Obama doesn't deserve Peace Prize yet, says leading U.S. group

Peace Action says Obama does not deserve Nobel Peace Prize yet

Washington, D.C. – Reacting to today’s announcement of President Obama
as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Peace Action’s Executive
Director Kevin Martin challenged the Obama Administration to live up to
the honor.

“It is ironic that this award comes on the same day that the Wall Street
Journal is reporting that the administration is considering sending as
many as 60,000 more troops to Afghanistan. President Obama needs to
prove that he really is a force for peace. He can do that by refusing to
put more troops in Afghanistan, and instead committing to a non-military
solution that doesn’t destabilize a nuclear-armed Pakistan like a surge
would.”

Martin added that the president is moving in the right direction on
nuclear disarmament but hasn’t done nearly enough yet to warrant a Nobel
Prize. He said there is a hunger for a new, less militaristic US foreign
policy around the world, but again, Obama’s modest changes in certain
policies in the first 9 months on the job don’t warrant a Peace Prize.
“If you did deserve it, you would stop the surge,” Martin challenged the
President.

The comments come on the heels of a trip to Afghanistan by Peace
Action’s Political Director Paul Kawika Martin (no relation to Kevin
Martin). On the trip, he saw the effects of the war firsthand, with
visits with every stratum of society. He learned that the war is
undermining any future peace in the region. Air strikes terrorize
civilians, detention paralyzes society and the Afghan economy has been
decimated, with at least 40% unemployment.

Peace Action is the nation’s largest grassroots peace network, with a
membership of over 100,000, and chapters and affiliates in 30 states.
For more than 50 years, Peace Action has been a leader in the struggle
for a safer world with fewer nuclear weapons. Peace Action has achieved
victories in successful campaigns to ban landmines, end nuclear weapons
testing, cut funding for Star Wars and new nuclear weapons and stop arms
transfers to nations that abuse human rights.

For booking information or telephone interviews with either Kevin
Martin, Executive Director, or Paul Kawika Martin, Political Director,
please contact Ron Zucker, Associate Director of Campaigns for Kelley
Campaigns, at (301) 887-1060 x112, or via email at
ron@kelleycampaigns.com.