As the July 2011 deadline for Afghan troop withdrawal nears, President Barack Obama is gearing up for another significant milestone, the Nobel War Prize awards ceremony, which will be held in Oslo next month.
Obama has been selected as this year’s winner of the first inaugural prize to commemorate the world leader who has “best advanced the goals of war and militarization across the globe,” amongst a notable cast of runners-up that includes NATO’s head Anders Fogn Rasmussen, China’s premier Wen Jiabao, and former President George W. Bush.
The selection committee includes a host of venerable war-makers in their own right, including Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi — each of whom will be honored in a special category celebrating the “Leaders that Wage War on Their Own People.”
Among Obama’s list of war accomplishments, the committee highlighted Obama’s decision to double the number of troops and expand the number of private contractors in Afghanistan, as well as his dramatic escalation of drone strikes and targeted assassinations in Yemen and Pakistan. According to one committee member, “Two years ago, we worried that President Obama would rollback Bush administration policies and pursue a peace agenda, but in fact he’s expanded the militaristic Bush approach to counterterrorism. He’s managed to get the U.S. involved in three wars in the Middle East, keep Guantanamo open, and dramatically expand the use of covert CIA capture/kill operations across the globe. We could not think of a more worthy candidate for this award.”
News this week that the CIA is building a secret military base in the Middle East had the committee buzzing with excitement. One judge noted, “We applaud Obama for presiding over 865 military bases abroad at a cost of over $102 billion annually. At a time when the country is faltering from the economic crisis, Obama’s decision to approve the construction of more bases deserves praise.”
Obama’s speechwriters are hard at work preparing the his acceptance remarks, and PolicyMic managed to obtain a preview of the speech from a source inside the White House. The president will begin by thanking congressional Democrats “for campaigning in 2006 on the antiwar agenda, and then turning around once in office and funding the war they claimed to oppose.” He will also thank Congress for “stepping aside and allowing me to go to war in Libya without Congressional approval and once again approving the Patriot Act despite years of supposed opposition.”
Obama will also thank America's young people for “accepting the status quo,” and allowing the U.S. to “spend $2 billion every week in Afghanistan while over 9% of Americans, and young people with college degrees, can’t find jobs.”
Ceremony organizers carefully timed the event in order to nudge Obama toward breaking his pledge to begin a significant troop withdrawal in July — a course the president is strongly considering.
They are urging the president to permanently take the Nobel Peace Prize down from his bookshelf and replace it with the war prize next month.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Discussion
Jake I am late to the debate but want to get in my two cents. While I understand that you are sick of the "Obama was dealt a bad hand" argument, reality demands a responsible course of action that ensures the safety of our cities and citizens. While on his watch there have been no major terrorist attacks on US soil, which would be devastating to our already fragile state
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Yes, politics plays a large role in decision-making, but I believe, as evidenced by this discussion, that most people would appreciate a president who stands up for his/her convictions rather than playing politics.
Obama's decisions have reflected the political realities he faced. On Guantanamo, he made a push towards closing the base but was rejected by the New York politicians. With Libya, he was backed into a corner where not intervening meant the imminent and highly publicized death of thousands of Libyan civilians.
Afghanistan was different. I agree that we should have increased our presence.
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Just as liers, they all (politicians) make this job very nicely : liers !...
As vocal as he was in his opposition of invading Iraq, Obama today seems to be finding just wars (sorry, sorry -- non-hostile kinetic military actions) everywhere he looks.
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It's unbelievable how Obama has broken so many promises. He said he'd close Gitmo; he said he would end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; he said his administration would be more transparent. Not so, on any account. In the meantime our soldiers are still dying and we're spending money that we need at home.
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Presumably he gets to keep the award
if he wins it 3 years in a row