Posted by
reasonmclucus on Saturday, October 10, 2009 3:49:08 PM
President Barack Obama should follow the example set by North
Vietnamese negotiator
Le Duc Tho in 1973
and
refuse the
Nobel
Peace Prize. Many are
criticizing
the decision to award Obama the Peace Prize. This isn't the
first controversial decision by the
Nobel
committee.
It is inconceivable that the Commander in Chief of a nation
whose troops are actively engaged in armed combat should be
awarded a peace prize. I happen to support the U.S. role in both
conflicts, but recognize that involvement in war is inconsistent with
receiving the Nobel Prize.
If Obama has made an "extraordinary effort" for peace, why are
Americans still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan? How is the
practice of Americans killing Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan an
example of "reaching out" to the Muslim world? Is the Nobel
Prize Committee demonstrating racism by seemingly suggesting
that the killing of Muslims is insignificant?
Whether or not the American role in Iraq and Afghanistan is justified
or not, that role is not a role of peace, but of war. Peaceful
resolution of these conflicts may not be possible, but
peaceful resolution of conflicts is what the Peace Prize should be
about.
The Nobel Committee awarded the
1973
Peace Prize to Tho and Henry Kissinger for the work on the Paris
Peace Agreement designed to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam
War. Tho refused to accept the award because he realized
his nation had not abandoned its goal of uniting Vietnam by force if
necessary. Kissinger initially accepted it but
subsequently attempted unsuccessfully to return it.
Tho and Kissinger at least had done something that could
qualify them for consideration. Obama has done nothing but
talk.
Obama has not ended any war as President
Theodore
Roosevelt had when Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1906 for helping negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese
War. Many questioned the decision to give the award to Roosevelt
because American military forces were dealing with a violent rebellion
in the Philippines.
Whether or not the American role in Iraq and Afghanistan is justified
or not, that role is not a role of peace, but of war. Peaceful
resolution of these conflicts may not be possible, but
peaceful
resolution of conflicts is what the Peace Prize should be about.
President Obama should not accept a Peace Prize so long as these
conflicts are going on.
Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize, Le Duc Tho, 1973, Vietnam, Henry
Kissinger, Theodore Roosevelt, refuse