Posted on 10/11/2002 12:37:27 PM PDT by 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.
Reagan was trading arms while still a private citizen in 1980? Wow, he was even more powerful than I thought!
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.
Had Reagan never taken on the Soviet Union, we wouldn't be dealing with Islamist terrorists today because they'd all be too busy dealing with the proxy wars between the US and USSR that would be going on in that region to this day. Personally, I'd rather have a bunch of ragtag terrorists to deal with than the daily potential for worldwide nuclear annihilation.
There are always unseeable consequences to everything. Twenty years from now people on FR will be playing armchair general, talking about how we wouldn't have to be dealing with problem X in 2022 if only Dubya had had the guts to Do Something About Them back in 2002, even though in 2002 nobody had ever even heard of the problem or the people responsible for it.
I know ... just tweakin' ya. But I do tend to believe that rattling sabers at the Arabs might not have the best idea in the world back when Brezhnev and Andopov and all those dour gentlemen were running things Over There.
What to make of a Nobel prize going to that happy face, eh? A completely failed presidency. A reputation at home as the world's worst buttinsky...Shoot.
I've been pounding nails in my house all week. When can I get me one of 'dem prizes?
Arafat, Sadat, the push for the Clintoon in 2000 and now their best buddie Carter are prime examples of their buddies becoming un noble prize winners.
Carter has been whoreing and pimping for the Islamofascists for two decades. (link to Carter be financed and controlled by Opecker Princes and Islamofascist thugs)
While he was President he allowed the Killer Mullahs to overtake our embassy and he stood by the sideline watching. Before Ronald Reagan was elected, he sent a message behind their doors to return our people from our embassy before he became president or pay a big price for stupidity. They released our people.
Carter did more damage to the CIA than any other rat has.
Carter helped to empower the Watermelon Enviralists to control our industry, oil/energy production and to kill nuclear power to make us more dependent on Opecker Oil.
Carter never met a commie nor a IslamoFascist that he didn't love. He is Fidel Castro's best friend in America.
Carter is my candidate for the worse President in our history. That is why he was chosen for the un noble prize!
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