Tom Hundley, foreign correspondant for the Chicago Tribune, extensively quotes former US U.S. ambassador to UN organizations in Vienna John Rich in defense of Mohamed ElBaradei:
“ElBaradei is exactly the kind of person you would want in the role—someone from a developing country who has a Western intellect but a Third World sensitivity,” said John Ritch, a former U.S. ambassador to the nuclear agency.
[snip]
“What would toughness be? Answering a State Department phone call on the first ring and then parroting the instructions that are given? As a valuable international leader, ElBaradei would last about an hour if he did that,” he said.
“ElBaradei knows 100 times more about the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] and how to make it work than any neoconservative in Washington,” he said. “He’s as tough as they are, and smarter.”
ElBaradei, meanwhile, sat down for an interview with the Washington Post. In both the Post interview and a speech before the World Economic Forum, ElBaradei made it clear that the United States is not sharirng intelligence on Iran’s nuclear programs with the IAEA.
