Iraq row dogs Nobel Peace Prize (BAD CHOICE ALERT)

BBC News ^ | October 11, 2002 | BBC News

[MadIvan]

A row has broken out among members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee just hours after it awarded this year's accolade to former US President Jimmy Carter.

After announcing the winner, committee chairman Gunnar Berge said the award to Mr Carter "should be interpreted as a criticism" of President George W Bush's policy on Iraq.

He was commenting upon a line in the committee's announcement which said: "In a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international co-operation".

But two of Mr Gunnar's colleagues said they did not agree with the remarks which had not been cleared with the other four members of the committee - a body appointed by the Norwegian parliament based on the strengths of the parties represented in the legislature.

The BBC's Lars Bevanger says it is not usual for members to make comments on current political conflicts and political analysts here say such statements do little to help the image of the committee as being politically independent.

Mr Carter said he did not see the prize as a criticism of President Bush's policies, but added that it did send a message to Washington about the need to avoid unilateral action and work in partnership with other countries

However, referring to the vote in the US Congress giving Mr Bush authority to use force against Baghdad, Mr Carter said he would have voted against such a resolution.

'Humbled'

In its announcement of this year's winner, the Nobel committee honoured Mr Carter for "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development".

It said that during his presidency from 1977 to 1981, Mr Carter's "mediation was a vital contribution to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, in itself a great enough achievement to qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize".

Accepting the award, the former US president said he was "humbled and honoured".

"This honour serves as an inspiration not only to us, but also to suffering people around the world, and I accept it on their behalf," he said.

The former US president also called for greater efforts to promote peace and justice.

"People everywhere share the same dream of a caring community that prevents war and oppression," he said.

Mr Carter is the third US president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize - after Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt.

He will receive the award at a ceremony at Oslo's City Hall on 10 December - the anniversary of the death of the prize's creator, Swedish industrialist - and the inventor of dynamite - Alfred Nobel.

Rare discord

Gunnar Berge said the award to Mr Carter "should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the current administration has taken".

"It's a kick in the leg to all that follow the same line as the United States," Mr Berge said.

But two of his colleagues disagreed.

"As I see it, that is not the committee's opinion," said Inger Marie Ytterhorn, of the right-wing Party of Progress.

Hanna Kvanmo - of the Socialist Left Party - also said Mr Berge's statements represented his own opinion.

However, committee member Gunnar Staalsett said he fully supported the chairman's remarks and agreed that the citation was indeed a criticism of Mr Bush.

"Berge offered an interpretation that I have no problem in supporting," Mr Staalsett told the Associated Press news agency.

The chairman later conceded he had not cleared the remarks in the middle of a press conference.

[MadIvan]

Given that some of my roots are Norwegian, I'm somewhat embarassed that the fellow who acted like such a jackass was Norwegian.

Giving it to Carter was a bad idea. The only time he brought peace to anywhere was when he managed to bore the parties involved to death. If they are having a year when they don't know to whom to give it, give it to Ronald Reagan. He ended the Cold War, after all.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Desdemona]

Woodrow Wilson won one? And nobody saw through all this then?

OMG. Alfred Nobel must be flipping in his grave.

[Crusader Rabbit]

Ivan,

Every village will have its idiots. So some of theirs gave an award to one of ours. Uff da! We shouldn't be surprised.

They have done us a favor in one sense. With this, we should be able to forever bury the notion that the Nobel prizes are apolitical.

Regards.

[elhombrelibre]

This is all irrelevant. The US and the UK will do what's right regardless of these socialists praising a failed ex-president.

[elhombrelibre]

This is all irrelevant. The US and the UK will do what's right regardless of these socialists praising a failed ex-president.

[veronica]

I love this. The hypocrisy of these characters on full display. The prizes for science and literature are, in general, not as politically motivated, (though literature has been in certain cases), but the Peace Prize has become a big fat joke.

As the whole world can see from this debacle. Carter getting this prize is so fraudulent.

[Notforprophet]

Was Carter practicing "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts" when he sent our forces into Iran on a botched rescue attempt of the hostages?

[rudypoot]

You'd think this prize would reflect the success and accomplishment of the recipient, not failure and ineptness. If I ever won this award I would wipe my ass with it and hand it back saying that it would be an insult to be lumped together with Arafat, Annan, the UN and Carter.

[Notforprophet]

No doubt. Didn't they give one of these silly prizes to Yasser Arafat a while back? What a joke.

[MadIvan]

OMG. Alfred Nobel must be flipping in his grave

Actually this is pretty consistent for him. He invented dynamite for peaceful purposes such as mining and it turned out a mess, in his view. To compensate, he created the Peace Prize. Which would likely be a mess in his view.

Some people just have chaos follow them around like a shadow, I suppose.

Regards, Ivan

[Cachelot]

I'm somewhat embarassed that the fellow who acted like such a jackass was Norwegian.

Berge is Labour, and one of the party's two Major Morons. Staalseth is a Christian, the Bishop of Oslo. But then again, Churches of all denominations have been falling over each other lately to embrace the Islamics and their fellow travellers, for one reason or another.

The surprise is Kvanmo, the old commie. But she does have a history of going against the grain.

[bybybill]

Jimmy Carter used to be a joke. Now, after hearing his criticism our country`s Iraq policy, he is no longer a joke, he is a disgrace.

[roses of sharon]

Nobel Peace Prize

Project Manager
Jarmund Grete

gj@nobel.no

Direct +47 22 12 93 31

(saw these earlier, haven't tried them yet)

[Happygal]

A row has broken out among members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee

Am I the only one who finds this first sentence a little ironic? *LOL*

[Bikers4Bush]

Yeah, he'd avoid it and leave American hostages in Iran.

[MadIvan]

Well that explains it. My Norwegian relatives are all right wing and hate Labour.

Regards, Ivan

[alancarp]

Peace Prize Winners since WW-II (nah, there's no politics going on in here...):

2002 Jimmy Carter Jr.
2001 United Nations (U.N.), Kofi Annan
2000 Kim Dae-jung
1999 Doctors Without Borders
1998 John Hume, David Trimble
1997 International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), Jody Williams
1996 Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, José Ramos-Horta
1995 Joseph Rotblat, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
1994 Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin
1993 Nelson Mandela, Frederik Willem de Klerk
1992 Rigoberta Menchú Tum
1991 Aung San Suu Kyi
1990 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
1989 The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso)
1988 United Nations Peace-keeping Forces
1987 Oscar Arias Sanchez
1986 Elie Wiesel
1985 International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
1984 Desmond Mpilo Tutu
1983 Lech Walesa
1982 Alva Myrdal, Alfonso García Robles
1981 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
1980 Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
1979 Mother Teresa
1978 Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin
1977 Amnesty International
1976 Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan
1975 Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov
1974 Seán MacBride, Eisaku Sato
1973 Henry A. Kissinger, Le Duc Tho
1972 -none-
1971 Willy Brandt
1970 Norman E. Borlaug
1969 International Labour Organization (I.L.O.)
1968 René Cassin
1967 -none-
1966 -none-
1965 United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
1964 Martin Luther King Jr.
1963 International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies
1962 Linus Carl Pauling
1961 Dag Hammarskjöld
1960 Albert John Lutuli
1959 Philip J. Noel-Baker
1958 Georges Pire
1957 Lester Bowles Pearson
1956 -none-
1955 -none-
1954 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
1953 George Catlett Marshall
1952 Albert Schweitzer
1951 Léon Jouhaux
1950 Ralph Bunche
1949 Lord (John) Boyd Orr of Brechin
1948 -none-
1947 Friends Service Council (The Quakers), American Friends Service Committee (The Quakers)
1946 Emily Greene Balch, John Raleigh Mott
1945 Cordell Hull
1944 International Committee of the Red Cross

[MadIvan]

Am I the only one who finds this first sentence a little ironic? *LOL*

It's too bad the Nobel Peace Prize isn't awarded in Ireland, darling - then it would be even more ironic:

A loud, drunken fistfight has broken out among members of the O'Nobel Peace Prize Committee

Love, Ivan

smiling sweetly

[orfisher]

>>give it to Ronald Reagan. He ended the Cold War, after all.<<....When it comes down to what is happening today with Islamic terrorism Reagan was just as much a wussy as Carter only a little slimier. Back when Iran took hostages, Carter did nothing while Reagan traded arms. Had either one of them sent a strong message by kicking some ass, none of this crap would be happening today. We may have lost some American lives, but nothing like was lost on 9/11.