Congratulations to Al Gore

Bringing forth peace is one of the single most difficult problems faced by mankind. The annual awarding of the Peace Prize is a welcome event as it generates discussion on creating peace. As always, it is wonderful to see an American name added to the list of Peace Prize recipients as the United States as Americans have a long history of actively engaging in the march for peace.

I openly congratulate Al Gore for winning the prize. Al Gore and Jimmy Carter are both notable for the hard work, long hours and determination in the struggle for peace.

There are no short cuts to peace.

I was extremely saddened when George W. Bush chose to invade Iraq at a time when we were finally starting to have a successful diplomatic effort in Iraq. This short cut to peace has proven a very long and difficult road.

At times I feel that the partisan nature of the two party system has created a situation where America is not as effective at bringing peace as we should have been. I wish Bush had been dovish enough to stop the march to war with Iraq when we were having diplomatic success. I feel that, with just a little bit more spine, the Clinto/Gore administration could have lessened the damages of the Rwanda and Somalia fiascos.

I do not envy the members of the Peace Prize committee. The challenge is to separate the short cuts to peace from those with a long hard committment to peace. I feel saddened at the apparent partisan nature of this year's peace prize. The fact that the strongest nation on the planet has an uber partisan political system has created a situation where we thrash from one method of short cut takers to another. This instability has the potential of making the US a catalyst for war ... which is the opposite of what the people of this nation want.