Ben Shapiro Shapiro is a second-year
political science student bringing reason to the masses.
E-mail him at [email protected].
Click
Here for more articles by Ben Shapiro
The Nobel Peace Prize Selection Committee has made ridiculous
choices in the past. But, as the cliche goes, even a broken clock
is right twice a day. With the joint nomination of President George
W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain for the 2002 Nobel
Peace Price, the award has fulfilled its quota of intelligence for
the next few decades.
The Nobel Peace Prize is voted by the most anti-American
audience imaginable: world leaders who hate America because of its
power, and university professors, who hate America for
“intellectual reasons.”
The prize has been handed out to the likes of Yassar Arafat, a
founder of world terrorism, and Kofi Annan of the United Nations,
whose only accomplishment has been to exacerbate every violent
situation on the face of the planet. Only an event like Sept. 11
could catalyze the members of the selection committee toward a
reasonable conclusion: pick the men who will really bring peace,
such as Bush and Blair.
Fighting the greatest threat to global security and freedom
since Nazi Germany and the Cold War, these leaders have shown
strength and resilience in their fight against terror. Drawing a
clear line drawn in the sand, Bush, in his address to Congress
following the Sept. 11 bombing, made a firm statement: you are with
us, or you are with the terrorists.
Bush made clear that these values were not under negotiation
““ if nations refused to join the fight, then the alliance
against terror would bring the fight to them.
In less than two months, Afghanistan, home to one of the
world’s most restrictive and brutal regimes, crumbled and
fell. Women in Afghanistan now have rights they never knew of; men
are allowed to shave their beards without fear of imprisonment.
And, making it clear that the fight against terrorism was a fight
for justice, Bush and Blair stood strong in the face of criticism
from weak and morally decrepit states like Saudi Arabia.
Freeing Afghanistan is only the first step in Bush and
Blair’s plan to increase world peace. Iraq, Iran and
North Korea ““ the states named by Bush in his State of the
Union Address ““ are next on the list. These states have
been given a clear choice ““ hand over your terrorists, or
prepare your troops for war.
Bush has also made it clear there is no difference between
terrorism against British citizens, Americans or Westerners
anywhere in the world. Terrorism, the targeting of innocents, is a
disease that must be destroyed for the sake of global peace ““
Bush and Blair are not afraid to do this.
When the news of Bush and Blair’s nomination was first
announced, skeptics could scarcely believe it. How could a Nobel
Peace Prize be given to these “war-mongers” who had
“victimized poor nations?” How could any wartime leader
be given a prize representing the most esteemed accomplishments in
the pursuit of peace?
A stupid question calls for a simple answer. War must be used to
achieve peace. Anyone who believes war does not accomplish anything
is naive or ignorant. The greatest steps toward freedom have all
been brought about by war.
Without the Civil War, slavery could have maintained its
stranglehold on the American way of life longer than it did.
Without World War II, Hitler could have slaughtered every Jew on
the planet and conquered Europe. Without the Gulf War, Saddam
Hussein could already possess nuclear weapons. And without fighting
this War on Terrorism, many more innocents will die, victims to the
clear and present danger of violent extremism.
In the end, Bush and Blair will probably not win the Nobel Peace
Prize. The Norwegian Nobel committee will see to that; several
members were against the war in Afghanistan.
But a statement has been made, and that statement is clear: the
pursuit of peace must sometimes take nations into the darkest caves
and corners of the world. If justice is what we get by
fighting, then fight we must. No one, not even intellectuals and
haters of freedom, can take away that prize away.