The Nobel War Lecture
by David Krieger
David Krieger is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (www.wagingpeace.org) and a Councilor of the World Future Council.
December 12, 2009
In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, President Obama, one of the world's great orators and purveyors of hope, gave a speech that must reflect the divisions within himself and his personal struggles to reconcile them. It was a surprising speech for the occasion. Rather than a speech of vision and hope, it was a speech that sought to justify war and particularly America's wars. The speech was largely an infomercial for war, touting not only its necessity but its virtues, and might well be thought of as the "Nobel War Lecture."
How troubling it is to see this man of hope bogged down by war, not only on the ground but in his mind. As he put it, "I am the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars." One of these wars he seeks to end, but the other he has made his own by recently committing 30,000 additional troops and justifying it as "an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks." The president persists despite his recognition that "in today's wars, many more civilians are killed than soldiers; the seeds of future conflicts are sewn, economies are wrecked, civil societies torn asunder, refugees amassed, and children scarred."
Having justified war, the president offers three paths to building "a just and lasting peace." First, he argues for "alternatives to violence that are tough enough to change behavior." This makes sense so long as it is applied to all states equally without double standards. Second, he argues that peace must be based upon human dignity and human rights. Of course, this is so. Of course, America should stand for human rights rather than torture and the worst abuse of all - aggressive war. Third, he makes the point that a just and lasting peace must also be based upon freedom from want. There is nothing to argue with here. Why not use our resources to help eliminate poverty and hunger and expand education and healthcare throughout the world, rather than pour these resources into waging war?
The President might have built a strong, positive and hopeful speech on the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons, instruments of omnicide, but he chose instead to offer up a laundry list of reasons for war. When it came to peace, his message, sadly, was No, we can't.
Read the full article at:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/12-5
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