El Baradei Was/Is No Friend of the US But Still a Friend of Iran

If one is to believe the mainstream media, opposition leader Mohamed El Baradei is the moderate choice to take over for Hosni Mubarak as the leader of the key US ally Egypt. However a look at his history shows that he would most likely not be friendly to the United States and even worse be controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood. When he worked for the United States, he was no friend to the US and he was either duped by, or friends with Iran

Although first appointed to his position as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1997, the UN El Baradei truly entered center stage in 2002 when he argued against the US invasion of Iraq. When the attention turned to Iran's nuke program El Baradei's true colors emerged, the IAEA chief did everything he could to protect the Iranian regime.

From 2002-2005 the quarterly IAEA reports on Iran contained the details of violations, obstruction of inspector's visits, important inconsistencies between official claims and the results of tests from samples taken from various facilities, and other forms of non-compliance. But the final assessment in each report, signed by the El Baradei, absurdly concluded that this evidence did not demonstrate that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons.

This process delayed the imposition of sanctions till Iran was much further along in the process. Eventually, even the more reluctant leaders in Russia, China, and India recognized the overwhelming nature of the evidence, rejected El-Baradei's confusing assertions, and voted in September 2005 to officially find Iran in non-compliance with the NPT and to start the sanctions process.

That didn't stop the UN Nuke Chief, in 2008 the Wall Street Journal accused him of trying to hamstring sanctions against Iran:

The IAEA director seems intent on undercutting Security Council diplomacy. Just weeks after President George Bush toured the Middle East to build Arab support for pressure on Tehran, Mr. ElBaradei appeared on Egyptian television on Feb. 5 to urge Arabs in the opposite direction, insisting Iran was cooperating and should not be pressured. And as he grows more and more isolated from Western powers intent on disarming Iran, Mr. ElBaradei has found champions in the developing and Arab world. They cheer his self-imposed mission -- to hamstring U.S. efforts to constrain Iran's program, whether or not the regime is violating its non-proliferation obligations or pursuing nuclear weapons.

In working to undermine sanctions, however, Mr. ElBaradei demeans the purpose of his agency and undercuts its non-proliferation mission. He also makes military action all the more likely, because if there is no non-military option, Israel will act to defend herself.

In August of 2009 ElBaradei was accused by Israel  and France  of  hiding evidence that Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Later that year it was discovered that Iran had built a secret nuclear plant, instead of scheduling an immediate inspection, ElBaradei scheduled the inspection for about a month down the road giving Iran a big window of warning to "clean the joint up" for company. And when the IAEA head arrived in Iran, one of the first things he did was to have a press conference to announce that Israel, not Iran was the thread to peace in Iran.

 For that hard work, the "moderate" resistance leader was well rewarded.  According to a September 2010 report in theEgyptian Newspaper Al Youm Al Sabeh:

In a communication to the Attorney General of Egypt, Dr. Yasser Najib Abdel Mabboud, has accused Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, former Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency and a candidate in the Egyptian presidential elections, of receiving funds exceeding $7 million (US) from Iran’s leadership as support for ‘political reform in Egypt’.

Abdul Mabboud , a candidate of the National Party and who like El Baradei is also running for the Egyptian Presidential election, was informed of the Iranian leadership’s willingness to support ElBaradei financially via an Arab businessman living in Europe. The check in the amount of $ 7 million is said to be meant to cover the financial costs of the election campaign and the activities of the Front for Change.

According to the Egyptian newspaper, a meeting between the Arab businessmen who is said to be close to El Baradei and who has only identified by the initials A. E. and Iranian official took place in a hotel in Bucharest, the capital Romania. After weeks of covert contact, the Iranian regime’s envoy apparently met with the businessman to complete a business deal. Reportedly the Iranian envoy told the businessman to convey to ElBaradei that he has Iran’s complete support.

ElBaradei spent most of his UN career doing all that he can to blunt the US efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons even to the extent of hiding evidence that proved Iran's intentions and trying to deflect blame on Israel. His recent association with the Muslim Brotherhood and continuing relationship with the radical government of Iran presents an ominous warning for the future.