Obama defends use of force
President says US must remain a standard-bearer in the conduct of war
US President Barack Obama on Thursday accepted the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize saying he was a “living testimony to the moral force of non-violence”, while at the same time defending the use of force.
It was a sober 36-minute speech by Obama. His remarks were only occasionally interrupted by applause, including when he said the US “must remain a standard-bearer in the conduct of war.” He renewed his pledge to close the prison at the American base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend,” Obama said. “And we honour those ideals by upholding them not when it is easy, but when it is hard.”
The president conceded that there was “a deep ambivalence about military action today,” which he said was rooted in “a reflexive suspicion of America, the world’s sole military superpower.” But he offered a forceful defence of the US, saying the lessons of history should ease those suspicions.
“Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this,” Obama said. “The US has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms.”
When he was presented his gold medal, he stood for well over a minute as he was honoured by a standing ovation. His speech, which he was still writing and editing during his seven-hour flight here, called for the world to embrace a bolder vision of itself.
“Let us reach for the world that ought to be,”Obama said, “that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls.” He said: “The world may no longer shudder at the prospect of war between two nuclear superpowers, but proliferation may increase the risk of catastrophe. Terrorism has long been a tactic, but modern technology allows a few small men with outsize rage to murder innocents on a horrific scale.” He added: “I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.” The president said that the United States’commitment to global security “will never waver.”
“But in a world in which threats are more diffuse and missions more complex, America cannot act alone,” Obama said. “This is true in Afghanistan. This is true in failed states like Somalia, where terrorism and piracy is joined by famine and human suffering. And sadly, it will continue to be true in unstable regions for years to come.”
