Kambiz Assai: What Nobel Peace Prize Winner Must Not Allow

'President Obama : What a Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Must Not Allow'

By Kambiz Assai

The lives of 3400 innocent people in a camp near the Iraqi frontiers are at stake. The men and women in the camp, who are opponents of the clerical regime in Iran, could face the cruelest fate in the beginning of the New Year. Soldiers and tanks have been positioned around the camp and the residents have been told in advance that the army will be used to force them out of the place where they have lived for over 20 years. The message the residents have been given is clear enough: They will be massacred if they were to resist.

A real massacre is awaiting the civilians in the camp. Yet, the good thing is that the bloodshed and massacre can be avoided and it is not yet too late. The key is in the hands of a person we all know, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, President Barack Obama.

Personally, I have always held great honour in my mind for all Nobel Prizes and especially for the Nobel Peace Prize. The views expressed by President Obama on the day when he found that he had won the Noble Peace Prize were both sincere and absorbing for me.

The President spoke about the promise of the American founding documents. He said: “I know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women, and all Americans, want to build -- a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes. And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action -- a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.

That has always been the cause of America. That's why the world has always looked to America. And that's why I believe America will continue to lead . . .To be honest, 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.”

Every sentence in the President remarks, makes me see more clearly that it is now the time more than ever, to show the true meaning of the Nobel Peace Prize. If not now? When?

President Obama can now show just how much he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.As the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, he has a special responsibility to avoid unnecessary war and bloodshed. Beyond that he has a responsibility for the protection of innocent lives at jeopardy in armed conflicts in which the United States has played a role.

All the options are today on the table. The President is the person who will decide on the outcome of the threat to the lives of 3400 residents of Camp Ashraf. The world is certainly looking at the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize to see if he will or will not allow a massacre take place on the orders of the person he invited to the White House on Monday December 12th.

Should the world see another attack and massacre of the 3400 innocent civilians in Camp Ashraf by Maliki’s orders, as he has promised, then President Obama would have indeed jeopardized the value all the world holds for the Nobel Peace Prize One thing is certain: clarity and moral courage go together. More often than not, when there is little of one, there is little of the other.

ENDS

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