Obama Should Refuse Nobel Peace Prize

Town Hall ^ | 10/10/09 | reasonmclucus

[kathsua]

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.

[kathsua]

Giving a Peace Prize for killing Muslims sounds like racism to me. Is the Nobel Committee saying killing Muslims is an acceptable way to bring peace to the Middle East?

[Eddie01]

He accepted.

[ktscarlett66]

I’m still scratching my head over why he was given it at all. Exactly *what* has he done to deserve it??

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Obama had been in office only 12 days when the Nobel committee nominated him.

lol. Twelve days!

Of course the rest of the world likes this knucklehead. He's one of them.

[DBrow]

He’ll go to Oslo and make a speech and take the prize. Like Carter, he does not care that the prize committee is insulting America again.

[al baby]

Of course the rest of the world likes this knucklehead. He's one of them.

Yup he is not an American

[Quix]

Sigh.

[TommyDale]

"Exactly *what* has he done to deserve it??"

He apologized to the entire world for America, and has done his best to bring down our free society.

[SgtBob]

Think, fellow FReeper. One black professor, one white cop, one black president plus three beers equals Nobel Peace Prize.

[gwilhelm56]

**Is the Nobel Committee saying killing Muslims is an acceptable way to bring peace to the Middle East?**

WORKS FOR ME!!!!

[gwilhelm56]

He DIXIE CHICKED America all over the world... Maybe the Nobel committee goofed, meaning to give it to the Ditsie twits..nahhh wrong color!

[Eagle Eye]

“to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the aboliton or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

He is certainly working on abolishing the US standing army.

[ncalburt]

he was notifed back In sept of the nomination and he had to either accept it or turn it down.
This Marxist was so full of himself back in Sept !
So much for acting like he was shocked !
And back In August do you recall the WH was leaking about some big news coming in the fall ?????

[pallis]

It’s a little late to advise Oego to refuse the prize. Had he been just a little smarter than he is, he wouldn’t have needed anyone to tell him to refuse it. What’s the point of telling a stupid man to not do something he has committed himself to doing?

[Safrguns]

I’m glad they awarded it to him, and I’m glad he accepted.

The Nobel Peace prize has been a total joke for a long time now, and NOBODY can expose that fact better than Obama.

They will be SORRY!.... and I will be laughing!

[Red_Devil 232]

Invitation letters are sent out to those qualified to nominate a candidate in Sept.
He would have had to have been told by who ever nominated him if he knew in Sept. 2008. The nominations are supposed to be kept secrete but does not mean they are.

Qualified Nominators

The right to submit proposals for the Nobel Peace Prize shall, by statute, be enjoyed by:

1.	Members of national assemblies and governments of states;
2.	Members of international courts;
3.	University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes;
4.	Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
5.	Board members of organizations who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
6.	Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (proposals by members of the Committee to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee after February 1) and
7.	Former advisers appointed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

[codder too]

FOLLOW THE (SOROS)MONEY!!!!!

[jerry639]

Obama hasn't done anything to deserve the award. From this day the award is tainted and worthless. At one time the award meant something but never again.

[ncalburt]

he knew back in sept.

[VoiceOfBruck]

Bruck's take on the issue:

Give it Back