As the world ratchets up pressure on Iran because of its nuclear activities, there's one key international organization that deserves most of the credit for showing us what Iran is -- and is not -- doing. That's the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the United Nations.
The IAEA is responsible for promoting safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technology around the world, and its work is universally respected. Our efforts on Iran directly benefit from a strong, effective IAEA with robust American participation in the organization.
This was most recently demonstrated by a report the IAEA just released on the extent to which Iran was developing a nuclear weapons program before 2003 and the activities that may have continued since then. The report has helped American policymakers on all sides of the political debate on Iran by shedding clear light on these activities.
Having the IAEA's information is critical, as it is directly in the national security interest of the United States to contemplate further action against Iran that is based upon real information, real data and real analysis.
The IAEA plays an indispensable role in our ability to understand what is really happening with the Iranian nuclear program. Unlike the United States, which doesn't have diplomats on the ground in Iran, the IAEA actually goes to Tehran. It inspects Iranian nuclear facilities. It reviews information provided by governments who know what is happening in Tehran. In short, without the IAEA, we would be blind in Iran.
So why is the IAEA on the precipice of losing its funding from the United States?
It's simple. Two decades ago, Congress passed two laws prohibiting U.S. funding for any affiliated organization of the United Nations if that organization grants the Palestinian Liberation Organization membership status.
These laws had a major impact just a few weeks ago, when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved a Palestinian request for membership in a 107-14 vote. The Obama administration, which does not support these Palestinian moves, promptly withdrew its $65 million contribution to UNESCO, leaving the United States without either voting rights or influence at the organization.
So, what happens if the Palestinians take the same route with the IAEA, apply for membership there, and are successful? The United States will have to stop funding the organization. This means that the IAEA would no longer have American support, at just the precise moment that the United States is relying on its work more than ever.
But withdrawing our $110 million contribution, one quarter of the IAEA's budget, wouldn't just harm the organization's bottom line and its ability to do its critical work. It would also eliminate our ability to influence the work of the organization, as we would lose our seat at the management table.
It's hard to imagine a more self-destructive policy for American efforts to stop an Iranian bomb.
Such self-destructive behavior cannot be blamed on the Palestinians, as some would like to do. The Obama administration is opposing the Palestinian moves at the United Nations at every turn, but as witnessed by the UNESCO vote, has a very tough road to hoe. Cutting off funding to the United Nations is a purely American policy decision.
This is because Congress has always been concerned about the Palestinians going to the United Nations to seek statehood recognition, knowing that they would get a warm reception for such an effort. So, seeking to create leverage against potential U.N. support for the Palestinians, Congress has chosen to use the power of the American purse to force the world body to block Palestinian aspirations. But this pressure tactic is not working, and in the case of the IAEA, is extremely counterproductive.
The irony of this policy is that it will undermine the American objective of understanding the Iranian nuclear program at the precise moment that such information is being disseminated by the IAEA. The Iranian government must be thrilled at the prospect of the United States undercutting the IAEA at this sensitive moment.
With clear national security interests at stake, it is time for us to maintain a strong IAEA, not to defund it. The last thing we need is to lose our understanding of what's really going on inside of Iran's nuclear program. In fact, we need to know more, to avoid a dangerous military outcome based upon faulty information. This is what happened in Iraq, where we were blind and without inspectors at critical moments in the run-up to the war. We don't need to see a repeat of that disastrous history.
Therefore, it's time for Congress to change the law and to recognize that protecting our national security is its most sacred duty. Congress must find other ways to convince the United Nations to not support Palestinian statehood, if that's its goal. But undermining our security to get there just doesn't make sense.
This piece originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.
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Robert Koehler: Sanity in Exile
They get their intel from us.
They, like most if not all of the UN, are worthless and merely a hole where money goes to tyrants.
Preaching democracy but helping non-democratic leaders maintain their power, militarily and otherwise. Preaching free democratic elections then aiding in the overthrow of the same elected leaders.
It was in the US interest to be in the conference and contribute to it, especially given the US own history concerning racism.
Here is another area where Israeli interests trump American interest in the US foreign policy.
I suggest you do some research.
About 40 delegates dropped out of the 2009 conference, following what was widely described as a hate speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=237966
Not being an apologist for the Iranian regime, I do take issue with being lead like a sheep to accept the case for war. The invasion of Iraq being a good example.
The destructions to small nations had been overlooked and void of JUSTICE. So many REFUGEE camps around the world are the consequences of such aggressions. Civilian lives are scraped and ignored by the world. The humanity is stopped to those victims created by various wars with whatever reasons. Put yourselves in the victims' life what you can do as you are still alive. The hunger and diseases unable to control are mainly by wars and wars because of greedy capitalists and cool blooded warlords. Unfortunately, U.N. is not reaching that far to deal with such world scale problem because of so many comfort zones for so many different parties among U.N. IAEI reports are considerably biased and influenced by Western powers, an opened secret. By the way, WHAT IS A BIG DEAL OF ANY NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT IN IRAN ? WHAT IS A BIG DEAL OF A FEW NUCLEAR BOMBS ? THERE ARE MORE THAN 10 OF THOUSANDS EXISTING ALREADY ? CITIZENS OF THE WORLD ARE SICK AND TIRED OF ANY WAR FOR WHATEVER REASON. FIGHT YOUR OWN WAR TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN BE KILLED BY YOUR OWN WAR. NOT SOMEBODY ELSE. PERIOD.
So when will the IAEA make a visit to Israel and inspect their arlsonel of nukes?? Untill it's all open for inspection it's all fake anyway!
If this agency was a business, it would be called Enron.
A nation must depend on military strength to exist. So, a statehood is defined by its national security. A national security is defined by military powers. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate powers to military establishment. Such formation is MORE OR LESS changed by the building up of UNITED NATIONS under the TERM of NATIONAL SELF DETERMINATION and FREE FROM FOREIGN INTERVENTION. In seeking for STATEHOOD, Palestinian people is getting the first step right on the support by majority of U.N. members according to the term of National Self Determination. But, the VETO from U.S. would alter that acceptable term by the world. Israel pressure would also complicate the execution of U.N. Chapter. Now, Israel and the echoed elements arguing that it is U.S. "SACRED" duty to bring down Iranian 'POSSIBLE" nuclear development while Israel possessed a undisclosed number of nuclear war heads.To the West the last solution is calling upon the use of military powers to bring destruction to the targeting nation. It is NEVER the goal of UN. designed to allow. But, that sort of destructions had been carried on for decades. All that to show the funding from U.S. to U.N. is less than symbolic, just MEANINGLESS. Under U.N. the small countries are POWERLESS. They can be destructed any time the powerfully nation wanted. Israel and U.S. to stop Palestinian statehood is the vivid example. iRAN IS IN THE BRINK TO BE ATTACKED.
Iran is by far the the premier terrorist state in the Middle East and the end of the Iranian theocracy will be a boon for the world, the people of the Middle east, and, most especially, for the Iranian citizenry.
Sanctions against Iran will probably work out exactly as well as sanctions against Japan did in the last century. As long as the Iranian government continues to trumpet its determination to exterminate Israel and hint at having the weapons to do so, Israel will have no choice but to attack, clandestinely or otherwise, to survive - and sooner rather than later, since so many anti-Israeli governments are now in disarray. This will effectively start World War III.
BTW, has anyone calculated what a nuclear bomb on Israel would do to the Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank - or Jordan or Egypt? Does anyone care?
In 1965, in a US company, Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), in Apollo, 200-600 pounds of highly enriched uranium have disappeared.
A 2010 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article, "Revisiting the NUMEC Affair" concluded that 337 kilograms of weapons grade uranium could still not be accounted for and was likely diverted into the Israeli nuclear weapons program.