Obama's Oslo Speech
Danielle Pletka | Washington Post
December 06, 2009

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Pity President Obama, who, despite impressive attainments at a young age and an apparent comfort with the cult of personality that surrounds him, must surely be aware that he has done little yet to earn any peace prize. Let us not unjustly prejudge him; he may one day merit the prize, but that day will not be in 2009. So he should acknowledge the honor bestowed and his unworthiness by dedicating the prize to those who this year did so much to advance the cause of peace.

There is no shortage of deserving candidates: the people of Iran, who did their utmost to take back their nation; specifically, Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who gave her life to speak her mind and whose murder finally stirred the conscience of the Obama White House; or Rebiya Kadeer, the president of the World Uighur Congress, a victim of Mao's Cultural Revolution and a tribune of peaceful resistance and hope for Muslims in communist China.

Perhaps, however, in light of the president's brave decision this week to send 30,000 additional troops to carry out his Afghanistan war strategy, Obama should say that he is accepting the prize on behalf of the men and women of the United States military, who have done more to keep the peace in this world than any other military and who sacrifice every day not to their own greater glory or for pecuniary gain, but for the Stars and Stripes that are beacons of peace and liberty year in and year out, fools in Oslo notwithstanding.

Danielle Pletka is vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at AEI.

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About the Author

 

Danielle
Pletka

  • As a long-time Senate Committee on Foreign Relation senior professional staff member for the Near East and South Asia, Danielle Pletka was the point person on Middle East, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan issues. As the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI, Pletka writes on national security matters with a focus on Iran and weapons proliferation, the Middle East, Syria, Israel and the Arab Spring. She also studies and writes about South Asia: Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.


    Pletka is the co-editor of “Dissent and Reform in the Arab World: Empowering Democrats” (AEI Press, 2008) and the co-author of “Containing and Deterring a Nuclear Iran” (AEI Press, 2011). Her most recent study, “Iranian influence in the Levant, Egypt, Iraq, and Afghanistan,” was published in May 2012. She is currently working on a follow-up report on U.S.–Iranian competitive strategies in the Middle East, to be published in the summer of 2013.


     


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  • Phone: 202-862-5943
    Email: dpletka@aei.org

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