U.S. criticized for withholding information
VIENNA, Austria (AP) — The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog chastised the United States on Friday for withholding information on what Washington says was a nuclear reactor being built secretly in Syria with help from North Korea.
International Atomic Energy Agency director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, also criticized Israel for bombing the alleged nuclear facility site seven months ago.
ElBaradei issued a strongly worded statement that reflected his anger about being kept out of the loop about Washington’s investigation of the site and the alleged North Korean assistance.
The IAEA said ElBaradei was not told about the information until Thursday, the day U.S. officials briefed Congress about the evidence, which they say includes dozens of photographs taken from ground level and footage of the interior of the building gathered by spy satellites after the Israeli strike in September.
“The director general deplores the fact that this information was not provided to the agency in a timely manner, in accordance with the agency’s responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to enable it to verify its veracity and establish the facts,” said a statement from the IAEA.
In Washington, the State Department brushed aside ElBaradei’s complaint.
“The fact of the matter now is this is an issue that is worthy of investigation putting aside these questions of timing,” spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The IAEA’s mission includes trying to keep nuclear proliferation in check, and it depends on member states for information to carry out that task.
ElBaradei and the Bush administration have clashed before. In the run-up to the Iraq war, he challenged U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. In 2005, Washington made a failed attempt to prevent ElBaradei’s re-election.
The IAEA promised Friday to follow up on the U.S. intelligence, saying it would “treat this information with the seriousness it deserves and will investigate the veracity of the information.”