While the news out of Washington this week revolved around the possibility of war with Iraq, the news out of Scandinavia centered on the peaceful resolution of conflict. Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, an award that is well deserved.
Carter easily could have received the prize, or at least a portion of it, in 1978. That was the year he engineered the Camp David Accords that brought peace between Israel and Egypt. Instead, the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shared the award.
After being defeated in 1980 by Ronald Reagan, Carter continued to pursue the role of peacemaker and advocate of human rights. His efforts have taken him around the world, where he has monitored elections and mediated conflicts. Among other things, he helped ease nuclear tensions between the United States and North Korea and helped to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti. This year, he even ventured to Cuba and spoke out for human rights and an easing of the U.S. embargo.
Carter's critics have accused him of unwarranted intervention in U.S. foreign policy, but their criticism is off the mark. Carter functions as a respected elder statesman who is careful not to usurp the authority of sitting presidents.
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