President Obama wins the Nobel Prize for Peace — but that's not his fault. - washingtonpost.com

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President Obama has won the Nobel Prize for Peace -- but that's not his fault.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

IT'S AN ODD Nobel Peace Prize that almost makes you embarrassed for the honoree. In blessing President Obama, the Nobel Committee intended to boost what it called his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." A more suitable time for the prize would have been after those efforts had borne some fruit.

It is no criticism of Mr. Obama to note that, barely nine months into his presidency, his goals are still goals. His peace prize came in the same week that Washington was consumed by a divisive debate over how to win a war in Afghanistan; the Obama administration announced a probable delay in its plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Israel's foreign minister told the world that the Middle East peace Mr. Obama has been promoting is not coming soon. The Nobel Committee's claim that Mr. Obama has "created a new climate in international politics" is about as realistic as last week's "Saturday Night Live" parody skewering the president for failing to deliver, already, on a series of campaign promises.

We understand how much Scandinavians and other Europeans welcomed the end of the Bush administration; in that sense, Mr. Obama's prize confirms that his ascension to the presidency has improved America's image in the world, or at least parts of it. But in offering this latest Euro-celebration of the 2008 election, the Norwegian committee has also demonstrated a certain cluelessness about America. If anything animates Mr. Obama's critics in this country, it is the impression that he is the focus of a global cult of personality. This prize, at this time, only feeds that impression, and thus does him no favors politically.

The Nobel Committee's decision is especially puzzling given that a better alternative was readily apparent. This year, hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in Iran braved ferocious official violence to demand their right to vote and to speak freely. Dozens were killed, thousands imprisoned. One of those killed was a young woman named Neda Agha-Soltan; her shooting by thugs working for the Islamist theocracy, captured on video, moved the world. A posthumous award for Neda, as the avatar of a democratic movement in Iran, would have recognized the sacrifices that movement has made and encouraged its struggle in a dark hour. Democracy in Iran would not only set a people free, it would also dramatically improve the chances for world peace, since the regime that murdered her is pursuing nuclear weapons in defiance of the international community.

Announcing Friday that he would accept the award, Mr. Obama graciously offered to share it with "the young woman who marches silently in the streets on behalf of her right to be heard even in the face of beatings and bullets." But the mere fact that he avoided mentioning either Neda's name or her country, presumably out of consideration for the Iranian regime with which he is attempting to negotiate, showed the tension that sometimes exists between "diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" on the one hand, and advocacy of human rights on the other. The Nobel Committee could have spared Mr. Obama this dilemma if it had given Neda the award instead of him.

Iran Police Clash with Mourners

Baton-wielding Iranian police have clashed with mourners holding memorials for those killed in post-election violence, reports say.

State TV said police used teargas to disperse crowds from the grave of Neda Agha Soltan, whose death became a symbol of post-election unrest.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi tried to join the mourners but police forced him to leave, witnesses said.

Further confrontations were reported at a second gathering in central Tehran.

Several hundred people defied a heavy police presence to gather at the Grand Mossala prayer area, witnesses said.

Opposition supporters allege the 12 June election results were rigged in favour of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Anger at the outcome led to the largest mass protests seen in Iran since the 1979 revolution which brought the current Islamic regime to power.

'Surrounded'

Neda Agha Soltan, 27, was shot dead on 20 June as she watched protests against the poll result. Her death - one of 10 that day - was filmed on a mobile phone and broadcast around the world.

Mother's tribute to Neda Profile: Neda Agha Soltan

Shia Muslims traditionally mark 40 days after a death with a ceremony called the "arbayeen".

Mr Mousavi and another opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, had asked the interior ministry for permission to hold a memorial service in the Grand Mossala, according to an aide to Mr Mousavi, but permission was denied.

So the opposition leaders said they would join Neda's family at her graveside at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery.

"Hundreds have gathered around Neda Agha Soltan's grave to mourn her death and other victims' deaths... police arrested some of them ... dozens of riot police also arrived and are trying to disperse the crowd," a witness told Reuters.

Mr Mousavi was surrounded by police shortly after he arrived, witnesses said.

ANALYSIS Jon Leyne BBC Tehran correspondent It's an ominous moment for the government. Those who run the Islamic Republic know only too well the cycle of protests, killings, then Arbayeen ceremonies from 1979, a cycle that helped bring them to power. They must fear history repeating itself, as similar anniversaries approach 40 days after protesters killed in the recent protests. For the opposition, it's an opportunity to take to the streets despite the ban on protests. They could argue that there is no ban on religious ceremonies, though the police and government militia members attacking them with clubs and teargas obviously disagree. The protests now are not remotely on the scale of the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of demonstrators who came onto the streets immediately after the election. But they are happening despite repeated threats and intimidation, and they are keeping up the pressure on the government.

"Mousavi was not allowed to recite the Koran verses said on such occasions and he was immediately surrounded by anti-riot police who led him to his car," one person told AFP.

Some people in the crowd threw stones and chanted anti-Ahmadinejad slogans, reports said, as security personnel with batons charged at them.

One man told the BBC there were about 3,000 people there. Seven or eight men used professional cameras to film the protesters, he said.

Shortly afterwards hundreds more demonstrators were said to have gathered at the Grand Mossala.

Police again used tear gas and batons to break up the crowds, some of whom set rubbish bins on fire, witnesses said.

Iranian authorities banned all opposition protests following post-election violence.

And, reports the BBC's Jon Leyne, the authorities are particularly sensitive about these "arbayeen'' turning into political demonstrations.

That is exactly what happened during the Islamic Revolution 30 years ago in a cycle that helped lead to the downfall of the Shah, our correspondent says.

The US criticised the use of violence against the protesters.

"I think it's particularly disturbing to see security forces use force to break up a graveside demonstration," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

Prisoner trials

In a separate development, a lawmaker said prominent opposition campaigner Saeed Hajjarian had been moved from jail to a government-owned residential complex.

Mr Hajjarian, an advisor to former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, was detained shortly after the polls.

The judiciary had said he would be released on Wednesday, but lawmaker Kazem Jalali told Mehr news agency that he would instead be kept at a government site.

Campaigners had called for his release, arguing his health had deteriorated badly because of harsh treatment in prison.

On Tuesday, officials said about 140 people detained during the protests had been released from Evin prison.

But about 200 others, accused of more serious crimes, remain in jail.

Tehran's public prosecutor's office has announced that the first trials of "rioters" will begin on Saturday, the official Iranian news agency Irna reported.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she deplored the way the Iranian government was treating those it had imprisoned after the violence and urged authorities to release political detainees.

Mr Ahmadinejad is to be officially approved as Iranian president on 3 August.