Friday, December 11, 2009

Obama, Nobel, Peace, War?

Anti-war forces bristle at Obama's Nobel speech

Washington Times — President Obama's acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize won praise from conservatives, but some anti-war Democrats in Congress bristled at the commander-in-chief's ruminations about waging a "just war."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a leading critic on the left of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Friday that the president's musings about the inevitability of war and "war's instrumentality in pursuit of peace" threatened to lead the United States into more bloody conflicts.
click to read complete article
Barack Obama: War President?

Fox News — Col. Ollie North -When I was a young Marine, we were encouraged to read Sun Tzu's "Art of War" as a primer on conflict. Our mentors were officers and senior non-commissioned officers who had served in World War II, Korea and the early days of the conflict in Indochina. These were serious men for whom the profession of arms was no trivial matter. They taught us that the 6th Century B.C. tome was relevant to the fight we were headed for in Vietnam and would serve us well in the future.

According to Sun Tzu, "The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, the path to safety or ruin. Therefore, it is a subject that must be seriously studied." The most recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize appears to have ignored this sage advice.
click to read complete article
Left and right, pundits applaud Obama Nobel Peace Prize speech

Christian Science Monitor — If nothing else, the American punditocracy largely agreed on one aspect of President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech: that it was eloquent.

In offering a tutorial on just war theory, laid out in clear prose and compellingly delivered, Mr. Obama and his speechwriters showed once again that they know how to knock one out of the park.
click to read complete article