Mohamed ElBaradei Insists That Iranians "Are Not Fanatics"

From this article in Newsweek, with regard to the bargaining style of the Iranians, in ElBaradei's own words:

...They know what they want. They are excellent on the strategic goals, excellent on waiting for the right price. I don't want to make them sound like superhumans; you do see a lot of infighting among them. And part of it is about who is going to get credit for finally breaking out of this 30 years of fighting and confrontation with the United States. Everybody is positioning himself to be the national hero who would finally put Iran back onto the world map as part of the mainstream. They are not like the stereotyped fanatics bent on destroying everybody around them. They are not.

And this fellow - a Moslem and member of the ummah, of course - has been doing the following, according to Newsweek's own introduction to the article:

As head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei has spent the past 11 years trying to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons. The Nobel Peace Prize winner recently spoke to NEWSWEEK'S Christopher Dickey about his intense, often frustrating dialogue with the Iranians—and with the Americans.

ElBaradei hasn't done a good job of keeping Iran from going nuclear. Iran has been proceeding in that direction for much of the time that ElBaradei has been employed by the IAEA.

Please see this May 16, 2009 posting by Reliapundit for one example of how ElBaradei rebukes Israel. He doesn't use that same tone about or with Iran.

Just how did ElBaradei merit receiving the Nobel Peace Prize?

(Crossposted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)