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Tue Oct 13 14:00:12 BST 2009

October 11, 2009
OP-ED COLUMNIST, New York TImes
The Peace (Keepers) Prize
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
The Nobel committee did President Obama no favors by prematurely awarding
him its peace prize. As he himself acknowledged, he has not done anything
yet on the scale that would normally merit such an award — and it dismays me
that the most important prize in the world has been devalued in this way.
It is not the president’s fault, though, that the Europeans are so relieved
at his style of leadership, in contrast to that of his predecessor, that
they want to do all they can to validate and encourage it. I thought the
president showed great grace in accepting the prize not for himself but “as
an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by
people in all nations.”
All that said, I hope Mr. Obama will take this instinct a step further when
he travels to Oslo on Dec. 10 for the peace prize ceremony. Here is the
speech I hope he will give:
“Let me begin by thanking the Nobel committee for awarding me this prize,
the highest award to which any statesman can aspire. As I said on the day it
was announced, ‘I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many
of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize.’ Therefore,
upon reflection, I cannot accept this award on my behalf at all.
“But I will accept it on behalf of the most important peacekeepers in the
world for the last century — the men and women of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air
Force and Marine Corps.
“I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers who landed on
Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, to liberate Europe from the grip of Nazi
fascism. I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers and
sailors who fought on the high seas and forlorn islands in the Pacific to
free East Asia from Japanese tyranny in the Second World War.
“I will accept this award on behalf of the American airmen who in June 1948
broke the Soviet blockade of Berlin with an airlift of food and fuel so that
West Berliners could continue to live free. I will accept this award on
behalf of the tens of thousands of American soldiers who protected Europe
from Communist dictatorship throughout the 50 years of the cold war.
“I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers who stand guard
today at outposts in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan to give that
country, and particularly its women and girls, a chance to live a decent
life free from the Taliban’s religious totalitarianism.
“I will accept this award on behalf of the American men and women who are
still on patrol today in Iraq, helping to protect Baghdad’s fledgling
government as it tries to organize the rarest of things in that country and
that region — another free and fair election.
“I will accept this award on behalf of the thousands of American soldiers
who today help protect a free and Democratic South Korea from an unfree and
Communist North Korea.
“I will accept this award on behalf of all the American men and women
soldiers who have gone on repeated humanitarian rescue missions after
earthquakes and floods from the mountains of Pakistan to the coasts of
Indonesia. I will accept this award on behalf of American soldiers who serve
in the peacekeeping force in the Sinai desert that has kept relations
between Egypt and Israel stable ever since the Camp David treaty was signed.
“I will accept this award on behalf of all the American airmen and sailors
today who keep the sea lanes open and free in the Pacific and Atlantic so
world trade can flow unhindered between nations.
“Finally, I will accept this award on behalf of my grandfather, Stanley
Dunham, who arrived at Normandy six weeks after D-Day, and on behalf of my
great-uncle, Charlie Payne, who was among those soldiers who liberated part
of the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald.
“Members of the Nobel committee, I accept this award on behalf of all these
American men and women soldiers, past and present, because I know — and I
want you to know — that there is no peace without peacekeepers.
“Until the words of Isaiah are made true and lasting — and nations never
again lift up swords against nations and never learn war anymore — we will
need peacekeepers. Lord knows, ours are not perfect, and I have already
moved to remedy inexcusable excesses we’ve perpetrated in the war on
terrorism.
“But have no doubt, those are the exception. If you want to see the true
essence of America, visit any U.S. military outpost in Iraq or Afghanistan.
You will meet young men and women of every race and religion who work
together as one, far from their families, motivated chiefly by their mission
to keep the peace and expand the borders of freedom.
“So for all these reasons — and so you understand that I will never hesitate
to call on American soldiers where necessary to take the field against the
enemies of peace, tolerance and liberty — I accept this peace prize on
behalf of the men and women of the U.S. military: the world’s most important
peacekeepers.”

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