Recognizing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Its Director General , Mohamed ElBaradei, Joint Recipients of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize

RECOGNIZING THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA) AND ITS DIRECTOR GENERAL, MOHAMED ELBARADEI, JOINT RECIPIENTS OF THE 2005 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE -- (Extensions of Remarks - October 07, 2005)

* Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the award of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei. Today the IAEA and Dr. ElBaradei were jointly awarded this most prestigious of awards for their active efforts against the spread of nuclear arms and against the misuse of nuclear energy for military purposes.

* As we know, Dr. ElBaradei and the IAEA were asked by the United Nations, at the urging of the United States, to serve the cause of world peace by engaging in a vigorous effort to find whatever evidence might exist of a Nuclear Weapons program in Iraq through anytime, anywhere inspections. Dr. ElBaradei and the IAEA did their jobs, and the world had an opportunity both to serve the cause of preventing weapons proliferation and heading off a very costly war. Unfortunately, the United States decided to forego this opportunity, and war ensued.

* Now, the world is turning once again to the IAEA as the only way to prevent weapons proliferation in Iraq and in North Korea. Will the IAEA be supported this time? The Nobel Committee's decision to recognize the work of the IAEA, and of Dr. ElBaradei, increases the likelihood that such support will be forthcoming. It is needed now more than ever.

* I submit below an excerpt from the press release from the Nobel Committee, describing why the important work of the IAEA and Dr. ElBaradei is deserved of such an honor.

At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline that this threat must be met through the broadest possible international cooperation. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its Director General. In the nuclear non-proliferation regime, it is the IAEA which controls that nuclear energy is not misused for military purposes, and the Director General has stood out as an unafraid advocate of new measures to strengthen that regime. At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA's work is of incalculable importance.

In his will, Alfred Nobel wrote that the Peace Prize should, among other criteria, be awarded to whoever had done most for the ``abolition or reduction of standing armies''. In its application of this criterion in recent decades, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has concentrated on the struggle to diminish the significance of nuclear arms in international politics, with a view to their abolition. That the world has achieved little in this respect makes active opposition to nuclear arms all the more important today.

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