Iraqi Nuclear Facilities

This is getting ridiculous. First it was the UN trying to interfere, then the French, and now we are having trouble investigating Iraqi nuclear sites because of a struggle on how much to involve the IAEA. The first two were simply a pain in the rear and obstructionist. This last dispute about the IAEA is potentially extremely dangerous.

The IAEA should be involved in Iraq - eventually. They are supposedly the experts of nuclear materials and bringing in their knowledge, once the areas are secured, would be a wise move by the Bush Administration.

But these areas need to be secured first. The apparent looting that is going on at these sites needs to be stopped. The worst and most dangerous of the radiation leaks need to be contained. And we need to have any opportunity to search the grounds for WMD before any international agency comes in.

That last point is very important, though. We need to have unfettered and unobstructed access to the sites in order to conduct our WMD searches. This is a situation where the IAEA would have an incentive to cover up any WMD that might be found, as it would prove the duplicity or incompetence. Also, finding WMD on the grounds of a nuclear facility would provide additional grounds for targeting nuclear facilities in future wars. All of this works against the mission of the IAEA.

But the IAEA does have capabilities that will be useful to us in making the sites as safe as possible. The IAEA has record keeping and safe storage capabilities that can be of great benefit to us by freeing our people to go out to secure and search other parts of the country.

There will be a time and place for the IAEA to come in and do their work. This isn't it.