Letter to Obama

Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech sought to legitimize his bellicose strategies

Concerned by increases in bombing and assassinations of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan; the shipment of more soldiers, bombs, military planes and the equipment of war to seven Colombian military bases; the refusal to release of photographs showing torture and the names of those responsible for it in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo; the absence of punishments for U.S. citizens guilty of torture, acts of terrorism, civilian assassinations and grave war crimes, a group of Latin American organizations used the occasion of the recent International Human Rights Day, December 10th, to send a public letter to Mr. Barack Obama, U.S. president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient of 2009, exhorting him to take the following actions to demonstrate his genuine will to achieve peace in the world:

“Cease to invade nations, promote war and send soldiers and arms to Iraq and Afghanistan, as called for by the United Nations Security and Human Rights Councils, which called for the implementation of a plan for withdrawal from these nations.”

“Do not send troops or construct military bases to intervene in Colombia and South America.”

“Do not support or recognize the actions or organized elections by the coup forces in Honduras.”

“Close the military bases in Guantanamo, Colombia, Aruba, Curacao, and Honduras, as well as the “School of Assassins” (School of the Americas or Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) in Fort Benning, Georgia.”

“Order the immediate trial and extradition to Venezuela of the torturer, assassin, and terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who is currently protected by his government after multiple violent crimes against humanity and his involvement in bombing of Cubana Flight 455 in 1976.”

“Prohibit the practice of torture and publicly order the trial of militants and U.S. citizens responsible of torture and other crimes against humanity. In addition, prohibit the secret deporting of persons to nations where torture is practiced and capital punishment is permissible.”

“Begin the progressive, rapid dismantling and elimination of all atomic bombs and other weapons of mass destruction.”

Unfortunately, Obama’s speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize strayed far from the exhortations reproduced above and instead sought to legitimize his warmongering strategies. As the Mexican newspaper La Jornada skillfully demonstrates, the decision of Norwegian academics to grant Obama the good luck of a preventative Nobel Prize—in an effort to reinforce peaceful tendencies in U.S. public power—has proven to be a profoundly mistaken one. On the contrary, the Prize has signified a lucky permission to kill—that is to say, a splendid alibi with which the superpower’s Head of State will be able to justify (as he has already done) whatever act of war or barbarism he commits in the name of national security, the promotion of democracy or, simply, peace.