[ back to Breaking News index ] TOP STORIES Bush congratulates Carter PLAINS, Georgia|Published: Saturday October 12, 6:06 PM Former US president Jimmy Carter has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to diplomacy over war - an honour that was delivered with a rebuke of the Bush administration for its hard line on Iraq. Carter, 78, was cited for his peacemaking during and after his White House years, including brokering the Camp David accords in the Mideast, mediating other conflicts around the globe, serving as an election observer and promoting human rights. In an unusual political aside, the Norwegian Nobel committee contrasted his 1978 success in using diplomacy to find peace between Egypt and Israel with President George W Bush's vow to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by force if necessary. "In a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international co-operation based on international law, respect for human rights, and economic development," the citation said. It did not mention Iraq directly. Carter, in his tiny hometown of Plains, said the award honours the staff of the Carter Centre, the Atlanta policy centre he and his wife founded 20 years ago. The center helps people in the world's poorest countries, emphasising democracy, human rights and health care. Most of the $US1 million ($A1.83 million) prize will go to the centre, Carter said. "Maybe this award will let people know what the Carter Centre is, not just in my lifetime, but for the next 100 years," he said. Carter rose from a small-town peanut farmer to the presidency in 1976 after a campaign that stressed honesty in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Four years later, he was turned out of office in a landslide to Ronald Reagan in 1980, undermined by double-digit inflation, an energy crunch that forced Americans to wait in line for petrol, and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. In a famous speech in 1979, he lamented that the country was in a state of "paralysis and stagnation and drift". After the presidency, he doggedly pursued a role on the world stage as a peacemaker and champion of democracy and human rights, and burnished his reputation as a statesman. It is often said that he is a much better ex-president than he was a president. ©2002 [Prizes should be given to those who deserve them, but not for the joint purpose of making political comments, because some people might think that the prize winner may not have been given the prize but for the incidental purpose of the Nobel Committee making political comments. How many people had been killed by dynamites? Would the Nobel Committee consider giving Alfred Nobel a peace prize if he was alive today? So now the question is how many other Nobel Peace Prize recipients actually deserved their prizes rather than serving as excuses for the Nobel Committee to make its political views known, and also perhaps to influence policies. There are always the few who may be seduced by prizes and decide policies according to that desire.Perhaps we should sit on our hands now and then hope for peace after a WMD has destroyed a city full of human beings (01)(121002)]. [ back to Breaking News index ] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2002 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.