FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct 7th, 2005
Scott Lynch, office 301.565.4050x330, mobile (703) 725-5680, Paul Kawika Martin, (951) 217-7285 cellNobel Peace Prize a Rebuke for Bush
Silver Spring, MD--Peace Action, the merger of the United States’ two largest nuclear disarmament groups the Nuclear Freeze and Sane, welcomed today’s announcement that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director-general, Mohammed ElBaradei, are the recipients of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Peace. The awarding of the Nobel Prize to ElBaradei helps to shine a spotlight on the urgent need to deal seriously with the increasing danger of nuclear weapons, their spread and potential use.
“The Nobel Committee obviously understands something the Bush Administration does not, namely that international cooperation, rather than unilateral, pre-emptive war (or threats of such action) is the best way to halt the spread of WMD and enhance global security,” said Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action.
Awarding the prize to the IAEA and ElBaradei is also a none-too-subtle rebuke to the Bush Administration, which has sought ElBaradei’s ouster. The Bush Administration tried to bully ElBaradei and the IAEA into supporting its erroneous claim that Iraq was attempting to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program in the lead up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2002 and early 2003. The Bush Administration has also accused the agency of being too soft on Iran regarding its nuclear development.
“While ElBaradei called them as he saw them — supported by the facts on the ground — regarding WMD in Iraq during the run up to the U.S. invasion, the Bush administration fixed facts to support their foregone conclusions and unilateralist ambitions. The bravery of ElBaradei in maintaining impartiality and professionalism in his mission to stem nuclear proliferation stands in stark contrast to the Bush administration’s bending of intelligence to support their invasion plans,” concluded Mr. Martin.
The Nobel Peace Prize should not obscure the fact that the IAEA is seriously challenged by its inherently contradictory dual role: on the one hand, working to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, and on the other, promoting the use of “civilian” nuclear power (which of course can be the first step toward acquiring nuclear weapons).
Managing this contradiction is difficult if not impossible. The solution is to develop and invest in renewable sources of energy, rendering nuclear power and its insoluble waste problem obsolete, and to move with all deliberate speed toward the global abolition of nuclear weapons.
