[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 130 (Friday, October 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2075-E2076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA) AND ITS 
DIRECTOR GENERAL, MOHAMED ELBARADEI, JOINT RECIPIENTS OF THE 2005 NOBEL 
                              PEACE PRIZE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 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

[[Page E2076]]

     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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