What do Hitler, Jimmy Carter, and Soccer Have in Common?

In 1938, after the anti-Semitic Nuremberg laws were established,Adolf Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.1

Further, in 1974 Henry Kissinger won the award jointly with LeDuc Tho of Vietnam, who refused to accept it.

Perhaps the most absurd nomination came in 2001 when LarsGustaffson nominated “football.” 2

I was troubled by Vista Kalipa’s article “Well, he’s certainlyno Jimmy Carter.” While it was well written and informative, Ibelieve that it contains a fundamental assumption that deserves tobe questioned. It seems many people assume that Democrats aretree-hugging-hippy-peaceniks who are pulled kicking and screaminginto wars by belligerent Republicans.

Both advocates and critics often stereotype Jimmy Carter, as apeace lover who puts human rights ahead of national security. I amcompelled to argue that, despite the success of the Camp DavidAccords, former president Carter did not deserve the Nobel Peaceprize either.

“An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the PersianGulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interestsof the United States of America, and such an assault will berepelled by any means necessary, including military force.”3

 

This quotation is derived from Carter’s 1980 State of the UnionAddress and has been dubbed by many as the Carter Doctrine. FormerWashington Post columnist Colman McCarthy went so far as to saythat George W. Bush “is merely carrying out that doctrine” in goingto war with Iraq.

While I find McCarthy’s claim to be based on a misreading of thequotation, — ignoring the language “outside force” – for Carter tohave said this, particularly in the context of the oil crisis,opens disturbing doors for what can motivate the application of USmilitary force.

This was certainly not the only belligerent word act on the partof the Carter administration. Despite his reputation for being astrong advocate for human rights, the Carter administration wasalso responsible for the rise of the Taliban.

In a 1998 interview Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s NationalSecurity Adviser, admitted that “July 3, 1979 [several monthsbefore the actual Soviet invasion of Afghanistan] President Cartersigned the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of thepro-Soviet regime in Kabul.”

Later in the interview he says he wrote a letter to Carterstating, “We now have the opportunity to give the USSR theirVietnam War…” Brzezinski asked later in the interview, “What ismost important to the history of the world? The Taliban or thecollapse of the Soviet Empire?”4

The answer to this final question is not the business of thisessay, but I am of the opinion that such actions should certainlydisqualify any administrator from eligibility for the Nobel PeacePrize. And any assumption that Jimmy Carter was “lily liveredliberal” or a “great humanitarian” is as absurd as the man whoinvented dynamite having a Peace Prize named after him.

Brian Johnson

[email protected]

1http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,900496,00.html

2 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/1133255.stm

3http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/speeches/su80jec.phtml

4 http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html