Senior US policymakers confirmed an “orchestrated campaign” to oust ElBaradei

CAIRO, December 12 (IslamOnline.net) – Fishing for possible weak spots and as part of an “orchestrated campaign” to oust him, the Bush administration tapped the phone of UN chief nuclear inspect Mohamed ElBaradei during conversations with Iranian officials, a leading US newspaper unveiled Sunday, December 12.

“The intercepted calls have not produced any evidence of nefarious conduct by ElBaradei,” reported The Washington Post quoting three US officials.

The paper said the United States is “searching for material” to support its argument that he should step down.

Several American officials recently opened salvos at the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief accusing him of withheld damning evidence on Iran 's activities from the IAEA board.

However, the tapping of his phone call proved ElBaradei’s impartiality in dealing with the Iranian nuclear file, the Post quoted the officials as confirming.

The Bush administration has been laying pressures on the UN nuclear watchdog to refer the Iranian file to the UN Security Council, an initial step before imposing international sanctions on Tehran .

In a major breakthrough in the standoff, the IAEA confirmed Monday, November 29, that Tehran has suspended all uranium enrichment activities.

The IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors adopted a British-French-German draft resolution which was relatively uncritical of Iran and praises the Islamic Republic for suspending uranium enrichment as a confidence-building measure.

The US , and its Mideast ally Israel , accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons but Tehran denies the accusation, saying it merely wants to produce fuel to generate nuclear energy.

In June, the UN nuclear watchdog admitted it had wrongly accused Iran of withholding information about importing magnets for advanced centrifuges.

“Orchestrated Campaign”

The repeated accusations leveled against ElBaradei by US officials are part of an “orchestrated campaign” to oust him, the mass-circulation newspaper said, quoting “several senior policymakers” who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Egyptian diplomat, 62, also earned the ire of Washington by questioning its intelligence on Iraq .

The Bush administration has been opposing to ElBaradei’s winning a third term in 2005 as IAEA chief.

In September, outgoing US State Secretary Colin Powell said ElBaradei should step aside, citing a term limit policy adopted several years ago in Geneva by the top 10 contributors to international organizations.

“It's not been followed in the past on many occasions, more often than not, but we still think it's a good, useful rule,” he said.

Although Washington has no clear candidate to replace him, it initially tried to persuade Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to challenge ElBaradei, said the paper.

“Our original strategy was to get Alex Downer to throw his hat in the ring, but we couldn't,” it quoted one US policy maker as saying.

“Anyone in politics will tell you that you can't beat somebody with nobody, but we're going to try to disprove that.”

Not Surprised

Commenting on the spying report, officials at the Vienna-based IAEA said they were not surprised.

“We've always assumed that this kind of thing goes on,” IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.

“We wish it were otherwise, but we know the reality.”

Several officials, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan himself, were victims of similar spying operations in the past.

In the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq , the British intelligence bugged Anna’s office and spied on his conversations.

Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Richard Butler also said that at least four countries – including Britain – had spied on his conversations.