Washington: US President Barack Obama will
receive the Nobel Peace Prize as a `war president`, and his
acceptance speech would figure the recent decision to send
30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, the White House has said.
Asked whether the President would accept the prize as
a war president, White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs replied
saying "Exactly".
"He is accepting the Nobel Peace Prize as a war
President."
On a question, will the President mention Afghanistan
and the troop increase during his speech accepting the Nobel
Peace Price?, Gibbs said "Yes".
Gibbs said Obama "will address directly the notion
that many have wondered which, is the juxtaposition of the
timing for the Nobel Peace Prize and his commitment to add
more troops into Afghanistan."
That`s obviously something that he will address, the
White House spokesman said yesterday.
Obama is scheduled to received the Nobel Peace Prize
for the year 2009 at Oslo later this week.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee on October 9 announced
that Obama had won the award for the year 2009 for "his
extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy
and cooperation between peoples."
Humbled by the prize, Obama said in a statement which
he read from the Rose Garden of the White House that he would
accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations
to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.
"To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in
the company of so many of the transformative figures who`ve
been honoured by this prize, men and women who`ve inspired me
and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit
of peace," Obama had said.
The White House has said Obama plans to donate the
prize money of about USD 1.4 million to charities.
PTI
