part of the “unilateralist” Bush Administration, because their knee-jerk response will be to defend those with whom the administration has issues.
As this article also notes, Dr. Rice has put Iran on notice that it will not be permitted to use the current European diplomatic initiative as a stalling tactic to delay or avoid accountability for its arms build-up. The French, predictably, expressed confidence in the diplomatic process to resolve the Iran nukes problem. Sadly, there will always be too many Neville Chamberlains in the world.
