[Reader-list] Bush, Blair Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

[Avishek Ganguly]

Bush, Blair Nominated for Nobel Prize for Iraq War 

Thu May 8, 2003 10:28 AM ET 
By Alister Doyle

OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian parliamentarian nominated
President Bush and 
British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace
Prize on Thursday, 
praising them for winning the war in Iraq.

'Sometimes it's necessary to use a small and effective
war to prevent a 
much more dangerous war in the future,' Jan Simonsen,
a right-wing 
independent in Norway's parliament, told Reuters.

'If nobody acted then Saddam Hussein could have
produced weapons of mass 
destruction and, in five or 10 years, could have used
them against 
Israel,' he said.

An award to Bush and Blair would be a U-turn after the
Nobel Committee 
awarded the 2002 prize to former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter last 
October. At the time, the committee chairman called it
a kick in the 
shins to Bush's Iraq policies as Carter had been
calling for a 
diplomatic solution.

Simonsen said the war had 'made it possible to create
democracy and 
respect for human rights in a country which for so
many years has been 
ruled by one of the worst dictators in modern times.'

However, Geir Lundestad, the director of the Nobel
Institute where the 
five-member committee meets, said Simonsen's proposal
would have to wait 
for the 2004 award because the deadline for
nominations for 2003 passed 
on February 1.

The secretive five-member committee names the annual
winner in 
mid-October. More than 160 people and organizations
have been nominated 
for the 2003 prize, including Pope John Paul, Irish
rock star Bono and 
Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya.

'I'm not especially optimistic that Bush and Blair
will win but I think 
it's worth a try,' Simonsen said. He said he would
encourage like-minded 
parliamentarians in other countries to also nominate
Bush and Blair.

Nobel committees have frequently honored the United
Nations instead of 
unilateral action by member states. The United Nations
did not give an 
explicit mandate for the war amid opposition from
countries including 
France, Germany and Russia.

The 2001 Nobel Peace Prize went to the United Nations
and U.N. 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Thousands of people around the world, including
members of national 
parliaments, professors of history, law and politics
and former 
laureates can make nominations for the prize. The
nomination process is 
secret, but people sometimes publicize their choice.


________________________________________________________________________
Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV.
       visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com