It's not the Nobel "Pacifism" Prize

Some have criticized the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to a commander in chief of a nation that has just announced an escalation of one of the two wars in which his nation is involved.

President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for renewing America's commitment to diplomacy, the rule of law, and a decreased emphasis on the use of military force, not for pacifism

Few Nobel Peace Prize winners have been  pacifists. Many were military commanders or political leaders of nations at war.

President Theodore Roosevelt's 1906 prize was for his diplomatic work in ending the Russian-Japanese War. President Roosevelt had built his career on his record as a war hero in what was an unjust war of aggression and conquest, the Spanish-American War, and believed in the aggressive use of military force.

President Wilson's 1919 prize was for his diplomatic efforts after World War I to prevent future wars. As commander in chief he just presided over the American military's decisive contribution to the defeat of Germany and its allies.

General George C. Marshall's, the American Army's chief of staff in World War II and a major architect of the Allied victory, won the Peace Prize in 1953 for his post war reconstruction work in Europe.

The 1973 prize Henry Kissinger shared with his then North Vietnamese counterpart for negotiating the end to the war in Vietnam may have been to most disturbing and least deserving of any. Along with what has generally been judged to be the unjust use of excessive force in Vietnam, Henry Kissinger's policies set off the chain of events that directly contributed to the Khmer Rouge's massacre of millions of their fellow Cambodians.

Rather than an acknowledgment of anyone's accomplishments, the 1973 prize was perhaps more a collective sigh of relief that the Vietnam War appeared to be reaching a conclusion.

Both of the 1978 winners for their diplomatic work, Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime minister Menachem Begin had dubious histories of terrorism. During World War II, Anwar Sadat was imprisoned by the British for his efforts to work with Nazis against the British in Egypt. Menachem Begin was part of an organization that committed terrorist attacks against both the British and Arabs in Palestine before Israeli independence.

The 1989 winner, the Dalai Lama, does not claim to be a pacifist and supports the just use of force, perhaps because he sees that as among the options to achieve his goals for Tibet. From the late 1950s until the mid 1970s, the Dalai Lama was publicly silent about the CIA supported guerilla war the Tibetans waged against the Chinese. When as part of the process of normalizing relations with China, the CIA withdrew support for the Tibetan guerrillas, the Dalai Lama called on the Tibetans to cease the war, implying that he long had some authority over the fighters.

The 1993 Prize was shared by leaders who after a prolonged period of waging war against each other, agreed to peace, South African President F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela.

Ironically in some ways the accomplishments of these South African practitioners of armed force may have been greater that those of the iconic pacifist of the 20th century, Mohandas Gandhi. After independence, India descended into a maelstrom of  Hindu versus Muslim violence with up to one millions deaths. British Indian broke into two then three nations that have repeatedly warred with each, two of which have armed themselves with nuclear weapons.

In contrast, South Africa achieved a much less violent end to Apartheid without civil or racial war or a break up of the nation. South Africa also dismantled its incipient nuclear weapons program.

The 1994 prize was awarded to three leaders who had long waged both conventional and terrorist wars with each other, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli leaders Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin

The 2002 prize was awarded to Navy veteran and former President Jimmy Carter for his post presidency diplomatic and humanitarian work

Vietnam War Army veteran and former Vice President Al Gore shared the 2007 for his environmental work.

For more information:

Diplomacy That Will Live in Infamy by James Bradley, New York Times, December 6, 2009. The author writes that rather than acting as a neutral mediator of the Russian-Japanese War, President Roosevelt was a supporter of Japan and sought an end to the war on terms favorable to Japanese dominance in Asia.

All Nobel Laureates