It's One Thing To Win A Nobel Peace Prize, Another To Earn It

It is ironic but President Obama will accept his Nobel Peace Prize just a week after escalating the Afghanistan War.

This 8 1/2 year old open ended war is rapidly escalating and it will also take the U.S. military deeper into Pakistan. In addition, Mr. Obama is fighting the Iraq War, while the CIA is conducting its secret operations including seizing suspects and torturing them.

But it's not too late for Mr. Obama. He could rise to the stature of some other Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [1964], Elie Wiesel [1986] and Nelson Mandela [1993] and actually bring peace.

Instead of escalating one war and continuing the other, Mr. Obama could call for a cease fire in Iraq and Afghanistan. He could then invite all the combatants of each war into one place and negotiate settlements. If his peace effort fails people can always fight again, which is where we are now.

But sitting down together is how most wars end and it is most likely how these wars will eventually end. Mr. Obama can do it now, before more lives are lost or families destroyed and before America fights its way into moral and fiscal bankruptcy.

But he needs encouragement from you and me. He listened carefully to his military advisers and now he needs to hear from us. As U.S. citizens, we must speak for the voiceless, nameless, faceless victims of our country.

We can also speak for the welfare of our nation's military families who bear the brunt of its brutal actions. Their children, our soldiers are sent to kill and be killed. Many others return from the bloody battles, severely injured, or emotionally damaged, as the U.S. tries to force other nations to do as they are told.

How can anyone reconcile this with peace? With justice? With love? This is the time for Mr. Obama to rise to the occasion and offer the world peace and its children the promise of a better tomorrow.

Dick