Obama War Escalation Speech: War = Peace

Anti-War Group Accepts Wisdom of Nobel Prize Award

What: Solemn Coffin March
When: Thursday December 10 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm
Where: 47th St. & 1st Ave., west on 42nd St. to Times Square Recruiting Station, 44th St. & Broadway

The U.S. organization “The World Can’t Wait,” having organized weeks of protest against President Barack Obama’s escalation of troops to Afghanistan, said today:

We're surprised to learn President Obama will be traveling to Oslo, as it was our understanding that he had given his Nobel acceptance speech at West Point on December 1. The speech, echoing eight years of George Bush’s justifications and stating his aim to ‘win’ the war, was enough to convince us that aggressive war means peace.

We hope the Nobel Committee is satisfied that the increase of U.S. troops to Afghanistan is enough to merit the prize, given their statement in October that "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

We concur with the Nobel Committee that doubling the size of the prison at Baghram Air Base, and stepped up counterinsurgency in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, are outstanding examples of the kind of "cooperation between peoples" it cited in awarding Obama. And Obama’s commitment to international diplomacy is only underscored by his administration’s refusal to take the military option off the table towards Iran and by enacting the largest military budget in world history.

To those cynics who point out that Obama is now Commander in Chief of two pre-emptive wars widely considered to have been launched in contravention of international law, we point out that while General Stanley McChrystal publicly demanded 80,000 more troops, Obama pledged an increase of only 30,000. And, now Secretaries Gates and Clinton have made the strongest assurances that there is no date or plan to withdraw them.

To those who cringe at the use of un-manned robot drones on the sovereign country of Pakistan and fear that killing civilians will only make more people hate the United States, we remind them that the hundreds of innocents are being killed by a commander who won the Peace Prize. So shut up.

To those who find some irony in the prize being awarded on December 10, International Human Rights Day, and are concerned that Obama, who promised to close Guantanamo, has released fewer detainees than the Bush administration and has revived the military commission trials decried by the world, we remind you that this President is committed to the rule of law. Remember, as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, “If the President does it, it can’t be against the law,” and quit your whining about international law and standards.

Further, we are encouraged and gratified to learn that the Committee has decided to rename its Peace Prize in honor of George Orwell in coming years.

Those who reject doublespeak, are invited Thursday, December 10 at noon to join the War Resisters League and World Can’t Wait at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza (East 47th & 1st Avenue) marching down 42nd Street to Times Square Recruiting Station with symbolic coffins, in an anti- war protest as President Obama receives the Peace Prize.

ENDS

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