What Do These Men Have in Common?

Updated to include the Nobel Prize Committee’s latest upstaging of their own stupidity . . .

None of them are champions of peace, yet they have all been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Yassir Arafat fomented terrorism in the Middle East for decades before his death. The terror he incited continues to this day.
• Jimmy Carter, the worst U.S. President of the 20th century, made concessions to Iran that allowed radicals in that country to capture U.S. Embassy personnel and hold them hostage for 444 days. Carter did nothing to save the hostages except for a lame attempt at a raid that resulted in the deaths of eight military personnel and the destruction of their helicopter.
• Muhammad ElBaradei ignored the efforts of North Korea and Iran in their respective run-up to nuclear weapons. In his role as chief of the IAEA he consistently gave both rogue nations leeway to continue their efforts.
• Al Gore has peddled falsehoods in the name of saving the planet from a highly-exaggerated climatological disaster. In his recent testimony before congress, he misrepresented the truth by declaring that “droughts are becoming longer and more intense” which has clearly been disproven by actual science.
• Barack Obama‘s selection by the committee demonstrates that the prize is a mockery of the notion of “peace.” Obama’s idea of “peace,” is to continue to allow American and allied forces to die in Afghanistan while waffling about a “strategy” instead of listening to the commanders on the ground. The Nobel Committee explains that it was “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” and the fact that he has “created a new climate in international politics.” Didn’t Al Gore get the award two years ago for seeking to stop climate change?

The Nobel Peace Prize has been a joke for years. Consider the following with regard to the discretion of the prize award selection committee:

• Why did they award Mikhail Gorbachev the Peace Prize for ending the cold war when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher had more to do with it?
• In keeping with their penchant for rewarding cowardice and deceit, why did they not award Bill Clinton for his retreat from Somalia after the Blackhawk Down incident? And for refusing to capture or kill Usama Bin Laden?

They should rename the prize to something like the Nobel Anti-American Prize and be done with it.

Finally, read Jim Geraghty’s list of Obama’s peaceful accomplishments at NRO‘s The Campaign Spot.