Peace Action says Obama does not deserve Nobel Peace Prize yet: "If you did, you would stop the surge," challenges Kevin Martin, leader
of major American peace group supporting a non-military approach to
Afghanistan.
Reacting to today's announcement of President Obama as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Peace Action's Executive Director Kevin Martin challenged the Obama Administration to live up to the honor.
"It is ironic that this award comes on the same day that the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the administration is considering sending as many as 60,000 more troops to Afghanistan. President Obama needs to prove that he really is a force for peace. He can do that by refusing to put more troops in Afghanistan, and instead committing to a non-military solution that doesn't destabilize a nuclear-armed Pakistan like a surge would."
Martin added that the president is moving in the right direction on
nuclear disarmament but hasn't done nearly enough yet to warrant a Nobel Prize.
He said there is a hunger for a new, less militaristic US foreign policy around the world, but again, Obama's modest changes in certain policies in the first 9 months on the job don't warrant a Peace Prize.
The comments come on the heels of a trip to Afghanistan by Peace Action Political Director Paul Kawika Martin.
On the trip, he saw the effects of the war firsthand, with visits with every stratum of society. He learned that the war is undermining any future peace in the region. Air-strikes terrorize civilians, detention paralyzes society and the Afghan economy has been decimated, with at least 40% unemployment.
Peace Action is the nation's largest grassroots peace network, with a
membership of over 100,000, and chapters and affiliates in 30 states.
For more than 50 years, Peace Action has been a leader in the struggle
for a safer world with fewer nuclear weapons. Peace Action has achieved victories in successful campaigns to ban landmines, end nuclear weapons testing, cut funding for Star Wars and new nuclear weapons and stop arms transfers to nations that abuse human rights.
For booking information or telephone interviews with either Kevin
Martin, Executive Director, or Paul Kawika Martin, Political Director,
please contact Ron Zucker, Associate Director of Campaigns for Kelley
Campaigns, at (301) 887-1060 x112, or via email at [email protected].
Source: Peace Action
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