Carter Wins Nobel Peace Prize, Bush Rebuked

[Guest guest]

Anyone who hawkishly supports Mr. Bush right now must understand that overall

the international community is united against this unprecedented move and

shift in US foreign policy. If Mr. Bush contravenes his constitutional

obligation to uphold the UN Charter (since we are a signatory to it), which

treaty expressly bars this pre-emptive attack, many, many concerned people will

from that point forward refer to him as a criminal with much justification.

The Nobel prize committe exhibited great courage in its critique of Mr. Bush's

extraconstitutional overtures and stretching of democracy to the breaking

point. Those who still now back him must squarely look themselves in the

mirror and ask if America will continue to be a democracy simply through our

affirming to ourselves that this is so.

Jesse Abbot

Carter Wins Nobel Peace Prize, Bush Rebuked

By Reuters | New York Times

Friday, 11 October, 2002

OSLO (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace

Prize on Friday by a committee whose head called the decision a deliberate slap

in the face for the current U.S. government over its policy on Iraq.

Carter, a Democrat who was president from 1977 to 1981, was awarded the $1

million prize from a record field of 156 candidates for decades of work to

resolve conflicts from the Middle East to North Korea, and from Haiti to

Eritrea.

``This honor serves as an inspiration not only to us but also to suffering

people around the world and I accept it on their behalf,'' Carter said in a

statement released by his non-profit Carter Center in Atlanta.

The secretive five-member prize committee praised Carter, 78, 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.''

The prize, named after Swedish philanthropist Alfred Nobel, was widely hailed

abroad as honoring an elder statesman who has been praised more since leaving

office than when president.

``It's great. He deserves it,'' said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who

shared the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations.

The committee praised Carter for an ``outstanding commitment'' to human rights

and for everything from his battle against tropical diseases to his help for

developing nations. The prize will be handed over on December 10 in Oslo.

Carter came close to winning the award in 1978 when Israeli Prime Minister

Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shared the prize for the

peace accord that he brokered.

The committee that year wanted to give Carter the prize but he had not been

formally nominated by the February deadline.

SLAP IN THE FACE FOR WASHINGTON

The chairman of the committee, Gunnar Berge, used the prize to make a scathing

attack on President Bush's campaign to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

U.S. lawmakers gave Bush solid bipartisan support on Thursday for a strike on

Iraq. Carter said last month it would be a ``tragic mistake'' for the United

States to attack Iraq without U.N. backing.

``With the position Carter has taken...(the award) can and must also be seen as

criticism of the line the current U.S. administration has taken on Iraq,''

Berge, a former Labour cabinet minister, told reporters after announcing the

award.

Asked if it was a ``kick in the leg'' at Washington, Berge said: ``Yes, the

answer is an unconditional 'yes.''' A ``kick in the leg'' is a Norwegian phrase

meaning ``a slap in the face.''

But two committee members said Berge had gone too far. Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, an

ex-parliamentarian of a far-right party, said Berge had acted

``unprofessionally'' in going beyond the official citation that only made a

veiled reference to Iraq.

Berge defended his interpretation. ``I expressed myself as leader of the

committee...not on behalf of all of the members,'' he told Norwegian NRK radio.

 

INCENSING GOVERNMENTS

Committee decisions have often antagonized governments.

The 1975 prize awarded to human rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov incensed the

Soviet Union. The 1935 prize to German anti-Nazi journalist Carl von Ossietzky

prompted Hitler to ban Germans from ever accepting Nobel Prizes.

And the committee angered China by giving the prize to Tibet's spiritual leader,

the Dalai Lama, in 1989 only months after the Tiananmen massacre. In 1997,

anti-land mine campaigners won for promoting a treaty opposed by Washington.

The official 2002 text says: ``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 cooperation based on

international law, respect for human rights and economic development.''

Carter won from a field that included Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Chinese

dissidents and U.S. disarmament experts in a year dominated by the aftermath of

the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Ex-South African President Nelson Mandela, who won the award in 1993, praised

Carter through his spokeswoman. ``Even now when President Bush has taken that

belligerent attitude, he (Carter) has condemned him,'' Mandela said.

And Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham told a Helsinki news conference: ``I

think the world will generally accept this award as being a very positive

sign... about how we would like to see the United States behave in world

affairs.''

A former peanut farmer, Carter was the third U.S. President to win the Nobel

Prize since it was set up in 1901, following Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and

Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed

without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the

included information for research and educational purposes.)

[Guest guest]

Dear friend Jesse,

When the United Nations Security Council issues its resolution, is when

the determination will be made as to the so-called "criminality" of America's

bipartisan solidarity against terrorism that threatens innocent lives

worldwide.

Sincerely,

Carol Hook