Source: Campaign
Iran
The
investigation into allegations that India's votes at the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) in 2005 and 2006 were coerced by America
has been intensified with pressure building on the man at the centre of the
scandal to break his silence. Stephen Rademaker, the former ranking
official of the Bush administration, reportedly told an audience last month that
coercion had been used to persuade India to vote against Iran. He has
today been approached by investigators looking into the situation surrounding
India’s votes and whether other IAEA
members were subject to similar coercion.
Mr Rademaker, who now works for the Washington
lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, was the former Assistant Secretary
for Non-proliferation and International Security at the U.S. State Department.
Whilst giving a speech at a security think-tank in India on 15th February 2006 he reportedly said,
referring to India’s changing
attitude towards non-proliferation; "[t]he best illustration of this is the two
votes India cast against
Iran at the IAEA. I am the first
person to admit that the votes were coerced."
His words were widely reported by journalists who
were present and have not been refuted by any of those who attended the meeting
including Mr Narendra Sisodia, head of Institute for Defence Studies and
Analyses where the speech was made. Despite being pressed, the US State
Department, the Indian Government and the IAEA have failed to confirm or deny
the truth of what Mr Rademaker said.
The questions raise important issues about the
independence of the IAEA and the legitimacy of Iran’s referral
to the UN Security Council and the subsequent passing of
Resolutions 1737 and 1747.
It is not disputed that in 2005, the US and the UK concentrated their efforts in
the Governors' Board of the IAEA to first condemn Iran for not meeting its
obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and then to refer
Iran to the UN Security Council. In January 2006, Ambassador to
India, David Mulford, openly
warned that a deal giving India US nuclear technology could collapse if
India did not back the UN
motion against Iran.
Professor Abbas Edalat of the Campaign Against
sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) said today:
"This is a matter of global significance and we
demand that Mr Radmaker, the US State Department and the Indian government come
clean about just what happened before and during those IAEA votes. If the US
coerced India into voting against Iran, it brings into question the entire
legitimacy of the decision by the Governors' Board of the IAEA to refer Iran to
the Security Council and the consequent passing of Resolutions 1696, 1737 and
most recently 1747. It also casts doubt over the legitimacy of any future
resolutions against Iran the UN might pass. The public
need to know whether other members of he Governors' Board of the IAEA were
coerced by the US to
politicise Iran's nuclear file, refer it to the
UN Security Council. The fact of the matter is that Iran has
not breached any of its obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty
and therefore its referral to the UN has no
legitimacy.
“As in the
run-up top the invasion of Iraq, UN resolutions are being used to give a
veneer of legitimacy and provide a pretext for an illegal US pre-emptive strike against Iran. In
Iraq, the invasion was ordered “in
support of UN authority”. The same justification is likely to be used by the
Bush administration for strikes on Iran. We are demand an immediate high
level investigation to the use of coercion by the US and its
allies within the IAEA."
Notes:
Mr Rademaker was appointed acting assistant secretary
for disarmament in the
State Department. He quit the State Department
earlier this year and is now a
paid lobbyist of the Indian government in Washington.
The story has been reported
extensively in the Hindu and the Times of India
http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/16/stories/2007021605671200.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/17/stories/2007021709121400.htm
Notes:
Mr Rademaker was appointed acting
assistant secretary for disarmament in the State Department. He quit the State
Department earlier this year and is now a paid lobbyist of the Indian government
in Washington.
The story has been reported
extensively in the Hindu and the Times of India
http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/16/stories/2007021605671200.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/17/stories/2007021709121400.htm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_coerced_into_voting_against_Iran/articleshow/1630182.cms
Ambassador Mulfords statements of
January 2006 are reported by the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4649742.stm
Visit www.campaigniran.org
