Obama heralds more cooperation on nuclear threats

By Mark Heinrich - Analysis

VIENNA (Reuters) - The non-proliferation cause is counting on less high-handedness and more cooperation from the United States to tackle nuclear threats after Barack Obama's election victory this week.

His ascendance was greeted with relief at the International Atomic Energy Agency after years of tension between its director and the Bush White House over its ideological "my way or the highway" approach to security issues like Iraq and Iran.

Morale has risen on Obama's readiness to engage Iran without preconditions and campaign commitments to doubling the IAEA's budget to help it detect proliferators early; upholding nuclear disarmament obligations to discourage others from pursuing doomsday weapons; and ratifying a global atomic test ban treaty.

"There was a lot of jubilation, tears of joy, spontaneous parties by people from all nations in this house at Obama's election," said a senior official at the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Rapport between the Bush administration and IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei sank dramatically when he said there was no evidence to back up U.S. intelligence pointing to an Iraqi atom bomb program and used to justify the 2003 war that overthrew Saddam Hussein. The intelligence proved mistaken and distorted.

Disputes flared over how to handle Iran's uranium enrichment program, which it says is for nuclear-generated electricity only but whose secretiveness fanned Western suspicions of an agenda to develop atomic bombs.

ElBaradei riled administration hawks with blunt criticism of U.S. policy to corner Iran with sanctions and drop hints of war if these failed to work, rather than talk directly to Tehran to coax it into a broader deal addressing mutual security concerns.

Hardline Bush aides suggested ElBaradei was sanitizing reports to protect Iran, an allegation dismissed out of hand.

Relations hit rock-bottom in 2005 when U.S. officials tried, ultimately in vain, to block his re-election as IAEA director.

Later, ElBaradei deplored Washington's withholding of intelligence about a purported covert nuclear site in Syria from the IAEA until well after Israeli warplanes destroyed it in 2007, leaving the IAEA hard-put to verify what had been there.

In September, ElBaradei deflected U.S. calls for a prompt and full report on Syria, saying the IAEA would take its time to get the facts and not "jump the gun" for any political agenda.

"The return of the Democrats to the White House means a return to the level of close cooperation with the IAEA, trust in its mission, and confidence in its competence that prevailed before Bush came to office," said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and a former non-proliferation policymaker under Bill Clinton.

"LISTEN, NOT LECTURE"

"The Obama team will be inclined to listen, not lecture, and give the IAEA the benefit of the doubt, although not Iran."

In a reply to questions from the Arms Control Association think tank in September, Obama laid out a series of steps to help restore respect for the global Non-Proliferation Treaty.