War, Peace, and Obligation: Obama in Oslo

President’s Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech did not sidestep the controversy of his award. He willfully and gracefully acknowledged that he is the Command-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars, and spoke about the justification for armed conflict, but the importance and long-lasting qualities of non-violence. After all, he says, an African-American president would not be possible without the non-violent civil rights movement.

Barack Obama’s speech is in many ways a conceptual speech about war. He begins by addressing Iraq, a war that “is winding down” and Afghanistan as “a conflict America did not seek;” rather, Afghanistan is the shared responsibility of “forty three other countries – including Norway – [waged] in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.” After this, the speech is far more conceptual, discussing the legitimacy and evolving morality of armed conflict.

There is “deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter the cause;” and yet, Obama argues that war has a role to play in peace keeping, and that non-violence would not have stopped Hitler or Milosevic. America has provided global security for the past 90 years, sacrificing the “blood of our citizens” for the promotion of peace and prosperity abroad. Perhaps more importantly, the United States has given war an objective morality; restrictions on the most dangerous weapons, and “mechanisms s to govern the waging of war…protect human rights, [and] prevent genocide.”

While he argues that “the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace,” he also recognizes that “war promises human tragedy.” To avoid war, we need to continue Kennedy’s call for the evolution of human institutions through following standards that govern the use of force. The United States must also follow these rules, and the President has ceased the use of torture, called for the closing of Guantanamo, and reaffirmed America’s commitment to the Geneva conventions.

Obama argues that the global community needs to advocate peace around the world, not only through the absence of conflict, but the presence of economic, cultural, and personal security. The human spirit will fight for these assurances to end, whether by bullet or by peace. This prize was not awarded to Obama for his past accomplishments, but for his incredible potential. He ends his speech building upon that: “We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of deprivation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that – for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.” Most importantly, peace must be your work on earth, Mr. President.