Jimmy Carter Wins Nobel Peace Prize
By Edward Walsh
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 11, 2002; 6:35
PM
Former President Jimmy
Carter, who has devoted
the two decades since he
left the White House to
seeking peaceful
resolutions to international
conflicts and advocating
human rights causes
around the world, was
awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize today for his
"untiring effort" to promote
those objectives.
In announcing the award,
the Norwegian Nobel
Committee leveled indirect
criticism of President
Bush's threat to use
military force against Iraq.
It contrasted what it called
"a situation currently
marked by threats of the
use of power" with Carter's
adherence to "the principles that conflicts must as far as
possible be resolved through mediation and international
cooperation based on international law, respect for human
rights and economic development."
The award, announced in Oslo, cited Carter's "vital
contribution" in helping to produce the Camp David
Accords between Israel and Egypt, as "in itself a great
enough achievement to qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize."
It also cited Carter's emphasis on the role of human rights
in international politics and the work of the Carter Center,
the Atlanta think tank and human rights advocacy center
that has been his base since he left public office in 1981.
In a statement issued by the Carter Center, the former
president said he was "deeply grateful for this honor."
During the last two decades as he traveled the world with
his wife, Rosalynn, Carter said, "My concept of human
rights has grown to include not only the rights to live in
peace, but also to adequate health care, shelter, food and
to economic opportunity.
"I hope this award reflects a universal acceptance and even
embrace of this broad-based concept of human rights."
The peace prize includes $1 million for the recipient and
Carter said most of the money will go to the Carter Center.
Gunnar Berge, chairman of the Nobel Committee, told
reporters in Oslo that the language of the award citation
"should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the
current (U.S.) administration has taken. It's a kick in the
leg to all that follow the same line as the United States."
In a television interview with Larry King on CNN, Carter
said that he did not consider the Nobel Committee's
statement to be critical of Bush's policy toward Iraq. But he
added that he would have voted against the resolution
giving Bush authority to attack Iraq unilaterally that the
Senate approved early this morning.
"I think it should all be done through the United Nations,
and not unilaterally by the United States," Carter said of
any action against the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.
Following the announcement in Oslo, praise poured in for
Carter, whose reputation and place in public esteem have
risen steadily since he retired from politics after a crushing
defeat. Bush called him, telling one of his Democratic
predecessors that the peace prize was "long overdue,"
according to Carter.
"I can't think of anyone more qualified to receive this year's
Nobel Peace Prize than President Jimmy Carter," former
President Bill Clinton said in a statement. "He continues to
inspire people everywhere . . . through his vigorous quest
for peace, justice and a better quality of life for all citizens
of the world."
Since he left office, Carter has become a high profile
mediator of international disputes and has led delegations
to observe the fairness of elections in numerous countries.
He has also led efforts to eradicate diseases, particularly in
Africa. One of his most recent trips was to Cuba, where he
criticized the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro for its
human rights policies but also called for an end to the U.S.
embargo of that country.
In the United States, Carter has frequently been seen
helping to build housing for low income families under the
auspices of the organization Habitat for Humanity.
The Nobel Committee said it received a record 156
nominations for 117 individuals and groups for this year's
peace prize. Carter is the third U.S. president, following
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, to win the prize.
Carter, 78, was a successful peanut farmer and obscure
one-term governor of Georgia when he began what
appeared to be a quixotic campaign for the presidency in
1974, the year President Richard M. Nixon left the White
House in disgrace following the Watergate scandal. But
Carter, a tireless campaigner, finished ahead of his
Democratic rivals in the 1976 Iowa caucuses, a crucial first
step that helped to propel him to the Democratic
presidential nomination and a narrow victory in the fall
over Nixon's successor, President Gerald R. Ford.
Carter's presidency had its share of successes, but it was
also plagued by raging inflation, an energy shortage that
produced long lines at gas stations, the 444-day hostage
crisis in Iran and the failed and fatal attempt to rescue the
hostages. In 1980, Carter lost in a landslide to Republican
Ronald Reagan.
The high point of Carter's presidency was his role in
brokering the Camp David Accords between Israel and
Egypt. For 13 days in September 1978, Carter met at the
presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains with
Israeli Prime Minister Menacham Begin and Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat, eventually hammering out the first
formal agreement between Israel and one of its Arab
neighbors.
At the time, Carter was seen as a possible Nobel Peace
Prize recipient, but the 1978 prize went only to Begin and
Sadat. In his television interview, Carter said Nobel
Committee officials told him yesterday that they had
decided to have him share the award with Began and
Sadat, but couldn't because he had not been nominated
for the prize..
In the interview, Carter also said that when Bush called
him today he lobbied the president to provide "adequate
money" to implement the almost $3.9 billion election
reform bill that passed the House Thursday and will be
voted on by the Senate next week. Carter and former
President Ford headed a commission that made several
election reform recommendations that were incorporated
in the legislation. Carter said Bush assured him there
would be sufficient funding for the measure.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
washingtonpost.com |
