ElBaradei Further Taints Peace Prize

The Nobel Committee awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize to both the IAEA and to its current head Mohamed ElBaradei, citing his efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to new countries and to terrorists. (Reuters: ElBaradei and IAEA win Nobel Prize).

What the Nobel Committee doesn't list are the successes that should have lead to ElBaradei winning this prize. That's not overly surprising given that the IAEA and ElBaradei do not have any successes to show for his tenure. What they do have is a long history of failure.

Consider the number of new members to the nuclear club in recent years. North Korea now has nuclear weapons, although they have yet to detonate a bomb. India has successfully detonated a nuclear device and demonstrated a viable delivery system. Pakistan has detonated a nuclear device and has demonstrated a missile system capable of striking India. Iran is well on the way towards the development of nuclear capabilities while all the IAEA can do is watch.

Under ElBaradei's watch, Pakistan and Russia both provided nuclear technology to Iran. In fact, Russia still brazenly supports Iran's development of nuclear technologies. The IAEA, supposedly in place to defend the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, is impotent when it comes to dealing with any nation that attempts to develop nuclear capabilities.

The Nobel Committee now appears to be using the Nobel Peace Prize as a tool to make political statements. They did that in 2002, awarding the prize to former President Jimmy Carter as a direct shot against President Bush for the war in Iraq. (That is not intended as a poke against Carter, perhaps the most honest man ever to sit in the Oval Office. Rather, it's intended to slam the Nobel Committee for using him as a pawn in making a political statement.)

This year's award to the IAEA and ElBaradei is also a political shot against the US and the EU nations seeking to contain Iran. In taking this action, however, the Nobel Committee further taints a once coveted award. At this point, the award is meaningless. This year's award is an insult to past winners that actually did deserve recognition. Sadly, the award is now a sham.

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